Victor Degraff

Victor's Website

Victor DeGraff established the Sands of Time studio in Cobden, Illinois in 1980. There he developed a technique of using all natural colored sands to make permanent sand paintings. He was drawn to the southern Illinois area due to the abundance of natural colored sandstone in the area. Not restricted to that area, he has gathered sands from all parts of the United States, as well as traded sand colors with members of the International Sand Collectors Society’s some 1500 members. Some of the more vibrant colors come from minerals like azurite, sodalite, etc. collected by a fellow sand painter in South Africa. In September of 2004 he exhibited several sand paintings in an international exhibit in at the Mossel Bay Draft Art Workshop in South Africa. He has also exhibited at a number of shows in the Chicago area before moving to the Cobden area. His work has also been shown at several places in the Carbondale area. Larger paintings are done on canvas while smaller ones are done on masonite. All paintings have handmade features that are keyed to the colors of the paintings. Subject matters are graphic design, landscapes, shore birds, cave paintings, and some three dimensional subjects. Although the Indians of our southwest are noted for their sand paintings, DeGraff prefers not to copy their designs, but to use this ancient art form to establish permanent paintings using contemporary designs and forms.