Overview of the right part of the waterlife scene ("grondelende eenden en meerkoet met kuiken") Marlies Bielderman and me created for the Dutch Sandsculpture Festival in Roermond, The Netherlands. Don't you think the water looks just like the real thing?!

We made a sculpture about the flora and fauna in and around ponds and canals in The Netherlands. To be able to sculpt both big animals as swans and small animals and plants as tadpoles and "herderstasje", we based our sculpture on the old Dutch Schoolpictures. These pictures show schoolkids the life in, for instance, ponds, in a very distinctive way: the big animals fit the scale of the picture, but the small animals are enlarged in the picture in circles. All animals and plants are numbered, with their names mentioned at the sides of the picture. The Dutch Schoolpictures made it possible for us to create a nearly educational scene that contained as much typical pond flora and fauna as possible, in a very Dutch setting as well!

For more information about the festival, please check: Het Nederlands Zandsculptuurfestival 2010

Artistic director of the "Love for Life" festival: Anique Kuizenga