A sand enthusiast - and a creative idea

I’m not at all clear why it should be so, but it seems to be a fact that continental Europe is home to far more people who enjoy the fascination, beauty, and diversity of the sands of the world than is, even in proportion to population, the UK. I’ve written a little about sand enthusiasts, arenophiles, before, and those whom I have encountered, even virtually, are Italian, French, German, and, in particular, Dutch. My own very modest collection has been very much enhanced and augmented by the generosity of two Dutch collectors, one of whom I shall focus on today. Carla has not only sent me a wide-ranging selection of samples, but also pointed to beaches of interest along the French Atlantic coast prior to my grand expedition last year – for example, the spectacular garnet placer sands of Bretignolles. She and I continue to share information and ideas by email, and not long ago she wrote that she and her husband were off to Utrecht for a special “sand day” put on by a couple of the local geological societies. I was impressed to learn that there was sufficient general interest to organize this kind of thing – has there ever been such an event in the UK? But I was further impressed to see what Carla and her husband had prepared for the exhibition: six display boxes, each on a different sand theme –  and each with descriptions of origins, uses, minerals, and organisms of the sands displayed. These are not only beautifully and thoughtfully made, but they are highly informative, educational and attention-grabbing – three examples are shown at the head of this post (click on the image to enlarge). Of course, the text is in Dutch, but visual quality and effect is visible to anyone. Here's the detail of part of the display on mineral sands:

I asked Carla if she would describe the ideas behind these boxes and the way they are put together. Here’s what she wrote (and, by the way, she confesses concern about her English – I’m sure that any reader will agree that Carla’s command of a non-native language puts the rest of us to shame… And I had to check on passe-partout: it’s what is otherwise referred to as card mat, or mountboard, used in framing)

My exhibition boxes (size 35 x 45 x 5 cm)

As my sand collection has grown to almost 13.000 samples I felt the urge to finally think up something more useful to do with the sand samples than what I did before. The choice of sand samples is now quite extensive. So….why should I not bring more people into contact with this material in all its aspects by showing them a varied choice of samples together with some text and pictures, so they will never again say: “Isn’t sand just sand?”

By means of several self-made exhibition boxes I can show people many different types of sand samples: (heavy) mineral samples, biogenic samples, desert samples, river samples, etc.

More boxes will follow next year, to start with one about the size and appearance of sand grains. Actually this will be the most important one of them all, but..well.. that’s how I am..

The self-made boxes have a painted wooden frame covered by a glass plate, which can be taken out by removing one of the top laths at the short side, which has been screwed on to the box for this purpose.

The lay-out inside contains a passe-partout (the kind to frame photographs), in a colour matching the samples (desert sands!). Several quadrangles have been cut out for text and pictures. Some pictures are my macro photographs of sand. Because I do not always carry a microscope this is a good alternative for people to get an idea of the kind of sand.

I fixed the plastic boxes with sand (micro mount boxes or a larger kind, often used for minerals, micro fossils, tiny crystals, beads, seeds) on to the passe-partout with pieces of double-sided tape.

The paper for the text is a special kind of paper which will not discolour. At least…..that’s what I have been told.

As the wooden boxes are not really very large I noticed its limits too well, but alas, my house is not a palace and one has to keep count with the available storage capacity. So size is important and, more or less to my regret, the additional information had to be rather brief. As a Dutch person I decided to use my own language as the purpose of the boxes is mainly to show them on occasional meetings or exhibitions here in the Netherlands.

Designing the boxes was actually great fun, every case got its own appearance. I hope people will start to think differently about sand after a close look at the contents.

Carla.

I think that this is fantastic, and can only salute her enthusiasm and creativity. She would also seem to be extremely well-organized – here are some photos of a minute part of her collection (and note how dramatically the sands of Australia, on the left, capture its geology, and contrast it with the composition of New Zealand, on the right).

So many thanks, Carla – and keep up the good work! Any closet emulators hiding in the UK, or do I have to go to the Netherlands?

I’ll finish with one of Carla’s stunning photos – the foraminifera Ammonia beccarii from Corsica, relatives of the critters that have appeared in some of my Sunday Sand series.

Comments

[F]

Beautiful. Positively stunning.

I would love to see that exhibit up close. I certainly would have loved being able to see something like that as a child.

[Sandglass]

F: glad that you agree with me - these really are attention-grabbing, and yes, I would think that they are a great way of capturing a kid's attention and stimulating an interest.

And thanks, as always, for your comments.

[Johndunnartist.blogspot.com]

Exquisite and beautiful. They wouldn't look out of place in a London gallery.
A great synthesis of art and science...

Do you think the Dutch are so liable to arenophilia because their country itself is so sensitive to sediment budgets!? (i've read your book. ;) )

[Sandglass]

John - thanks for the comment - and you may be right about the Dutch: a lot of sand moves around and across their country, whose very existence, as you say, depends on a balanced budget....