Ben Doubleday, St. Petersburg Beach, Florida
Originally from Santa Cruz, Ca., Ben relocated to St. Petersburg Beach, Fl.. in 2007. He got started in the world of sand by working with his father Dan Doubleday. Ben provides the technical ”behind the scenes’ work for the demo centerpiece and for the artists from beginning to end. Starting with distributing the sand into individual piles for the sculptors, to building the wooden forms, to keeping a constant water supply and assisting the sculptors remove forms. Ben does it all. Without him… it doesn’t happen.
Benjamin Probanza, Acapulco, Mexico
Benjamin’s personal interests are photography, especially nature themes, stop-motion films, sculpting, designing toys, all kinds of music, motorcycles, new technologies and art in all forms. His many championships and recognitions began in 1967 and continue today.
Besides his sand sculpting talents he is also accomplished in stop-motion short films, live shows with drawings of sand and light, and short films using these techniques. Benjamin, as a member of WSSA (World Sand Sculptors Association), won the 2003 WSSA Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award.
Chris Guinto, Key West, Florida
Chris has been sculpting sand for about 10 years. He and his wife Marianne own and operate the Sand Box in Key West, Florida where they hold corporate challenges, team building events, school workshops and teach sculpting to anyone who wants to learn.Last year Chris was part of the team that created the huge sponsor sculpture for our first Sanding Ovations event.
When not sculpting sand Chris is a certified wildlife catch and release hunter. He specializes in gators, crocs and iguanas. This is usually reflected in his sculptures, which are often an animal life and are so realistic they seem alive.
Dan Belcher, St. Louis, Missouri
Dan has been a professional sand sculptor since 1990. He has created numerous projects across the world, and has worked with, or competed against an amazing array of talented sculptors from around the globe.
Competitively, Dan has 13 World Championships to his credit, including: a record 3 Solo World Championships in a row (2005,’06 & ‘07), the 2006 Doubles Championship & 9 Team Championships (together with some incredibly talented teammates!) He is the only sculptor to have won all 3 contests, the only sculptor to win 2 championships in the same year.
Dan has a Bachelors degree in Landscape Architecture from Kansas State University. When he is not sculpting sand he works in the Architecture/ Engineering field as an Urban Designer, and trying to find time to homebrew beer with friends.
He was extremely disappointed to miss last year’s contest due to injury, and is excited and honored to be invited back to join an incredible group of carvers and friends for this year’s competition. www.ampersandworkshop.com.
Dan Doubleday, Treasure Island, Florida
Dan is a 2 time World Champion winning both a Solo and Doubles gold medal. His titles include W.S.S.A. Europe Champion, North American Champion, Cervia (Italy) Champion, Treasure Island Champion, 2 times Sand Castle Days Champion, 3 times Texas Sand Fest Champion, 2 time Hampton Beach Champion, New England Champion, Tallahassee Champion.
Dan and his partner, Meredith Corson, appeared on all three episodes of the Travel Channel’s Sand Blasters: The Extreme Sand Sculpting Championship, winning 1st place on the second season. Dan was discovered sculpting on a beach in Santa Cruz, CA, in 1995 and was invited to an international Master-level competition just 6 months later, where he placed 4th. He entered his first World Championship in 1996, where he won the Sculptors’ Choice award, becoming the first North American to take that honor. www.sandingovations.com.
Deb Coutoulle, Revere, Massachusetts
A Graduate of the Art Institute of Boston, I have made my living as a professional Illustrator for over 25ys. Currently, I am perusing my artistic career in the direction of mural work. In 2005, as fate would have it…I found my way into the sand and began learning The Art of Carving Logo’s. I fell in love with the sand and have since, with each passing summer; carved logos for three great sand sculpting events in Revere Massachusetts, Salisbury Mass. and Hampton Beach New Hampshire. I have also participated in a number of professional sand sculpting projects around the Boston area over the past 6yrs. Recently I have taken part in two out of state events….Siesta Key Crystal Classic (Sarasota Florida) and Sand in the City (Omaha Nebraska). With each passing event, I am like a sponge…looking forward to learning something new about this incredible art form and have very recently taken steps in the direction of possibly competing myself one day!
Jonathan Bouchard, Montreal, Can.
Better known as Jobi. Pronounced Joe bee. Jobi is the reigning Revere Beach Champion. Fairly new to the competitive world of sand sculpting, Jobi already has the utmost respect from fellow competitors as a very creative and competitive person.
His ideas are unique and well performed. He travels the world making sand sculptures for commercial events and has competed in many competitions throughout the U.S. He hails from French speaking Canada but is fluent in English, so throw him a compliment if you like what you see. Always look for something impressive, different and incredible from this very talented sculptor.
Matthew Martelli, Revere, Massachusetts
“To be a truly great artist, one must master all aspects of one’s craft,” says Matthew Martelli, self-taught artist of local renown throughout New England. “The learning process, he says, “must be a constant effort towards working to develop new and better concepts while always striving for perfection within the flow of creativity.”
In his 28-year career, using a trial-and-error method of learning, Matthew has developed an artistic style that is truly his own. Since he began oil painting, Matthew has received much recognition for his work. He has won numerous awards in many art shows throughout the years, his most popular winnings being with the Audience vote. He was featured in Boston’s local news magazine television show, “Chronicle” in which his work for an outdoor mural is featured. He has also painted murals for many restaurants in the Boston area, as well as artwork for book covers, album inlays, and various illustrations for many types of commercial use.
