HOW I GOT STARTED
Hello! I’m Aaron French, a retired, professional competitive sand sculptor from San Diego California. I was in 9th grade when I started sculpting as a hobby with a friend and his family. This friend and I shared a class or two in high school. One of which was an art class where we hit it off well right away. Eventually we started hanging out outside of school. I met his family, they were a very outgoing fun family that always made me feel like one of their own. The summer after 9th grade my friend asked me if I wanted to help carry water buckets at the local Sandcastle competition where we lived in Imperial Beach Ca. His parents and a few of their friends had been competing in the event for over 5yrs as novice just for fun. The water bucket job is the first step in the building process, saturate the sand. It’s grunt work and anybody can help and it’s not actually part of the event but it’s a lot of work. Carrying 50lb water buckets didn’t sound fun but being a local myself, I always attended the competition anyway to see all the amazing creations (and maybe just to see all the girls), so I figured this could be fun too!
Following that competition, I became closer with the family and by the next year I was officially added to the 10 person team of carvers after proving my artistic ability working on smaller projects through that year. I quickly became one of the four primary artist helping lead the team to multiple awards at the amateur level. We didn’t have instant success but often won “peoples choice” awards for our family friendly fun creations inspired by characters like Shreck, Winnie the Pooh & Star Wars. Two years later we decided we had enough talent on the team to try and prove ourselves worthy of being in the professional category.
SUCCESS
After a couple years of competing at the “Master” level we had become Imperial Beach’s home town team with our Locally Inspired name “IB Posse”. When awards were won and the crowd heard our name announced, there was an instant roar of cheers because the home team won something again! However 1st place still eluded us. Our competitors were always so talented it felt like we might not reach their level of talent or success. They always pushed us to learn more and improve every year. We knew we were close though. Finally after about four years of competing in the Master Class and just missing top honor, we found success with our project “FIND FIRST PLACE PROJECT”. Once again and possibly louder than ever the home crowd roared for us as we were announced as the 1994*** U.S. Open Sandcastle Champions! What an amazing feeling for our team and our home town of Imperial Beach.
CHAMPIONS
Like many competitors feel after winning “The Big One”, we felt the pressure to go bigger and better every year. To do something even more amazing than the year before. Our team went on to win multiple 1st place championships and become a bit of a home town hero. We did sand sculptures in local events around San Diego and did work annually for our local pro baseball team, The San Diego Padres. The team has evolved and grown, members have come and gone but they still carry the same pride and the same sense of family. As for myself, somewhere around 35yrs of age, I too had to hang up the sculptors hat. Between my regular job and its long hours, my three awesome kids and their hobbies it was time for me to step back. I had many amazing years, creating sand art for others to enjoy, take pictures with and create their own memories with their family. I’m proud of what I was able to accomplish with my Posse family and still look forward to seeing all their new imaginative designs they continue to create. If you would like to follow IB Posse on social media to see all their new creations you can do so here. I hope you enjoy your time here. Feel free to message me with any question or even to share any new images of sandcastles YOU’VE created after using the techniques I share with you here! Thanks for visiting, Art With Sand! – Aaron French