One of the best sand sculpture displays in Europe is at the Veluws Zandsculpturenfestijn in Garderen.

For the theme, this year’s exhibition showcases the works of Rien Poortvliet. With an impressive volume of work he showed incredible talent with pencil, ink and paint. He could draw and paint any animal in any pose or action by exercising his well-honed skills, imagination and observation. He also expressed daily life of those around him in such a warm and familiar way.

We were lucky enough to meet his son and also see many of Poortvliet’s original works.

We were asked to make several scenes from the book “My Grandfather’s House” which depicts memories from his childhood.

We made 7 sand sculpture scenes with a total of 25 figures. Here are some highlights.