a sandcastle on campus / guerrilla art

I was walking home for working out yesterday when I saw this big mound of sand just sitting there beside the sidewalk. I thought "wouldn't it be fun to make a sandcastle?" "I haven't done that in forever." I thought about it for awhile & what people would think of me, but then I just went for it – right in the middle of the University of Texas at Austin campus at 25th & Whitis. The sand was there because they're doing a little construction at the Communications building. They're a dumpster & some fence on the road beside this big pile of sand ... it was really fun.

It took me a few hours to build the castle (a half-castle really - the rest of the sand pile is still raw & natural). I know that it will probably be destroyed soon - either by the construction crew using the sand or some random person going in and squashing it. It'll be neat to see how long it stands there. I made a little flag out of a scrap of paper I found on a poster kiosk. I thought yellow would be good color with some green tacks - to represent joy & playfulness ... bringing that playfulness to a campus that can be pretty serious & adult-like. That's where all the beauty-full artwork comes from - in the architecture, in design, in film, in writing, etc. ... when folks are being playful and experimenting with their medium/environment ... looking at something in new ways with fascination, curiosity and a little creativity.

Maybe I can bring that to the UT campus, if not a few smiles as people walk to class & work.
:)