Soča Sand Artist: Stanka Golob
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The world in pastel colors
It is on the stairs, on the closet shelves, in the living room, everywhere. Sand. No, you are not in a desert but in the studio of the only sand artist in the village, in Slovenia, in Europe. For Stanka Golob it all started with sand, and as it turns out this loose material remains the thread of her life. As a child she often sat in front of the house and used a stick to draw various sand images, which she later moved onto the canvas.
Welcome to the sand laboratory
Stanka is a sand artist. Instead of a paint brush she uses sand to create art. However, this sand technique is not new. The Navajo tribe, Tibetan monks, and Stanka Golob; They are all sand enthusiasts who use sand for artistic purposes. Stanka’s uniqueness lies in her full-hearted faithfulness to the medium. Her art pieces are made entirely out of sand composed of natural colors and different thicknesses. Every grain of sand is hand picked; from Baška Grapa to the emerald waters of Soča river and all the way to Pohorje mountain range in Eastern Slovenia. Wherever she goes, a bucket, a shovel, a hoe, and a sieve go with her. When searching for sand, Stanka pays attention to the rocks on the banks of rivers, streams, slopes along path, and even at construction sites. At home she rinses the grains of sand in water until they are spotless. Afterwards, she filters it and repeats the process until the last, most delicate fragments are sorted. Then she places them into different containers according to their shade and thickness. She owns over sixty different natural shades, carefully kept in her winter studio. Et voila: you have Slovenia blended into one piece of art. Can you ask for a more authentic souvenir?
Stanka’s sand laboratory is located in a small attic room. Every available corner of the cramped room is covered with glass jars filled with sand. It feels like entering a wonderland of pastel shades. In the corner of the room, right next to a small window, stands the table where the magic happens. The first step in her process is to draw a detailed sketch. Subsequently, she must determine the right thickness and the appropriate shade of sand for every part of the piece. She then sits down on a chair, fixes her beret, and applies a thin layer of glue on a small area of the canvas. With a pinch of sand in her hand, she carefully sprinkles a layer on the canvas. Suddenly all the apparent clutter in the room turns into a thoughtful system and the picture slowly starts to show perfectly precise lines.
Living on her land
Stanka’s home and studio are located in the village Grahovo ob Bači, a very remote and often forgotten part of Slovenia. This unique, authentic place has strong character. The slender and winding road brings you up to the wild place of Baška Grapa. It is a 30 kilometers long narrow valley squeezed along the river Bača and covered with a few scattered small villages. Steep slopes keep this area shady for almost all winter. A truly wonderful surprise and contrast to the valley below are the villages above it. Still, because of its remoteness, many young people have left to find work in nearby towns. Some villages are slowly dying.
The hard, unspoiled land, surrounded by steep stone walls, has shaped the unique personalities of its inhabitants. This witty artist definitely cannot be stuffed into a box. Stanka is a straightforward woman with an authentic Grapa dialect. She grew up on a farm, accustomed to the hard village life without proper art education. Nevertheless, nature inspired her. She soon recognized her artistic gift and passion for drawing. After primary school she enrolled in a textile school in Ljubljana where she acquired some basic knowledge for drawing and color combinations. Her family saw her potential and encouraged her to continue art studies in Ljubljana. However, Stanka decided to return to Baška Grapa, start a family and a gardening business alongside her husband. At first, painting was merely a hobby. In the seventeen years they ran the garden; she never went on summer vacation. Instead, she preferred to use this time for ten-day summer art courses, and on weekends she attended one-day workshops in Ljubljana. Since retiring, she took her painting to a more professional level. She upgraded her long, self-taught, informal education by enrolling and graduating from the College of visual arts in Ljubljana. But what triggered this sand obsession?
The love at first stone
Stanka first started experimenting with sand in 1994 when she found a beautiful black stone with white patterns in the Bača river. She was immediately inspired and decided to place the stone as a centerpiece of the painting. However, she felt no color suited the stone properly, so she used the sand from the Soča river that her husband kept in front of their house for masonry instead. She soon noticed that the sand was too thick, taking away from the samples’ strength and uniqueness, so she filtered it through a tea strainer. Then she arranged the sand from the tiniest to the largest and was pleased by the result. It was love at first sight. The motifs in her paintings are often stylized, mystical. She loves to play with geometrical illusions, and sometimes she even paints portraits, although just the ones she chooses. Still, most often, she depicts Slovenian landscapes, especially the surroundings of her native Baška Grapa.
The circle is complete. Gathering, sorting, and creating ‘till the last grain of sand is put into place. In a way the sand is returned to its source.
Photos: Stanka Golob personal archive
