Born in Cleveland Ohio, Greg Mills is a Master Sculptor of Sand. Mr. Mills moved to Bowling Green in 1983 to be a teach Civil Engineering Technology. He began his interest in sculpture spending his Saturday mornings in his younger years at the Cleveland Art Museum, taking classes in art and sketching and later Became a professional engineer.

He said, “It allowed me to jump into the sculpting, it is one of my passions. Golf is another.” Greg said that his Mother is very artistic and good in math too which brought both together. “It is analytical, and I use art for relaxation.” .

A graduate of the University of Dayton, his professors encouraged him to take a double major to include art. “I was inspired by their encouragement.”

During the snowy winters in Cleveland, instead of snowmen Greg Mills and his friends sculpted camels, dragons, Santa heads, dogs, igloo’s and other sculptures out of the snow. “This was the beginning of my learning how to carve in 3-D”, stated Greg.

The first Bowling Green sand sculpture fund raiser for Kids on the Block was in 2001 called “Sand in the City”. Bert Adams began the Sand in the City in 2001 and continued through 2005.

Alice Kummer asked Mr. Mills to be one of the engineers to figure out the volume and form work for the sand sculptures. There is one architect or engineer to assist the teams with drawing up their plans and helping the competitors to see what their piece will look like before it begins.

In 2006 the format changed drastically becoming “the Festival of Sand”. Before they had only six hours to pound out the sand with forms and tools and then make their sculpture. The change was mainly a matter of safety. It was hectic and dangerous with everyone running around, shoveling sand and trying to meet this unrealistic deadline. Now the sand is set the day before and the competitors have the day of the event to just work on the art piece. Also they used to have five cubic yards of sand to work with. Now ten tons of sand is available for each team. Their work is bigger, more elaborate, and a more prestigious showpiece. Now Thursday is a nice relaxed, congenial, party atmosphere. “It really helped to add this extra evening to prepare the sand.”

This years Festival of Sand will begin on August 10th as the competing teams will sculpt their already pounded blocks of sand. On the 11th the public is invited to come view these works of art in sand.

I asked Greg Mills if they coated the work with something, as the rain doesn’t wash it away as I expected that it would. He said, “It’s just sand and water and a lot of compacting. “With the proper moisture content and enough compacting they hold up to a rain shower rather well.” He also told me that the fine grain sand here contains a small amount of clay that helps the cohesion.

Greg Mills is a master sculptor that works in competitions all over the country. He has worked on sand sculptures in Omaha Nebraska for three years fund raising for the Nebraska Children’s Home, two years for an Ottumwa, Iowa event benefiting the Bridgeview Center, and in Paducah, KY twice benefiting the River Museum.

At the competition on Friday, August 10th, the masters have two or three teams that they will give pointers to and show them how to make their sculpture stand out more but can give only minor assistance. They cannot carve. On Saturday when people are viewing what the competing teams have created, the masters will be working on their own piece that the public can watch being created.

“When I retire I plan to enter a lot of these competitions around the country, doing individual work instead of with a team. In the meantime I will continue to develop my skills.” said Greg.

During the six years he has competed in the Bowling Green Sand sculpting competition with a team, they won first place twice and second place once.

July 26th. & 27th., he will be doing a sand sculpture at the Greenwood Mall (view video) near the carousel entrance. He will be easiest to catch working in the evening.

On Thursday, August 9th he will be at the old Mall doing another centerpiece. The work will continue through the weekend.

You can contact Mr. Mills at kentuckysandsculptor@yahoo.com

Mr. Mills leaves us with these words: “Sand sculpture is a way to use your creative energy to create a work of art that is enjoyed by many individuals using a medium that is fun to work with and yet without permanents.

Ronnie Jaggers has been a master crafter and fine artist for years. Her work can be seen on http://Chiseled-Features.com. She reminds other artists “Trust the beauty of your art, for if you see the beauty, others will too.” To be considered for the featured artist call Ronnie at 791-3505 or email ronnie@chiseled-features.com