As part of the 'Scratching the Surface' (March 2011) project, I introduced the theme of sand art.
We explored different uses of sand art - the religious and spiritual significance, as well as specific artist who used sand as part of their work - Joe Mangrum, Jim Denevan, Richard Long, Joe Castillo, Sudarsan Pattnaik etc.

Also, I showed the group via Youtube the amazing performance sand art of Kseniya Simonova. I think this video had a big impact on a few of the members (one lady told me how she still has it on her favourites at home and plays her work almost every day).

We used coloured sand to create images, both through gluing sand onto surfaces and also moving the sand around to create images which we then photographed.

For me personally, there is something quite soothing and calming about sand. It’s cool and smooth to the touch and there is something more playful and free than simply doodling on paper. There are lots of possibilities and it seems to be quite accessible for people to just have a play and a go at moving the sand into shapes.   
I think also as the work is quite transient, people cannot be precious about what they are creating and so are more inclined to experiment with shapes and ideas.

Joe Mangrum  
- I think his work is beautiful – the colours, shapes, compositions. The strange, alien, aquatic being seems to hover above the ground. I would really love to see some of these in real life.   
http://www.joemangrum.com/artnews/

Jim Denevan  
- works by marking sand/earth/ice to leave marks on its surface. Denevan also created the largest piece of artwork using an Apollonian gasket as a pattern.  
 http://jimdenevan.com/  
http://jimdenevan.com/sand.htm#sand_images/17_Biennale_2.jpg  
  
Kseniya Simonova
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=518XP8prwZo  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUfUsCuX10k - Kseniya Simonova biographic film.  
http://www.youtube.com/user/SimonovaTV?ob=video-mustangbase