Layered Sand Art by Andrew Clemens | Style Imitating Art

The new year is here and it is time to share some new art for our bi-weekly style challenge.

About Style Imitating Art

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge, and Marsha of Marsha in the Middle. Style Imitating Art challenges us to draw style inspiration from pieces of art. Every other Monday, one of the hosts, acting as presenter, selects an inspiration image that they will each post on their blogs. The following Monday, each host shares her art inspired outfit. Participants are invited to submit their art inspired outfits to the presenter by 10:00 p.m. EST on the Tuesday following the hosts’ art inspired outfit posts. The following day, Wednesday, the presenter will share all of the submissions on her blog.

You don’t have to be a blogger to join either! In fact, you don’t even have to join but you can still use the art to inspire an outfit just for the sake of trying something different. If you want to share your inspired outfit, we invite you do so on Instagram or any other social media platform that you prefer. Just be sure to tag Salazar, Shelbee, or Marsha or use #TeamLOTSStyle and #StyleImitatingArt so the hosts know you have joined. Go have some fun in your closets and join the SIA challenge next week!

This Week’s Presenter

Wanting something unique to start the year, Salazar chose this week’s very fascinating artwork, the layered sand bottles of Iowan artist Andrew Clemens (1857 – 1894). He layered sands of different natural colors to create amazingly intricate patterns and pictures including names, dates, and other text, in pharmaceutical bottles, without glue or any kind of binding material at all. During his lifetime, his sand bottles sold for around $5-7 (approximately $250 in today’s money). However, one of his sand bottles, featuring an almost photographic depiction of 5 year old Orrin “O.T.” Fuller of Savanna, Illinois, was sold in 2021 for nearly $1 million. The graphic quality of the bottles and the rich, deep colors of the sand are wonderful inspiration for creating a midwinter outfit.

The Artwork

Layered Sand Art by Andrew Clemens

I am so intrigued by this incredibly detailed art form and I absolutely adore the natural colors of the sand. I am excited to get started on an outfit representing these amazing sand bottles. If you would like to join us with your own outfit inspired by Andrew Clemens’s layered sand art to be featured in Salazar’s review post on Wednesday, January 15, 2025, please be sure to send your photos to 14shadesofgreyblog@gmail.com by 10:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, January 14, 2025.

Happy styling! 

Keeping it on the edge, 

Shelbee

Link Parties to Join!