A South African-born, Massachusetts-based artist, Jennifer Maestre is known for her unique pencil sculptures. She derives most of her inspiration from the form and texture of the sea urchin.

Skillfully crafted from hundreds and hundreds of colored pencils, they’re cut into one inch pieces, sharpened and then drilled through to become beads, and then sewn together using a peyote stitch. In each of these incredible works you can feel the approach-avoid paradox from her medium –a clear and surprising achievement (and one of her goals). Meet some of her best artworks below.

Article Courtesy of Oddee.com

Originally published on onesmallseed.net on June 4 2009 by Jessica Manim