In the world of sports, Martelli is no stranger. His oil paintings of Tony Conigliaro of Red Sox legend, Cam Neely of the Boston Bruins, and former New England Patriot Steve Grogan hang in the New England Sports Museum. Also, his portrait of Grogan was used in a charity benefit for Cystic fibrosis, where lithographs were sold at Foxboro Stadium during a Patriots game. Matthew donated work to the 1999 independent film, “The Red Thread”, which is being shown at film festivals across the country. His paintings were sold at the Summer Party art auction for the Musem of Fine Art for 4 years in a row. Martelli has also taken on commissioned work in the private sector, portraits, realism, surrealism, abstract, sculpture relief, or whatever he’s commissioned to do. “I love the challenge”, says the ambitious artist.
At the moment, Martelli is exploring different themes and statements derived from a series of paintings dealing with night-time cityscapes. “Who knows what direction this will lead me in”, says Martelli, with an easy laugh and an easier smile. “I just go with the flow.”
Meredith Corson, (Working with Dan Doubleday)
Meredith is a World Champion Gold Medalist and has the honor of being the first woman to win a medal at the World Championships.
Raised in New Bedford, MA, Meredith relocated to Florida in 1980 and started sculpting sand as a hobby. In 1996 she met Dan Doubleday at a competition. They own ‘Sanding Ovations’ based out of Treasure Island, Florida. They travel the world creating sand sculptures commercially and competitively that are both emotional and thought provoking.
They appeared on all 3 episodes of the Travel Channel’s Sand Blasters: The Extreme Sand Sculpting Competition, winning 1st place in 2008 with their powerful zipper head sculpture titled “Closed Minded”. www.sandingovations.com.
Michela Ciappini, Faro, Portugal
Michela was born in Italy and now resides in Portugal. Following her passion for drawing she attended the Art Institute, studying decoration and restoring. After this she continued her education at the Art Academy in Bologna where she took a course on scenery. Here she discovered that scenery applied to theatre which became her passion..
For many years, Michela worked in different theatrical companies where she painted, sculpted, and created stage settings. Her work has also been at the
Atelier building where she worked with polystyrene, wood, colors and resin. In 2003 she stared to carve sand on the beach where she discovered a whole new art form. Since that time she has done more and more sand projects and has joined a group that works throughout Europe. She has recently been introduced to snow sculpting..
Michela says: “Making art and working with my hands has always been a pleasure for me. I am passionate to design, to create and realize objects and sculptures. Time by time I make myself turn around a piece of polystyrene, bucket with colors, or tons of sand.”
Raymond Poirier, Dundas, Ontario, Canada
Raymond Poirier of Dundas, On is passionate about sand and loves to create sand castles. For 5 years Raymond has competed at the amateur level placing 2nd each year at the Burlington Sand Festival in Burlington, On. He has been assisting Sandi Castle with sand gigs and teaching at the beach. This is Raymond’s first year at Revere and is excited about sharing his knowledge of sand to the children.
Sandi Stirling, Dundas, Ontario, Canada
In every pile of sand is a castle just beckoning to come out”
Sandi, from Dundas, Ontario Canada, has been sand sculpting since 1995. Over the years Sandi Castle has competed at the Master level in both Canada and the USA. Her latest claim of fame was Peoples Choice at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, On. She is also an “Artist in the Classroom” in her home province where she teaches Grade 4 students sand sculpting. This is Sandi Castle’s 7th year participating in the New England Sand Sculpting Festival at Revere Beach.
Last year Sandi taught the “Master’s in the Making” workshop to the children and she is back this year with loads of enthusiasm ready to inspire and teach during the days of the competition. www.sandicastle.com.
Stephane Robert, Montreal, Canada
As a self-taught artist, art has been an omnipresent in my day-to-day life under numerous shapes and forms ever since childhood.
With time, I have made the art of sculpture my preferred and it has evolved into a way of self-expression.
Starting with wood sculpting, life opportunities have led me toward other ephemeral and unique media such as snow, ice, sand and even chocolate.
Today, I independently live from my art and I take advantage of performing around the world as a professional carver competing with the best.
Steve Topazio, Tiverton, Rhode Island
As the story goes, 9 years ago, Steve was making a dragon in the sand with a clamshell and now he is competing along side the best sand sculptors in the world. He was given the opportunity to compete in his first master’s sand sculpting event 7 years ago. Since then, this local New Englander has held his own in this impressive line up.
Steve loves the energy that surrounds a Masters’ competition. Whether it is from the thrill of being up against the best or the crowd that have become just true fans. He is still pursuing his goal of placing in a Masters event. Hopefully it will be achieved in Revere Beach.
Steve heads up Sandtasia Sand Sculptors of the Ocean State, based in Tiverton R.I. www.sandtasia.com.
Sue McGrew, Tacoma, Washington
Sue hails from Tacoma, WA, located in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She graduated from the University of Southern California of Los Angeles in 2008 with a BFA in Theatre- Stage Management, and a minor in sculpture. However, her first taste of Sand Sculpting was in high school, after which she found herself hopelessly addicted to the ephemeral arts and immediately continued her sculpting career after college. Her early introduction to sand makes her possibly one of the youngest professional sand sculptors, currently, of the world. She has appeared on Travel Channel’s Reality TV show “Sandblaster III – The Extreme Sand Sculpting Competition” in 2008 and is now a sculptor on Travel Channel’s new reality TV show “Sand Masters”. Today she continues to travel the world creating art with her partner Sandis Kondrats of Latvia. Her most recent awards in competition are First Place Doubles in Siesta Key’s Crystal Classic 2010, Third Place Revere Beach 2010, First Place Revere Beach 2009, and First Place at the North American Sand Sculpting Championship in Virginia Beach 2008.
