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Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Mike Wazowski, Sulley, Lightning McQueen, Nemo and other Pixar characters have been spotted hanging out on the beaches near New Taipei, Taiwan, and soon, they’ll be in good company with other beachgoers who revel in the sun, the sand, and the sand sculptures.
Credit: Google Maps
That’s because the beach is gearing up for the 2021 Fulong International Sand Sculpture Art Festival, which was set to open in July of this year. But thanks to a typhoon that didn’t clear its plans with beachgoers first and subsequently damaged some of the sculptures, the festival had to be postponed.
In all, there are 18 sand sculptures featuring 40 characters from 13 different Pixar films. It’s the first “Revisiting Pixar Classics” sand sculpture event in all of Asia.
Credit: Fullon Hotel, Taipei City, Taiwan
Sculptors have already worked more than a month and a half on these fabulous creations. One of them, Zhou Shengqiang, who has been a sand artist in the Fulong International Sand Sculpture Exhibition for years now, says that there a few things he had to do before he could recreate the Pixar characters on the beach.
Credit: Fullon Hotel, Taipei City, Taiwan
“After confirming the theme, I watched each animated [Pixar] film at least twice, because the creation of the character is not only about the representation of the image, but also what happens and the emotional response conveyed by the character at the moment,” Shengqiang explained.
Credit: TripAdvisor
Fullon Hotel, the organizer of the event, said that as of yesterday, the 10 sand sculptors who are working on the impressive sand designs were about 70% finished with their creations, which feature several characters from Pixar films, such as Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Cars and Soul.
Credit: Fullon Hotel, Taipei City, Taiwan
The festival will run, rain or shine, wind or calm, from 8:00 a.m to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays from September 17 through October 31.
Credit: Fullon Hotel, Taipei City, Taiwan
Wow. Rain or shine? Wind or calm? Yes. That’s because the festival will have sculptors on hand to maintain and repair each sculpture, should the elements damage any parts of them.
Credit: Fullon Hotel, Taipei City, Taiwan
Each sculpture is meticulously created with finite details–even down to each tooth in the worrisome smile of Bruce from Pixar’s Finding Nemo.
Credit: Fullon Hotel, Taipei City, Taiwan
The Pixar logo sand sculpture keeps the eyes moving. There’s so much to see from Luxo at the top of the sculpture to the intricate details in the animated filmstrip at the bottom. Do you see the references to CoCo, Inside Out and Ratatouille?
Credit: Fullon Hotel, Taipei City, Taiwan
For more information about this impressive festival, click here.
