I was invited to a very nice event celebrating fairy tales from around the world. I was given Puss in Boots as my story to represent. The challenge was the transformation of the Ogre into a lion, then into a mouse. I really liked the sand, clean and strong. Really liked vietnam also, nice light food and friendly people.

Puss in boots sculpted for sandart vietnam

I participated again this year in the Canadian Open Sand Sculpting Championship. I teamed up with a Russian friend Dmitry Klimenko. He is a very talented sculptor. The theme was Things with Wings.

Our idea was to blend the spirit and the mechanic…We use First Nation figure to represent the spirit, surrounded by a steampunk eagle. We called it

“the ghost in the machine”

I had the chance to sculpt in the doubles category in Revere Beach, Boston sand sculpting competition with one a the best sand sculptor I know…Ilya Filimontsev.

“salt of the earth” sculpture by Ilya Filimontsev and David Ducharme, Revere Beach Boston 2015
Photo credit; Magdalena Taber

. We ended up winning 1st place and sculptors choice.

We had another great show in Taylor BC. This year the event invited Ilya Filimontsev from Russia, Susanne Russeler from the Netherlands and Dan Belcher from USA. They are all world class recognized sand sculptor, Dan winning multiple times at the world championship of sand sculpting.

I ended up sculpting a weather worn cowboy catching a bull. This sand is so strong I was able to open the tail and get the horns to stick out, we just had to let the sand dry a bit so it got strong enough. 

April was a busy month, just after Japan I got a chance to go to Taiwan to take part of a great event organized by JOO Heng, a sculptor from Singapore. We were asked to make some Zodiac signs, I picked Leo and Pisces. For the competition I wanted to explore paper fold and human figure…which I think has great visual potential.I didn’t really manage to create what I had in mind. I wanted an old couple being wrapped in the fold of their life story. I feel there is a better way to represent that image than the way I did it. 

I had a great opportunity to take part in an international sand sculpting competition in St-Petersburg Russia in July. The theme  was Fairy Tales, and I chose Thumb Tom, which gave the chance to carve a big scale figure. The sand was rich in clay and strong. The setting was fantastic, within the old fortress facing the Hermitage, which I got to visit.