Sand Ball Artist (Texas Country Reporter)

Meet a man who makes sculptures, using simply sand and water.

Kenny Fain
Port Aransas, TX
Email: [email protected]

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Video Script::  

[Music] the beach it seems is the one landscape that never seems to change where no matter your age current and coastline blend with laughter and fascination of waves and wind the salt and sand have always served as inspiration for creative people for those barefoot Wanderers drawn to the seashore by some deep unexplained desire what is it about the beach that just I mean the minute I see it I mean every everyday you know when I come down I him driving down and soon the minute I see the ocean it's just like I just get this tranquil this feeling in me like I did when I was a kid and I'd see the beach you know I was so happy I still have that feeling so what are you looking for I'm looking for the perfect sand there's such a thing as perfect yes there is yes there is how do you know usually by the color of it but it has to be real you know I spear eel fine okay let me see you in fact I see I think I see some right over here okay let's see right here can't be too wet can't be too dry I swear you'll talk to anybody on the beach boy what is he doing I'm not real sure oh it's a ball made of sand over the years we've run across our share of sandcastle creators up and down the sandy shoreline at Port Aransas but Kenny feigns sleight of hand and Rapids sculptural technique results in one perfectly round symmetry of sand that's been in my hands and it comes out perfectly round the combination of sand and water is where the secret lies I am gonna balance the sand ball ball of sand and water on the air what makes people smile they walk by just the curiosity and it provokes some kind of emotion so is this like your studio yes I mean I notice it's a bunch of different stay involved yeah yeah show us around your studio yes okay if you come right over here you can see they're uh they're coming out for the day they're coming out they're coming out we're cymbals yes more sand balls this is where cymbals are born this is where sand balls are born now we're in no position to designate balls of beach sand as some great work of art but Kenny certainly has a creative vision on a level held by few others the sand balls over the years have become tiny Port Aransas landmarks stacked and steadily balanced in random locations all over town when the rain falls gravity calls or the tide comes in Kenny has to start all over makes no matter though he's got photos and Facebook as a virtual gallery to this oddball Sam bald legacy I have all over the island you might come up to a stop sign I might have one on there I mean I I just I don't make a plan I just I see it I see somewhere at the moment and go wow Sam balls got to go there I take pictures I'm gonna sell the pictures people buy pictures of balls yeah it looks like a bouncing ball your tools on the beach like they'll be over here I'll go beyond Alistair Street on top of the pelicans head at Kathryn I think everybody in the Port Aransas at least those who you are yeah it looks like it could be a lot of fun so I was just wondering if you could teach Kelly how to make this in sure lead me to the best sand ball making hey that's tan right here right here there's gotta be a little wet yeah yeah just get a handful here you know most artists have to pay for their materials yeah yours is all-natural yes I now have a new respect for the art of sand ball making for something that can crumble to pieces at the slightest touch these fragile spheres have come to mean so much to some people like that old friend who recently shared a moment Kenny never saw coming and he goes my mother's allowed because of you I'm like what yeah I'm like what are you talking about and he said well you gave you gave my mother of Sam ball with seven shells and then she had cancer and this guy's something I guess I don't know why he said that really but he said she's a lot of because of you and that's now ball you gave her did that make you feel it's telling the story man you know Kenny I got to tell you something that's one of the definitions of art yeah a reaction [Music] only from a barefoot bashful sculptor kanna-san ball provides such profound emotion all from grains of sand found along an endless seashore bound and packed into a perfectly round gesture of pure simplicity my initial inclination was to ask you do you not have anything better to do but then I started thinking about it I can't think of anything better to do yeah you're in heaven down here yeah I am yeah I'm like a big kid playing in the sandbox yeah [Music] you