At Sand In Your Eye we don’t just make sand art, pumpkin carving and ice sculpture. We love to innovate and are always looking for the next exciting way to make our art. Also, much like the professional cyclists taking part in the Tour De Yorkshire we never say no to a challenge. It was to this end that artists from Sand In Your Eye found themselves sat on a chilly hillside in the moonlight as they created a unique light art animation in Kettlewell, in the Yorkshire Dales to celebrate the Tour De Yorkshire 2019.
In the past few years we have worked with the Tour to create some exciting pavement art and land art at the Cow & Calf stage through Ilkley and a Bradford Boar to greet the cyclists as they sped past Keelham Farm. Last year we plastered the roof of the Trinity Shopping Centre in Leeds with a giant yellow bike.
This year we have been very excited about light art, earlier this month we lit up the Piece Hall in Halifax as part of their sculpture season, we had so much fun we couldn’t wait to make some more.
With the TDY19 fast approaching what better way to celebrate those super humans peddling faster than the speed of light (or seeming to) than a stop motion animation created using long exposure photography and light painting. It is one of the first times that light painting has been animated.
Rich Spence explains “We chose Cam Gill Road, which is a crucial part of the stage 4 route (Cote de Park Rash) which will take place on the 5thMay.
There is a gruelling 1 in 4 incline out of Kettlewell that the cyclists have to endure whilst cycling through the wonderful Yorkshire Dales landscape. This will be the biggest climb of the day for the riders, 2.2km with an average of 10.5% gradient.”
“It took Rich and I over 6 hours in total darkness to create the animation with desending fog, wind and temperatures of around 4 degrees. We used light art as it is fleeting like the cyclists and has absolutely no trace or impact on the wonderous land scape that is the Yorkshire Dales. Animating light art is seemingly unique so this is a bit of innovation for us. The speed of the animation is roughly set at the speed the cyclists will travel on the day.” adds Jamie Wardley.
We will be taking a break from all the sand sculpture and sand drawing to watch the peloton whizz through our beautiful Yorkshire home this weekend – will you be joining us?
