F&E Says ‘Don’t Mess With Texas’

F&E Says ‘Don’t Mess With Texas’

BY LISA NUTTING
Rice News Staff
June 25, 1998

Rice’s Department of Facilities and Engineering’s entry in the AIA Sandcastle
Competition, "Don’t Mess With Texas," featured a theme of Texas’ fight
for independence.

With 6,000 cubic feet of sand at their fingertips, about 20 employees from
the Department of Facilities and Engineering and their families sculpted an
entry for the 12th annual AIA Sandcastle Competition, held June 6 on a stretch
of Galveston Island’s East Beach.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) competition drew a seemingly endless
stream of onlookers, who strolled up and down the beach throughout the day to
view the variety of sculptures.

The Rice group’s sculpture, named "Don’t Mess With Texas," featured
a theme of Texas’ Fight for Independence.

President Clinton, characters from "South Park" and Volkswagen "Beetles"
were other common themes found among the 75 team sculptures.

Some participants arrived at East Beach as early as dawn, armed with rakes,
buckets, brooms and wheelbarrows to prepare for their sculpting endeavor. Teams
began actual sculpting at 11 a.m. and completed their sculptures by 4 p.m.,
the judging hour.

Though "Don’t Mess With Texas" didn’t place in the competition, Bill
Tomlinson, staff architect and organizer of the Rice team, said, "We do
definitely plan to enter next year, for everyone had a great time sculpting
sand and socializing together."

This year’s competition was the first the Department of Facilities and Engineering
has entered. A department committee spent three weeks reviewing sculpture ideas
and sketches submitted; ultimately voting for Larry Miggins’ "Don’t Mess
With Texas" theme. Miggins, an engineering technician, and Patricia Seller-Wolff,
an architecture records analyst, worked on the final drawings. Linda Humphreys,
a senior LAN specialist, then built a clay model of the San Jacinto Mon-ument,
so the team could see a three-dimensional view of the sculpture.

"The event was great fun for all," Tomlinson added, "and we
plan to make it even bigger next year, bringing our large F&E barbecue smoker
and making it a big party while sculpting the sand."

The AIA sand creations were judged by a panel of design professionals based
on originality of concept, artistic execution, technical difficulty, carving
techniques and use of the site.

"The Day the Grinch Stole Summer" won as overall best sculpture,
earning Corgan Associates the Golden Bucket, which is engraved with the names
of past winners.