Sand Arts

When we talk of sand art, what comes first into our minds is the art of making figures using the sand on the seashore.  I first saw a video of sand art in my friend's cellphone and I was amazed by how a man's hand create lovely images using sand.  I was even more amazed when his drawings actually tell a story.

I did a few research about this amazing art and I found out that what I saw was only a tip of the iceberg.

Sand art or sand painting is being practiced by Indians, Tibetans, Arabs and even American Indians.  An example of Indian sand art is practiced by a famous sand painter, Ilana Yahav.  She is a world renowned sand animation artist who uses only her fingers to draw on an illuminated glass table.  

Another form of sand painting is the Mandala--typically practiced by Buddhist monks.  In this form, the artist fills out a drawing using different colored sands. Symbols used in these sand paintings represent world enlightenment and respectful religious iconography. Mandalas are destructed after the ninth day of ceremony as a representation of the understanding of life’s transience.

American Indians in Navajo regard sand painting as a symbolic ceremony to chase away negative spirits.  In traditional Native American sand art, sands are actually crushed stones in the colors desired. They do not usually dye the stones to color the sand. Instead, they begin with specific minerals to create the sand painting with a variety of textures and hardness. In addition, dusts of crushed herbs and pollen are also incorporated in the sand painting designs.

In Petra, Jordan, sand art bottle  is practiced as early as 1920's. It's theme is mainly the Jordan landscape.  Different colored sand is carefully layered and arranged to create images that are almost three dimensional.

It is really amazing how our mind works and how our hands translate our thoughts into art.