The idea of Ephemeral Art Works began over 40 years ago, when Master Sculptor & Engineer Bert Adams began playing in the California sand. He won 1st place at the Carmel Beach Contest, and never looked back.
After years spent becoming a Master Sand Sculptor, Bert turned his imagination to his goal of harnessing his love of ephemeral art work and creating innovative ways for individuals, groups, and nonprofits to benefit from fantastic events.
1982 - Entered and won the Carmel Sand Sculpture
contest with his brother and 4 friends. ​
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1990 - Earned B.S. in Electronic Engineering from Cal Poly;
employed by National Semiconductor as a Marketing & Sales Engineer.​
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1991- Began participating in local sculpture contests.
By necessity, Bert learned to organize and teach others to form sculpture teams.
1996 - Created the Sand in the City contest, first hosted in Portland, OR.
Designed to raise money for nonprofits and broaden community awareness,
the event trucked 200 tons of sand into a downtown square and hosted
a contest for corporate employee teams. After paying an entry fee,
teams received instruction, coaching, practice and lessons on
the art and technique of sand sculpture.
- Brought Sand In The City to nonprofits around the USA & El Salvador,
netting between $50k-$250k/event. Just as importantly, the nonprofits
grew their supportive community more throughout the coming years.
- Began working as Organizer at Harrison Hot Springs'
Sand Sculpture World Championship, and served as Beach Master.
- Entered and won his first pumpkin carving contest at Seattle Center.
- Left National Semiconductor to be a full-time sand sculpture
contest organizer and sculptor.
1994 - Organized a contest in Santa Cruz, CA, wherein any school, church,
or nonprofit could enter. Each group was matched with a Master Sculptor
from Canada's Harrison Hot Springs Sand Sculpture contest.
This event is a success!
13 nonprofits earn over $12k for their sand sculptures.
- Moved to Vancouver, WA for Semiconductor Sales Engineer job;
continued visiting the World Championship contests to
recruit talent and improve carving techniques.
- Began carving with the Orbital Sanders Master Sand Sculpture team,
placing and winning over the years at Cannon Beach,
Ocean Shores, Long Beach, Canada, etc.
1997 - Began working with Coastal City events:
Ocean Shores Sand & Sawdust Festival;
​eventually with Long Beach WA Sandsations, Lincoln City OR Sandcastle Contest...
- Elected to the Board of the Sand Sculpture Society @ World Championship.
- Began carving pumpkins for charity auctions.
​
1998 - Worked with Ocean Shores contract to promote and organize. Convinced hotels to offer free rooms to sculptors and
added Chainsaw Carving to the event;
crowd size swelled to 12,000.
- Bert's carved pumpkins earned $700 for a charity auction.
- Bert visited Mazatlan, Mexico - the 1st place prize from Seattle's
Ruby Montana Spam Carving contest. While there, he made a few
small sand sculptures. The public loved them, and tossed tip money!
He began planning to return….
1999 - Sand in the City voted Portland’s Best Team Building Experience.
Title Sponsorships go for $15,000,
with major sponsorships at $7,500.
- Ocean Shores Sand & Sawdust Arts Festival hotels sold out;
lots of local participation and sponsorship. Crowd size 20,000+.
- Lincoln City OR’s Bay Area Merchants Association hired Bert to assist
with their contest. Teams increased to 37, and crowd size to 6,000.
2000 - Began wintering in Mazatlan and organized
Mazatlan's Artist de Arena Concurso, hosting Master Sculptors from
around the world. At its zenith, contest brought 50k spectators out
to watch the Masters, 70+ local teams alongside 10+ sponsors.
- Ended involvement with Portland, OR to expand
Sand in the City to other cities.
2020: Began busking in Seaside, Oregon
during summertime, continuing to this day.
2017 - McMenamins Restaurants worked with Bert to create the
Poor Farm Pumpkin Patch, a family-friendly pumpkin-carving
Masters' competition, including a small pumpkin patch
for folks to pick from, and tables and tools for carving.​​​​​​
2021 - Began Seaside SandFest event;
offering FREE LESSONS for the public
at Lesson Beach.
Each year, SandFest continues to become
bigger and better.
2025
Formed Ephemeral Art Works to better serve the ephemeral arts community
by offering instruction, demonstrations,
competitions and other events,
all for the benefit of the communities they serve.
​2015 - Began hosting team-building one-day events for
Nike, Google, Yahoo, Intel, HP...
- Started creating sand sculptures for Hood To Coast
event clients: Barefoot Wines, Full Sail Ale, Providence
Hospitals' Finish Cancer Program, Nike...
