A sand-sational day
Celebrate the Cascade Head Biosphere at two events in Lincoln City
Originally designated in 1976, the newly reauthorized Cascade Head Biosphere Region includes the Salmon River and Estuary, the Cascade Head Marine Reserve and the City of Lincoln City. The Cascade Head Biosphere Region has a prolific diversity of wildlife including black bears, cougars, bald eagles, peregrine falcons, five species of salmon, migrating gray and humpback whales and four federally listed endangered species: the spotted owl, marbled murrelet, coho salmon and Oregon silverspot butterfly.
Help celebrate Oregon’s last remaining UNESCO Biosphere Region this Saturday, Aug 5, with “Art on the Beach,” a community sand art competition in the day, then “The Great Upwelling, and what it means to you,” an evening of science and art at the Chinook Winds Casino Resort.
For more information about either event, go to cascadehead.org.
Art on the Beach
This unique contest meets at the intersection of art and nature, encouraging participants to bring the magic of Oregon's UNESCO Biosphere Region and Marine Reserve at Cascade Head to life on the sand. There will be cash and other prizes for the lucky winners.
Artists of all ages and experience can use sticks and rakes to create sand art featuring their favorite creatures of the ocean like octopus, crabs or seals—or even to represent the competition’s theme of upwelling, an oceanographic phenomenon that brings dense, cooler and more nutrient-rich water from the ocean’s depths towards the surface.
No previous experience is required and there will be extra rakes available at the site.
Sand art is different from traditional sand castle building in that the artists utilize rakes to create art that transforms beach surfaces into large-scale, ephemeral masterpieces. Artists rake the sand into patterns and shapes, creating everything from simple geometrical designs to complex and stunning representations of natural or abstract themes.
Duncan Berry, co-director at Cascade Head Biosphere Collaborative and serving as the event’s featured artist, will be joined by a team of volunteer rakers to create a large sand masterpiece spelling out "BIOSPHERE," illustrating the theme of upwelling. Contestants are invited to join the celebration by creating their own sand art masterpieces within an allotted 20'x20' area—that's 400 square feet or 400 million grains of sand to play with!
The competition is open to teams of four or fewer, and participants will have up to two hours to craft their creations before a panel of judges evaluates the sand art. Judging will take place at 10:30 am. Prizes will be awarded for the most outstanding creation. A suggested donation of $20 per team will support the Cascade Head Biosphere Collaborative.
The event will take place at 8:30 am at the Roads End State Recreation Area on Logan Road in Lincoln City. Look for the white event tent to sign in.
The Great Upwelling
An evening of science and art presented by oceanography Professor Jack Barth of Oregon State University and oceanic artist, Duncan Berry.
Barth is the executive director of the OSU Marine Studies Initiative. He will explain how summertime winds out of the north drive ocean currents that bring nutrients up in to the surface light zone and fuel our amazing ocean food web off the Oregon coast.
Berry will compliment this presentation with his artistic impressions as art illuminates science in ways only it can.
A lucky winner of the door prize will go home with a gyotaku print of the Giant Pacific Octopus, compliments of By Land + By Sea + By Air.
The event is from 6:30 to 8 pm in the Takelma Room at the Chinook Winds Casino Resort, located at 1777 Northwest 44th Street.