As a teenager Andrew became enamored with the colored sands found at Iowa's Picture Rocks park where water derived from the Mississippi river charged with various minerals pass through limestones staining them a range of colors.
Andrew brought home the sand and sorted the grains by size and color then began arranging them grain-by-grain inside glass bottles. Beginning with geometric shapes Andrew developed his craft, designed special tools for his art, and began creating extraordinarily detailed images with a great deal of subtlety in shading. The grains are not glued, rather, they are held in place inside the jars by pressure of tightly packed sand.
Andrew created images of George Washington on his horse, nautical scenes, flowers, local events, historical figures, flags, and geometric patterns, even words. At one point in his life Andrew worked for South Side Museum in Chicago creating designs with sand then smashing them to demonstrate there is no magic involved. But he received little recognition in his time. His genius largely unappreciated. It was not realized until later that Andrew actually invented a new art form and perfected it all by himself, and neither did Andrew himself seem to know his own art's worth. He sold his bottles for 50₵ to a few dollars. Now they are worth thousands. Many have been broken. Of the bottles that survived, not one grain has moved out of place.
Andrew died of tuberculosis at age thirty-seven.
Google Images [Andrew Clemens sand art]
https://www.google.com/search?q=andrew+clemens+sand+art&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=fwO5U92uHsunyATovILgBA&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1223&bih=589
