Sandman
June 22nd, 2004With the exception of a few widdled pieces of wood commanding higher prices then any rational consumer market should allow, The Antiques Roadshow seldom has the power to blow my mind. That is, until I saw the work of Andrew Clemens yesterday.
This 19th Century Iowan, who became deaf at the age of five, created the most intricate designs one could ever imagine out of tiny specks of colored sand and ordinary glass bottles. The technique he used to create such works as George Washington on Horseback must have required a phenomenal patience, which could only be born from a higher need for serenity and inner peace—that, or the guy was a total masochist.
Because the majority of the bottles that Clemens used were round-top drug jars, he painted his designs upside down. Clemens inserted the sand using a fish hook stick. The brushes were used to keep the picture straight. No glue was used in the process; the sand was only held in place by pressure from other sand grains. Once a design was completed and the bottle was full, the bottle was sealed with a stopper.
Clemens originally sold his sand paintings in the McGregor grocery store. A small bottle sold for $1; a larger personalized bottle sold for $6-$8.
I think the one on the show, which incorporated a realistic sand signature in the design, was estimated at a value of a couple thousand dollars. Given the nature of this seemingly lost art and the process involved, I believe it may have been grossly under priced.