Job makes waves with sand sculptures

Some of TT’s beaches are known for their calm waters and stunning sunsets, but now Jamal Job is creating waves there with a new, creative offering – sand art.

Newsday spoke with the 33-year-old at Las Cuevas Beach. He said he was inspired to pursue sand art as a hobby in 2009 and has been sculpting ambitious creations ever since.

Sand art entails modelling sand into an artistic form using techniques such as brushing, sculpting or painting.

Job who is from Belmont, Port of Spain, said when he went to the beach, he would spend more time playing in the sand than in the water.

“I spent so much time playing in the sand that I decided to search for local sand sculptors to teach me how to make sandcastles. I was surprised to learn that there were none.

"I started building very simple sand towers and walls in 2009. In 2015 I started using larger forms to build more standard sandcastles.”

He works professionally as an accountant and has an MBA. But he's been interested in art for many years.

“ I was always fairly good at drawing since childhood, but I never studied or practised formally.”

Job gradually learned more about this skill by watching YouTube time-lapse videos of sand sculpting, and contacted the creators for more advice. They told him where he could buy the tools and forms (moulds) he would need, which can be bought from online stores or improvised.

“Over the years, I have tried a bunch of different tools…the main tool sand sculptors use is a 4.5-inch icing spatula with the tip cut flat, large masonry trowels, a mechanical pencil for fine details, a straw for removing scraped sand and a small duster to smooth out carved sand.

“I also learned very quickly the difference between different types of sand.

"Giant professional sand sculptures are made with quarry sand, which holds together very differently than sea-weathered beach sand. Even different beaches have sand with varying coarseness and water-retention qualities.

“Much of the learning was trial and error in getting the sand blocks to stay up and figuring out how much sand you can carve off while keeping it standing.”

Job would visit Maracas and Las Cuevas and build sand sculptures once a month or so. He visits those beaches because of the quality of the sand and because they're near Port of Spain.

Also, he said, “Chaguaramas sand is not good for sand sculpting.”

Job’s most ambitious sculpture to date was an eight-foot-tall three-tiered birthday cake with carved designs that included dripping icing and stars. He also creates other sculptures and castles ranging from two to six feet tall, but he mostly enjoys designing hand sculptures, of castles such as ‘drip castles’ as they do not require forms and need less shovelling.

Drip castles are made from wet sand to create sculptures, for instance, trees.

Explaining his creative process, Job said, “I usually sketch a simple plan with the number of towers or placement of staircases for castles. The final results always vary, but having a plan saves time.”

On average, a sculpture takes three to four hours.

Job decided to turn his hobby into a profitable business by offering lessons to other people with an interest in sand art. He teaches one-on-one or up to groups of 20.

“The first time I showed a curious family some tips and let them use my tools, I saw how engaged everyone was with the activity, from grandparents to toddlers. They enjoyed it so much that they actually told me I should give lessons as a business.”

He's also made sand sculptures for occasions such as birthdays, beach events and corporate team-building exercises. Most of his business so far has come through word of mouth from beachgoers, as he did not have a social media presence until very recently.

“I used to post now and again on my personal page but I started posting consistently to TikTok and other pages on October 3.”

Now Job has a TikTok account with almost 2,000 followers, where he regularly posts sand-building content. One of his videos boasted over 350,000 views in ten days. Job said he decided to record videos of his sand creations on TikTok after reading the book Show Your Work by Austin Kleon, whose work focuses on illustrating creativity in the digital age.

He also started listening to a few Gary Vee TikTok videos. Vee, a Belarusian-American entrepreneur and influencer, is known for his work in digital marketing.

“I intend to document and share my process of learning and doing sand sculpting in TT,” said Job. "I did not expect this much attention at all. People have been showing support in many ways like offering to help with future projects and requesting custom sculptures.”

He hopes he can eventually start a sand-sculpting community that will grow into a legitimate industry and tourist attraction.

“Local tourism can always use a boost and we can make TT the sandcastle capital of the Caribbean.”

His advice for people impressed by his work who want to try it themselves is: "Just get going. Starting is the most important step.”

To find out more about Jamal Job’s sand art creations, visit his social media handle @sand.art.tt on Instagram and TikTok.