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, and work together to create amazing results.
1996
-Created the Sand in the City® event, Portland, OR. Trucked 200 tons of sand into Pioneer Square, and 20 local business' teams competed for bragging rights; profits benefitted a local nonprofit. Teams received professional instruction on the art and science 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 throughout the coming years.
​
- Entered and won his first pumpkin carving contest at Seattle Center.
​
- Left job to work full-time as 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-the event is a success!
​​
- 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, etc.
​
- Elected to the Board of the Sand Sculpture Society @ World Championship.
- Began carving pumpkins for charity auctions.
​
​- Convinced hotels to offer free rooms to sculptors and
added Chainsaw Carving to the event;
crowd size swelled to 12,000.
​
- 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;
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 Oregon Merchants hired Bert to assist
with event. 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.
50,000 spectators came out to watch the Masters and
70+ local amateur 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
engage people in the ephemeral arts through
teaching, demonstrations, competitions, and events
for the benefit of our communities.
​2015 - Began hosting team-building one-day events
for Nike, Google, Yahoo, Intel, HP, etc.
- Started creating sand sculptures for
Hood To Coast event clients:
Barefoot Wines, Full Sail Ale, Providence
Hospitals' Finish Cancer Program, Nike, etc.
