Gulf News

....	Jenny herself is just back from the European World Championship sand sculpting competitions is Cervia, Italy. She and her cousin Patrick Franklyn from Australia won "1st Place People's Choice" at the competition. Their sculpture was inspired by the city of Dubai and its traditions. "We made a sculpture called Caravan. It shows a beautiful Arabic castle on the back of a camel. A woman in an abaya is leading the camel. The whole structure stands on a flying carpet," she explains. "The sculpture carried a message of peace from the Middle East. I am no political leader, but I think that if one silly sand sculpture can stand up and say this message of peace, and this message comes from the Middle East, then that is a step forward for peace, however small." Jenny and Patrick worked for four and half days, eight hours a day on the sculpture. They used over 15 tons of sand (and an equivalent amount of water) and the castle stood 12 foot high. She used simple workman's tools, cylinders and plastic sheets plus her cake-decorating knife, the "three-quarter" she wants with her if she's marooned on a desert island.

....	Expatriates come to Dubai for money, for an easier life, maybe even a career. Jenny Rossen has come here for the sand. The very strong sand that can pack up and go hard. The golden sand that can stand up and be shaped into castles and flowers and people and animals. Jenny is a sand sculptor, a master sand sculptor who has just won a world championship . “Dubai seems like the ideal place for my dream: a giant sand sculpture theme park,” Jenny, now back in the city, says, as she works slowly steadily towards this dream. You already know Jenny’s work. She built that elaborate sandcastle during Dubai Shopping Festival 2002 in Murraqqabat. And she is now helping children to build sand cities at Modhesh Fun City. But sand sculpting, she emphasizes, is not just for my children. “My workshops for children are actually workshops for parents, teaching them how they can teach their children to sculpt sand. These days we can buy DVD’s, go to the movies, visit shopping malls. With all the things we can buy, we’ve forgotten how to play. Just play.” Sand sculpture, she explains, teaches parents and children to play. And all they need is sand and water. “The sand is about telling stories. A sand castle is intriguing. You look at it and you start thinking of princesses, of magicians…You ignite your imagination. You realize you can make anything,” Jenny says. Sand sculpture, she points out, is a passion across the world. In countries as far apart as United States and Japan, the Netherlands and China, sand sculpting is acknowledged as an art. Competitions are held around the world, with sand masters working for hours to create masterpieces

....	3D painting They worked with Jenny as "captain of the ship". She says it was like painting in 3D, inventing as you're going". She always uses photographs of traditional buildings and specially admires Islamic architecture. But the final sculpture is more imaginative and innovative than any single real building. Jenny, naturally, is thrilled by the response the Caravan drew. "We are proud to be the people's choice. The people were moved and delighted by the message of the sculpture. When it was translated into Italian and read out, 45,000 people went 'wow'," she says, with a huge smile. But then Jenny is happy with every structure she sculpts, whether or not it wins a competition. "Sand sculpting has everything to do with the beauty of the moment. You build up a castle, people come and say wow, and then it ends. It's totally fine to end." However, the 35-year-old Australian cannot remember when it began. "It is very difficult top say when I started because I don't remember a time when I didn't make sandcastles, "she laughs. As youngest of nine children growing up on Cottesloe Beach, Perth, she always remembers playing with sand and water. "Sun and surf and sand is the Australian rite of passage. We were always on the beach. My mother and father are architects. I remember we'd all design and build our own (sand) houses and mom would come down and comment on each." 3D painting They worked with Jenny as "captain of the ship". She says it was like painting in 3D, inventing as you're going". She always uses photographs of traditional buildings and specially admires Islamic architecture. But the final sculpture is more imaginative and innovative than any single real building. Jenny, naturally, is thrilled by the response the Caravan drew. "We are proud to be the people's choice. The people were moved and delighted by the message of the sculpture. When it was translated into Italian and read out, 45,000 people went 'wow'," she says, with a huge smile. But then Jenny is happy with every structure she sculpts, whether or not it wins a competition. "Sand sculpting has everything to do with the beauty of the moment. You build up a castle, people come and say wow, and then it ends. It's totally fine to end." However, the 35-year-old Australian cannot remember when it began. "It is very difficult top say when I started because I don't remember a time when I didn't make sandcastles, "she laughs. As youngest of nine children growing up on Cottesloe Beach, Perth, she always remembers playing with sand and water. "Sun and surf and sand is the Australian rite of passage. We were always on the beach. My mother and father are architects. I remember we'd all design and build our own (sand) houses and mom would come down and comment on each."

Above : The sand sculpture 'Caravan' which won the '1st place People's
Choice at the European World Championship sand sculting
competition.... Carrying a message of pease from the Middle East

....

JENNY'S DREAM

Jenny Rossen, master sand sculptor, hopes to create a giant sand sculpture theme park one day. Dubai, she believes, is the ideal location because it has sand, sun and a great infrastructure.
She has outlined projects that slowly build up to this mega project. "It's called how to eat an elephant one bite at a time," she says.

Sand sculpting, Jenny details, involves three phases. First, it is a spectacle. Then, it involves the community. Finally, it becomes a competition. Traces of all three phases are already present in Dubai. People have watched her sculpt sand, children have participated in shaping the sand and a contest has been staged in Modhesh Fun City.
But jenny wants far more for Dubai.
"I want Dubai to become the sand sculpture capital of the world. It has the potential," she underlines.
Right now, she has outlined a project for the Dubai Shopping Festival 2003. "We could build a beautiful city of sand on Al Mamzar beach, involving the entire community. We could also have a competition among international sand masters at Children's City, inviting them to show their different styles and cultures. This would perfectly match the global spirit of the festival.
"Finally, we could have a community competition, again on Al Mamzar beach. So many countries in the world have their own sand masters. We could find the U.A.E champion right here in Dubai, someone who will represent the country in international competitions and do it proud."

Amazing

Castles, and architecture continue to be her favourite sand sculpture. ("I think castles are the most bestest.") Jenny herself has a double major in painting and sculpture from Curtin University, western Australia, and a degree in graphic design and film-making from West Australian Institute of Technology. She was nominated as artist-in-residence of her community. Always interested in sand sculpture, she organized a competition in the autumn (April) of 1998. "Over 10,000 people turned up on Cottesloe Beach.

The most amazing part was that everyone was equal, everyone was making something together," she remembers. Encouraged by the success, she set up the Australian Masters Sand Sculpting Association. Jenny herself was longing to go to the world sand sculpting championships in Canada, so she bought herself her "last 80 bucks" But she didn't get any sponsorship. Suddenly, the owner of Blue Duck coffeeshop on the beach asked her when she was going to Canada. She said she wasn't. He said he'd pay for her trip. She went.

"Only then I knew how little I knew. I was placed last. I remember thinking 'I will always, always remember this'. But I didn't shame myself. I made an elegant eternity knot," she says.

Jenny has committed herself totally to sand sculpting since. She has researched, read and traveled across the word to learn from sand masters. She has participated in international competitions and has been highly placed several times. She has funded herself by selling portraits of community builders in her hometown and has taken off for another part of the world whenever she's had the money.

In time, she has herself started teaching, particularly children. She teaches them through stories and by showing them how easily and beautifully sand can be shaped.

She has painted and written, by hand, books about jenny the Sandcastle Girl. These introduce the children to sand sculpting and to herself, a woman loving what she does. And a woman wanting the world to love sand sculpting.