Each year approximately half a million people come to view the works of over 100 Australian and international artists. Among the most popular works for Bondi 2011 were Simon McGrath’s ‘Who left the tap running’ and Ken Unsworth’s fibreglass skeleton.

In 2005 the event expanded to Cottesloe, Perth and in 2009, Sculpture by the Sea, Aarhus, Denmark was launched under the patronage of The Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Denmark.

Here, we profile just a few of the beautiful designs, with interviews of some of the artists as they discuss their ideas behind the artworks.

• German artists Benjamin Storch and Georg Mayerhanser


• Japanese artists Zero Higashida and Keizo Ushio 


• American artists Peter Lundberg and Lee Tribe


• Australian artist Paul Selwood and Italian artist Alessandra Rossi

Paul Selwood was awarded the 2011 Balnaves Foundation Sculpture Prize of $65,000, the most generous prize for sculpture in NSW, with his winning sculpture gifted by the Balnaves Foundation to the Royal Botanical Gardens.

Alessandra Rossi was one of three recipients of the 2011 Helen Lempriere Scholarship, which comes with a $30,000 prize to further her artistic development.