Cowell Beach acted as a canvas for Santa Cruz-based and internationally renowned artists Jim Denevan and son Brighton Denevan as their sand art titled “The Pyramids” neared completion Tuesday.

More than 300 volunteers helped the pair create the playful and literal homage to the Great Pyramid in Giza, Egypt, as part of Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History’s CommonGround festival. CommonGround is a 10-day event biennial celebration of place-inspired, outdoor artworks hosted in locations throughout Santa Cruz County. The installations taking place at downtown plazas, local beaches, forested hillsides and iconic landmarks focus on temporary and performative public art projects with site-responsive installations and interventions, connecting people, stories and landscapes.

The Denevans’ sand sculpture spans 160 feet in diameter, with 220 pyramids framed naturally by the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf and the ocean, and will remain on view to the public until Sunday or until it disappears as a result of environmental forces or human intervention.

The father and son are internationally recognized land artists. Jim Denevan has created temporary land drawings and sculptures all around the world, with his work featured in many national publications. Jim Denevan’s participatory practice in inviting and engaging members of local communities to participate in the construction of his large-scale installations, carries great significance in Santa Cruz — his and Brighton’s hometown — where people they have known for many years, including close family, participate.