Sep 23, 2015

Forget paper airplanes and doodles – artist Jonathan Clark turns sticky notes, number two pencils and other office supplies into masterpieces.

His work, on display at College of the Mainland through Oct. 31, turns the ordinary into whimsical.

In the centerpiece of his exhibit, 1,400 pencils combine into a mammoth pencil spiraling a curlicue across the display’s expanse.

Clark said the idea come from “observing nature and realizing it has a hexagonal quality.”

A single pencil inspired him.

In the display, a giant pencil leaves ample pink evidence of erasures while another traces hexagons.

"I’ve intentionally left one (four-foot pencil) incomplete so you can see it formed around one pencil,” said Clark.

Hexagons also intrigue him in his works constructing magnetic post-it notes into honeycomb-like patterns.

“I feel like I’m never going to get writer’s block. (Art) never gets old. It’s relating what I'm doing to everything’s that around,” said Clark. “Some of these (pieces) are so playful that kids, adults, the elderly try to pick them up and play with them.”

Clark’s other works include landscape art, installation art and art from repurposed materials such as a giant fork out of chopsticks.

Clark recently completed a residency at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from University of Houston.

For more information, call 409-933-8345.