Saturday, April 08, 2000
Sculptures in sand made at aquarium
BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Rich Varano sculpts a Bavarian castle in the lobby of the Newport Aquarium.
(Patrick Reddy photos)
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NEWPORT — The tools sculptor Rich Varano uses to create his works of art include knives, brushes, and ... a toy plastic pail and shovel.
“You have to have your pail and shovel when you work in the sand,” the Orlando, Fla., resident explained as he began creating a sand castle in the lobby of the Newport Aquarium. “It's like your identification.”
Mr. Varano is considered one of the best sand sculptors in the business, winner of the world sand sculptor championship the past two years and a teaching master sand sculptor.
His work is seen, literally, all over the world. He just returned from a month in Lima, Peru, where he created huge sand sculptures. He built a 25-foot-tall sand replica of a Bavarian castle in Singapore that required 1,200 tons of sand.
A scuba diver and jellyfish.
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He runs a company known as the Sultans of Sand, and he's performing his sand magic all this month at the aquarium, building 10 different works in 10 different galleries.
Known in the sand sculpture world by the nickname “Sand Dude,” the bearded 42-year-old Binghamton, N.Y., native admits to a love of art dating since childhood. “I was always creative, from a very young age,” he said.
But his interest in the art of sand sculpture he credits to his father, who entertained the family by making sand castles on the beach after the family moved from New York to New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
“I was so impressed with how my dad could create things in the sand, and I wanted to do the same thing,” Mr. Varano said. “Of course, I wasn't very good at first. Like any art form, you have to work at it to improve.”
With no formal art training, Mr. Varano applied his natural talents to teach himself sand sculpture. Gradually, his efforts earned him first place in several amateur sand building contests.
“I didn't get into sand sculpture professionally until I was about 25,” he said. “I did a castle at a party, and then someone asked me to do one for them. Pretty soon I
was getting a lot of calls, and I finally started the business.”
He worked for eight years with Sea World in Orlando, creating fantasy sand art for Sea World visitors, then went on his own in 1996.
Since arriving in Newport last week, Mr. Varano has put in considerable time on a Cincinnati-themed sculpture at the foot of the escalator that carries visitors from the aquarium lobby to the exhibit area. The sand creation includes a mini version of the Suspension Bridge, with a flying pig atop. It also includes the Cincinnati skyline and two sharks circling in the water below.
He said the castle, which will be one of the largest sand sculptures at the aquarium, will probably require a minimum of 30 hours, and possibly as many as 40 hours of work.
“The castle will be more intricate than any of the other works, and will probably take about two weeks to finish,” Mr. Varano said. “Of course, no sculpture is ever really finished — you just eventually abandon it.”
Other works aquarium visitors will see include a giant sand alligator at the bayou exhibit; a group of penguins including a baby; and an impressive jellyfish sculpture that includes the figure of a woman in a wet suit and diving mask apparently swimming with the jellyfish.
So detailed is Mr. Varano's work that the zipper on the front of the woman's wetsuit is clearly visible.
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