Images from World Championship of Sand Sculpting 2010

Sculptors from around the world turned piles of sand into beautiful (but temporary) art at the World Championship of Sand Sculpting

Check out some images from the event taken by Jim Seida and shown by the msnbc.com site

"Magnetic Feels" was built by Fergus Mulvaney of Ireland

Helena Bangert from Amsterdam blows loose sand off her piece, "Walking Through."

The back side of "Connected," a Seattle-themed sculpture, shows the Space Needle, Mount Rainier and rain pouring out of clouds

The face seen in "Facing the Negative" by Wilfred Stiger of the Netherlands is actually a concave part of the sculpture, rather than convex, so it appears lit from below

Tacoma, Wash., sculptor Sue McGrew works on "Noh Trifater."

Dan Belcher of St. Louis runs around his solo sculpture, "Icarus II"

Nicola Wood, left, uses a trowel to smooth the base of Team Machas' sculpture, "Dream Like You'll Live Forever. Live Like You'll Die Tomorrow." Meanwhile, teammate Arianne Van Rosmalen carves small figures and Marielle Heesels sprays them with a water-glue mixture to keep them from blowing away after the water dries. The sculpture, a tribute to a team member who passed away earlier this year, won first place in the teams division.

Damon Langlois of Victoria, B.C., puts finishing touches on Team Sand Boxers' "Connected," a Pacific Northwest-themed sculpture

Joris Kivits from the Netherlands contributed "Puzzled" to the competition

Brit Paul Hoggard sculpted this elephant using a technique called "soft pack," which means he didn't use any forms when packing the sand

"Krazy" the clown was inspired by a character in a movie that Quebec's Marc Lepire watched with his son. The day before this photo was taken, the clown had hair on both sides of his head, but a bird landed on one side and collapsed that part of the sculpture. Lepire compensated by carving the skull open and exposing the clown's brains

Quebec-based sculptor Marc Lepire works on his piece, "Krazy."

Uldis Zarins of Latvia sculpted a piece called "It Was Just a Bad Dream."

Damon Farmer from Kentucky conceived and built "To be Revealed."

Benjamin Probanza of Mexico decided to call his sculpture "Untitled."

"Whirlwind" by Thomas Koet of Florida won first place in the solo division

Joo Heng Tan of Singapore sprays his untitled sculpture with a mixture of glue and water to protect it from the elements

"Distance Gives Perspective," which won first place in the doubles division, was sculpted by Martijn Rijerse from the Netherlands and Hanneke Supply of Belgium

Amazing works. Ephemeral... Here we see the power of photos and films that can freeze in time this kind of art so we can appreciate it

Also, check out the video with some behind the scenes on the creative process of sand sculpting