We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tony Cheatom a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Tony thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I believe I was blessed with the best parents as they were always supportive of all my creative endeavors thru the years. When I was around 7 I would free hand the comic strips from the Sunday paper. I remember my father would be amazed at how I could just see something and reproduce it. So that Christmas I got a sketch book and two sets of pencils. The next year after I showed interest in painting I received oils and brushes. My parents have always been there to support anything creative I show a passion for.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

A little about myself. I am the first son of a 31 year Army veteran. I was born in Heidelberg, Germany February 8th, 1968. I spent from 8 to 13 in Europe and formed a passion from music and art. Moved to Washington State at 13 and have lived all over the US since high school. I learned the art of sculpting sand and the craft of public art from Scott B. Dosch in Venice Beach CA in the spring of 1994. Most of the creative part came from my lord and savior but the craft I learned from Scott. How to create the form. How to engage people, being aware of them and sculpting at the same time. The importance of detail in the focal point of the piece. Most importantly the use of indigenous sand and water. No additives or supports. Prue sand sculpture.
From Venice I went up the coast to Carmel and San Francisco. Left San Francisco in the winter of 1996 back to Washington to visit family and it 26 years before I was able to get back to sand sculpture. Now in Santa Barbara I’m back on the beach sculpting again. I say I have the best office in the world!
The interaction with people and the process of creating a sculpture is why I do what I do. When the piece is done I lose interest in it. People ask me if it bothers me that there only temporary. No, I think the temporary aspect is the beauty of sand sculpture.
I’m truly blessed to be in a place that supports artists like Santa Barbara. The city and the people have been welcoming and super supportive and I can not thank Santa Barbara enough.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The mission is to share my gifts with the people. I believe everyone was blessed with certain gifts to share with the world. Mine happen to be creative and the public art aspect of sand sculpture lets anyone enjoy the work.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

As I’m still building my audience on social media content is the most important thing for me. Not just of my sculpture work but of my life as a public artist. For me the addition of what I do in my downtime has grown my social media presence more than anything else I have done.

Contact Info:

• Website: sandmanSB
• Instagram: santabarbarasandman
• Facebook: Tony Cheatom
• Linkedin: Tony Cheatom

Image Credits
©Brian Kuhlmann Pictures, Inc.