Andrew Clemens (c. January 29, 1852 or 1857-ca. May 14, 1894) was a sand artist from the U.S. state of Iowa. Clemens created sand bottles, using a type of sandpainting to complete his pieces of sand.
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Andrew Clemens was born in Dubuque, Iowa, but sources differ on his year of birth, at least one source asserted his date of birth as January 25, 1852; other sources cited 1857 as his year of birth.[1][2][3] Clemens later lived in the McGregor, Iowa area and at a young age he suffered encephalitis and was rendered deaf.[1][4] At the age of 13 Clemens was entered into the State School for the Deaf and Dumb in Council Bluffs, Iowa.[1]
Clemens' sand art career blossomed during his summer vacations from the State School, when he would spend time honing his craft. He would collect naturally colored grains of sand from an area in Pikes Peak State Park known as Pictured Rocks. At Pictured Rocks, the basal portion of the sandstone near Sand Cave is naturally colored by iron stains.[5] Clemens separated the sand grains into piles, by color, and used them to form the basis for his art.[1]
To create his art he inserted the presorted grains of sand into small glass drug bottles using a fish hook. His process utilized no glue and pressure from the other sand grains alone held the artwork together. When Clemens completed a sand bottle he sealed the bottle with a stopper and wax.[1] At first, Clemens' work was simple and geometric in nature, diamond shaped patterns against an ivory white background was a regular motif in his earliest work.[6]
His technique improved gradually and eventually people wanted to buy his work, which now included overtones, shading and complex designs such as landscapes.[6] He created most of his work between 1880–1886 and is acknowledged as the inventor and possibly the sole practitioner of his art form.[7] During his lifetime, it is thought that Clemens produced hundreds of his sand bottles but few survive today.[3] The more complex subjects of Clemens' work ranged from boats, to flowers to flags and he often created custom bottles with scenes of his client's choosing. The most complex of his designs could take up to a year to complete.[3]
At the age of 19, following a fire at the State School, Clemens began to sell his creations in a grocery store in McGregor.[6] His artwork sold for $5–7 at the time.[2] Today, his bottles can sell for more than US$10,000. In 2004, a Clemens' sand art glass bottle sold for $12,075 at auction. At a more recent auction, a pair of his bottles were estimated to sell for $25,000-$35,000 but failed to sell.[3][8]
A funeral notice, circulated around McGregor when Clemens died, stated in part that his funeral was to be held on May 14, 1894, when Clemens was either 37 or 42 years old.[1][3][6]
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