It’s the game of life, for the new generation. That was the theme for a group of ULM students’ sand castle at the 32nd Annual AIA Sandcastle Competition in Galveston, Texas.
Art professor Brooke Foy led a team of current and past art students to Galveston for a sandcastle build off.
According to their website the AIA SandCastle Competition is a fund-raising event for AIA Houston and ArCH Foundation, as well as one of the top five revenue generating events for the City of Galveston.
For this year’s event, over 60 teams participated in the build. The building of the sand sculptures went on for five hours.
Foy took three of her current art students to the competition to help her and her team out.
Kaile Finies, a senior art major, was among those selected to go to Galveston with Foy.
According to Finies, none of the three current students that went on the trip had experience with sand sculpting.
“We participated with the Hensel Phelps Group. We were taken along to be a part of the sculptors’ team, although none of us had sculpted sand before so it was a great learning experience,” Finies said.
Finies along with her two classmates and professor were joined by two ULM art graduates, Accie Sullivan and Ashlyn Thompson.
The team of students and their professor were part of the Hensel Phelps Group who Foy has been a part of for several years.
ULM’s group of students participated in the “Best Pop Culture” category and finished in first place. Their design was based on a table game of “The Game of Life” but with a twist. The game board was meant to reflect the new generation of young people.
The game board sculpture titled “New Gen Life” was comprised of various symbols and logos all related to pop culture. Fortnite, Twitter, Snapchat and a fidget spinner were some of the symbols seen in the sculpture.
Inique Harris, a senior art major, also made the trip to Galveston for the competition. Same as Finies, Harris had no prior experience with sand sculpting but was willing to take on the challenge and learn.
“I knew absolutely nothing about sand sculpture, so to prepare myself, I watched a few YouTube videos about sand sculpting and then practiced by carving soaps,” Harris said.
Harris and her peers did exceptionally well for first time sand sculptures. A learning experience turned into a fun experience for the Warhawks.
“It was wonderful and eye opening,” Harris exclaimed.
“I found it fun to work on a project with all my peers.”
The sandcastle competition isn’t the last activity Foy and her students plan to attend this semester. Foy encourages community involvement from her students and routinely offers her students extra credit opportunities for helping her out in her various projects around town.