Gran Canaria, January 2018.
After twelve consecutive years, the sculpture display on the capital city's beach continues to captivate thousands of visitors. This year, a record 172,227 people attended, and €18,786.70 in donations were collected, all of which went to soup kitchens in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Its organizers, aware of the challenge involved in creating ephemeral works each year, decided to increase the number of participating artists (from six to nine sculptors), which enriched the artistic proposal and increased the level of detail in each of the scenes.
The 1,500-square-meter site required more than 2,000 tons of sand, transformed into monumental figures up to five meters high and nine meters long. Each sculptor modeled, on average, more than 20 tons during nine intense days of work. The sculptures were created by artists and sculptors from Belgium, Italy, Russia, France, the Netherlands, and the United States, as well as Jonay Ruiz from the Canary Islands and local art students who tested their sand sculpture skills for the first time.
The Nativity scene invited visitors on a journey through the most representative scenes of Christmas: Roman centurions, sculpted by the Frenchman Benoît Dutherage, welcomed them. The Temple of the Sand God, by Jonay Ruiz, and Herod's Palace, by the Italian Leonardo Ugolini, led the way to the Nativity, modeled by the Dutch artist Marieke van der Meer and the Russian Vadim Gryadov. They were followed by the shepherds, by the Belgian Enguerrand David, and the Three Wise Men, created by the American Gresham Glover. The display concluded with an impressive sequence of three scenes: The Flight into Egypt, The Massacre of the Innocents, and The Return to Bethlehem, by the Russian sculptors Aleksei Rybak and Alexey Shchitov. As a distinctive feature, four large pyramids distributed throughout the site paid homage to Egypt, the central theme of this year's exhibition.
Among the new features, the collaboration with the Youth Department of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council stands out, which allowed for artistic training to be provided to young people during the sand modeling process. In addition, the first-ever Sand Nativity Scene Art and Culture Fair was held in Saulo Torón Square, featuring displays of Canarian gastronomy, painting, sculpture, literature, and music.
The event once again ranked among the three most visited cultural spaces in Spain in December, second only to the Reina Sofía and Prado museums. This further demonstrates that the combination of art, solidarity, and scenery can transform an urban beach into an international cultural stage accessible to all.
