Montrel Beverly recreates the biblical and art history with pipe cleaners

Montrel Beverly is an artist who’s USP is quite a unique one – he’s a sculptor who excels in the art of pipe cleaners. “When I started working with pipe cleaners, I mostly made figurines. I was inspired a lot by anime, video games, and robots,” says Montrel. “I like to bring out the inner child in people.”

Moulding pipe cleaners into kinetic waves and fuzzy complexions of eye-popping colour, Montrel skilfully renders ferris wheels, unicorns, hamburgers as well as peces from art history, like Dogs Playing Poker by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge, Grant Woods’ American Gothic, Klimt’s The Kiss, and even the The Last Supper mural by Leonard Da Vinci. Making way for imagination, these DIY sculptures merge childhood and art history into one, creating scenes of magic you could look at for hours. “I would like for pipe cleaners to become a more recognised art medium,” Montrel shares. With nationally recognised collaborations and critical acclaim, it seems Beverly is making a solid case for furry wired arts and crafts.

Montrel is a part of Texas’ Sage Studio, an organisation that started at its founder’s kitchen table. Now, it’s a community of 45 artist studios and six art galleries in east Austin. Eight years since they opened their doors, Sage have represented the work of more than 75 artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities, mounted over 30 exhibitions, and represented artists at the Outsider Art Fair in New York City six times. With collaborations with Vans, Whataburger and even the Biden administration, Sage has been leading the way it when it comes to representing work from neurodivergent and developmentally disabled individuals.