A recent Instagram post of Peter Rabbit by the account Beach4Art received over 2.3 million views. When you first look at the picture it looks like a painting, but when you zoom in, you realize that it’s composed of seashells, rocks and other organic beach materials similar to an optical illusion.
The creators of the beach artwork, leva Slare and her husband Dzintars, along with their two teenage children, have been designing impressive beach art for the past four years on the North Devon, UK beaches. Twelve years ago, they moved to the UK from Latvia.
The beginnings of Beach4Art
Their creative endeavor began during the first UK lockdown of the pandemic in 2020. “It all started with just one very simple mandala project,” says Ieva. Her son asked for her help on an assigned school project to make a mandala from natural and recycled beach materials.
Since Ieva has an art degree, she was excited to help her son with his homework. His teacher and other teachers from his school were impressed with the final result. But looking back on it now, Ieva says it was simple compared to their current projects.
Besides the positive feedback about their first creation, the family enjoyed making it. “When we created this mandala, we realized how therapeutic and how relaxing this process is,” says Ieva. She also appreciated being outdoors.
So they decided to return to make more beach art. This time their artwork consisted of sea creatures—a shark, an octopus, a sea turtle and a starfish. Then, a few months later, they moved to a different beach and made a snail and a butterfly. She explains that she saw someone else had posted photos of their butterfly creation on Facebook. Under the post, Ieva read comments like, “You made our day, you made me smile and thank you whoever did this,” Ieva says. “We realized we needed to start something permanent, and this is how our visual art blog group was born.”
An artistic process guided by nature
The beach artwork is created once a week usually on Monday or Tuesdays. Ieva says that their creations require patience since they spend about six hours working on one. “Nonstop working without lunch and without breaks,” she says. Due to the natural setting, it’s not like typical artwork that you can start and finish later. They need to be aware of the tides so that their project doesn’t get washed away while they are still working on it. Once they have finished the project, it will eventually wash away with the tide. “It’s symbolic of our life cycle,” says Ieva.
The week before they create their beach artwork, Ieva will sketch some ideas. “We go to the beach with an idea of what we are going to do,” she says. Once they arrive, they then scope out the area to see what materials they have to work with that day. “Sometimes we need to change things,” says Dzintars. Then they draw a shape of the project in the sand and then collect items based on colors that they need.
The works are created on a public beach, so that can also be an issue. “We have had some disagreements with some dog owners,” says Ieva. The Slare family loves dogs, but when dog owners allow them to walk through their creation then their art is ruined. “Some [dog] owners get cross and say, ‘This is a public place, we can walk our dogs where we want,’” Ieva says.
Creating beach artwork that doesn’t leave a footprint
On their Instagram page, they state, “We hope to bring a joy and raise the spirit.” One person commented on their page, “Your site is one of the best things I’ve discovered on Instagram this year. So awe-inspiring and just makes my heart and soul happy.”
Even though most of the comments they receive are positive, some are not. People have accused them of using artificial intelligence (AI) or interfering with the environment by bringing their own materials. One person said that their pictures are AI since there aren’t any footprints around the beach artwork. Ieva says they use a watering can to get rid of the footprints. She also explains that they only use materials they find on the beach and never bring their own. They also don’t remove any materials unless it is plastic or other nonorganic materials.
In addition to sharing their photos on Instagram, they also sell signed photos on Etsy. Each photo is a limited edition with a set amount sold. Under the description of each picture, it will state how many are left, like 3/50, meaning there are only three left of 50 photos sold.
If you are thinking of starting your own artistic business, Ieva says it’s important to believe in yourself and your creativity. “You need to have a passion about what you like,” she says.
Photo courtesy of Beach4Art