Art in sand and studios

August 12, 2007|Short hops

NANTUCKET -- Not even the zoning board objects when fanciful homes rise on the shores of this island -- as long as the castles in the sand are entries in the annual Sandcastle & Sculpture Day. Co-sponsored by the Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce and the Nantucket Island School of Design and the Arts, this year's competition takes place Saturday at Jetties Beach. While all in good fun, the strictly amateur event now in its 34th year seems to mesh well with the Type-A personalities who summer on Nantucket. According to Chamber spokesperson Lawrel Strauch, "Lots of families come back to compete every year. They're determined to come out ahead of the families that beat them last year."

Teams are grouped in four categories -- family, adult, 11-to-16-year-olds, and 10 and under -- with judging based on creativity, concept, and design. Besides sandcastles and ever-popular mermaids, some of the more creative designs have included a family's own dog, crabs, lobsters, whales, a Nantucket lightship basket, a VW Beetle, and even a giant tick.

34th Annual Sandcastle & Sculpture Day, Jetties Beach, Nantucket. Aug. 18 starting at noon. 508-228-1700. nantucketchamber.org. Preregistration deadline noon Friday at the Chamber office at 48 Main St. If unable to register in person, call for a faxable registration form. $5 per competitor, spectators free.

PATRICIA HARRIS

The SouthCoast Open Studio Tour ignores boundaries with 32 artists in two states welcoming visitors. The self-guided tour next weekend features painters, fiber artists, sculptors, potters, glassblowers, and woodworkers from Dartmouth, Mass., to Tiverton, R.I. "Here, we don't look at state lines," said tour founder Amy C. Lund in a telephone interview from her Tiverton Four Corners studio.

A weaver, Lund moved her studio from Adamsville, R.I., last fall, joining seven other tour artists in Four Corners, among them Tiffany Peay Jewelry, Roseberry-Winn Pottery and Tile, and painter Jeff Carpenter.

SouthCoast Open Studio Tour, Aug. 18-19, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. 401-816-0000. openstudiomap.com. Free. Map available online; brochures at studios. JAN SHEPHERD