'We both love to create.' How this B.C. duo became competitors on Race Against the Tide
From sign painting to carving sand, Race Against the Tide’s Peter and Alex talk about art and mentorship
"It was one of the hardest things I've done in my life."
That's how veteran sand sculptor Peter Vogelaar (69) describes his experience on Season 2 of Race Against the Tide. He is competing alongside fellow B.C. resident Alex Avelino (42). Peter hails from Winlaw, whereas Alex resides in Nelson.
The duo is unique among their fellow competitors. While both have spent their lives as artists in their own respects, it's sand sculpting where Peter has been a mentor to Alex.
"Peter offered me an opportunity," Alex says. "So then I was able to get my feet wet with sand carving."
From there, the two were able to form a bond through working and competing together.
"Peter's got years and years and years of experience," Alex says. "There's all these little tricks he's learned along the way, and he's still a fountain of knowledge."
If you want to learn how to carve — it doesn't matter what medium, stones or wood — sand sculpting is probably the best way to go about learning about that medium- Alex Avelino
Peter's admiration of his sand sculpting partner is reciprocal.
"Alex has got energy and he does try to overcome adversity," Peter says. "We run into obstacles and he's not one of these guys that gets discouraged or gives up — that's an extremely good thing to have in sand sculpting."
What is sand sculpting?
In its most basic form, sand sculpting broadly refers to creating structures entirely out of sand. Many of us have had an experience of this. Kids who have created sand castles on the beach have sculpted sand to a certain extent.
But, much like painting, there are degrees of expertise in sand sculpting — you can't instantly graduate from finger painting to producing the Mona Lisa.
With sand sculpting, you can produce highly elaborate and impressive structures. Yet, Alex is quick to emphasize the accessibility of this art form compared to carving a statue for example
"If you want to learn how to carve — it doesn't matter what medium, stones or wood — sand sculpting is probably the best way to go about learning about that medium," he says. "Sand is very malleable, so you can finish a sculpture in hours or days."
Whereas sand sculpting artists usually have days to make magnificent sculptures, in Race Against the Tide they're working within the confines of hours in order to avoid their structure being washed away by New Brunswick's Bay of Fundy.
Getting into sculpting
Both Peter and Alex have lived artists' lives. But, Peter has been in the game much longer than his mentee.
He finished his studies at art school in Nelson, B.C. in 1976 and is an accomplished watercolour painter.
"[When I was] trying to make a living there weren't a whole lot of options," he says. "I ended up opening a sign painting business in northern British Columbia and that was a hit."
Peter was able to sell his business, and he got into snow carving on a whim.
"I heard on the CBC a promotion for snow sculpting contest Vernon, B.C. The prize was a free trip to Quebec carnival, and I'd never been to Quebec in my life," he says.
Peter would win the contest in Vernon and ended up at Quebec carnival. From there, he would go over to Japan to snow carve in the Nagano 1998 Olympic Winter Games.
"There we met artists from England and artists from Finland and artists from Australia and artists from all over the place," he says.
Sand carving followed on from snow carving, and it's a form Peter says is much more lucrative.
"You can actually make a living travelling around carving sand," he says.
Making a living is key to both of their lives as artists. Alex, originally from Toronto, works as a software consultant day to day. He had studied animation, worked in the film industry, but then tried to be a graphic artist. It was a struggle, he said, in a small town like Nelson.
He has been snow carving for the last eight years, and it was Peter who offered him his first competition working with sand in the nearby town of Castlegar, B.C.
Carving with passion
For both Peter and Alex, it's a preoccupation with storytelling that defines their art form.
"Both of us are really entranced by the human form, emotions and trying to create a story," Peter says. "We both love to create."
For Alex, part of their sand sculpting art form is the intention to educate.
"We're both showmen," he says. "We love the attention, we love to educate and to include the crowd."
The two artists hope that Race Against the Tide Season 2 will bring more attention to their unique art form.
"I'm really hoping that even more people watch Season 2 because even though sand sculpting has been around for 30 or 40 years, it's still relatively unknown to most people," Peter says.
To actually have a show that shows the effort and, and pressure it takes to create something like this, I think it's very valuable to everybody- Alex Avelino
Much of the fun comes from the ability to meet other artists working in this niche field.
"I've travelled to 20 countries in the world now doing this. That was one of the best parts about Race Against the Tide — we had many hours to sit around and talk with each other."
Alex feels like the show adds value to his chosen medium, by emphasizing the effort that artists put into making magnificent sand sculptures.
"To actually have a show that shows the effort and, and pressure it takes to create something like this, I think it's very valuable to everybody — not just the artists, but the audience," Alex adds.
"That idea is something special."
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