Sand is a child’s no-cost play dough to bring his imagination to life. Sudarsan Pattnaik is one of the most celebrated sand artists in India and has learned his art by himself without any guidance, He has honed his craft entirely by practice and creativity. Born in Puri, Orissa, he started sculpting images on sand since the age of seven and has been able to establish himself as an extraordinary sand artist of international repute.
Sudarsan Pattnaik has participated in more than 50 international sand sculpture championships across the world and has many national and international awards to his name for his creative designs. He has his name in the World records for sculpting the tallest Santa Claus and most number of Santa Claus built on sand.
Sudarsan Pattnaik won the People’s Choice Prize at the 1st Moscow International Sand Sculpture Championship held in Russia and has also won the first prize in the International Sand Sculpture Championship held in Denmark. He has been honoured with a doctorate degree from Berhampur University in Odisha for his contribution in sand art. His sand sculpture on Black Taj Mahal has earned him accolades all over the world.
Apart from this, he is also the brand ambassador of NALCO, India and has started the open air Sand Art Institute at the Sea Beach at Puri, Orissa. The institute provides teaching in Sand Sculpture, Sand painting and Sand Animation. He is also known for creating awareness about various events and issues of local and global importance like Global warming. His projects include works for NASSCOM, FDI, Commonwealth Games, India’s Got Talent and more.
Talking to Animationxpress.com, Sudarsan Pattnaik – Sand artist, Founder – Sudarsan Sand Art Institute says “Sand art is an inspirational art form. It is a very soft and unusual medium and therefore requires a lot of patience and skill; even air can hamper a creation.
Sand art is created in the form of Sand sculpture and Sand Animation. Sand Animation is a well known art form internationally especially in Russia and is used in the corporate sector. I consider this as a God’s gift to me. People and God inspire me to do good work and as an artist. I really want to help the people and spread awareness through any social cause. I started my institute 15 years ago in order to keep alive this art form and also to provide training to budding artists. I started as a sand artist about 20 years ago and at that time sand art was not considered a professional art form in India. There were no professional courses or any kind of assistance. It is a positive feeling for an artist to be awarded and be appreciated for his work.
I am also happy to see sand art being appreciated, sand art is being taught at every place in India, there are thousands of budding artists in India pursuing this art form and I really want to promote these new artists. Sand art has a bright future ahead and I want to encourage other artists especially from the rural areas. No matter what medium an artist chooses, they should learn their skill professionally” he concluded.