Kurt Cohan sand creations are magnificent and temporary
by Miranda Steadman | Contributing Writer
If you mysteriously stumbled upon a massive sand mural on Folly Beach in 2023, Kurt Cohan was probably the culprit.
Cohan has made a spiritual practice out of creating art in the sand at low tide using a landscape rake. After viewing a creation of Cohan’s, a friend of his once commented, “Dude, it looks like an alien ship landed right here.” His murals have even stretched up to half the size of a football field.”
“Everyone is amazed at the size and how symmetrical they are,” said Cohan, who uses sticks and string as a geometric compass for his freehanded designs that feature sacred geometry like mandalas.
Cohan’s first raking was several years ago on a baseball field back home in Kentucky, where he grew micro greens and vegetables to sell on his urban farm. Two years ago, he lost his mother to lung cancer, and his business closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so he left Kentucky to travel along the Southeastern shore. Along his journey south, Cohan stopped in Kitty Hawk, Hatteras, Morehead City, Atlantic Beach, Surf City, Carolina Beach, Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach, and Pawleys Island. Cohan has now raked everywhere between here and the Outer Banks. On Folly Beach, Cohan has created sand art on both tips of the island. He enjoys raking at the County Park on Folly, as well as on the out by the Lighthouse Inlet Heritage Preserve. According to Cohan, his ideal spot to create murals on Folly Beach has to be the 13th block of Folly’s East side.
“Art is for everybody … It’s a process of creating art for everyone to participate and enjoy,” says Cohan, who has even gotten groups together to create murals on the beach.
Cohan says he draws inspiration from ancient symbols such as the Flower of Life, Tree of Life and Metatron. A recent creation of his was a large-scale Celtic knot. Cohan says he feels a connection to nature while working outside, which he learned from his mother, who was a gardener. But he believes that he inherited his artistic skill from his father.
“Anytime you can sit in nature and create art is time spent healing,” says Cohan. Part of his creative process is staying until his art is washed away by the ocean. He finds the impermanence of his art symbolic of the cycle of life.
“Deep in my heart, I just want love and peace for everybody,” says Cohan, who hopes to share his magical art with many more Folly beachgoers in 2024. He uses this time spent creating to harness good energy to project into the next year.
You can view more of Kurt Cohan’s majestic sand masterpieces on his Instagram page @sacred_sand_art.
