Found Art: Strange Flower by Jennifer Maestre

Some artists are defined by their medium. Maynard sculptor Jennifer Maestre, for example, works almost exclusively with colored pencils. Rather than draw with them, though, she cuts them down to stubs, sharpens them to a fine point, and sews them together to create dynamic works that look like animals and flowers. Maestre developed her technique after graduating from MassArt in the late ’90s. Fascinated by sea urchins, she first explored sculpture using nails and window screens in an attempt to mimic the animal’s look, but found that pencils were more versatile and colorful. This work, Strange Flower, began as a starfish and grew organically from there. “Generally, I work pretty abstractly,” says Maestre, whose sculptures sometimes require more than 500 pencils. “Some things are based on animals, but not a specific animal. It’s more about the presence or gesture of the animal.”

Strange Flower, $5,900, jennifermaestre.com.