Through a couple of bends and twists, sophomore Quyncee Graves can turn a bundle of pipe cleaners into unique work of art.

When he was only in the first grade, Graves’ curiosity gave him the idea to make sculptures out of pipe cleaners.

“I guess when I saw pipe cleaner, I thought, ‘What is this? People used this with art?’ So I just decided to see what I can use it for and I decided to make something,” Graves said.

When art teacher Erica Matyak first met Graves, she was astonished by his pipe cleaner sculptures.

“I met him when I was subbing for Mrs. Ellis, and when he was in her classroom, he was making one of his pipe cleaner sculptures, and I was just amazed at how he was creating these without looking at anything,” Matyak said. “They’re anatomically correct, and just amazing

pipe cleaner creatures.”

Graves makes the sculptures in 20 to 30 minutes, with some larger ones taking up to 50 minutes. He describes the process of making a sculpture.

“The process would start by forming like a skinny skeleton and, like how long it should look or how it should be,” Graves said. “I may start with the legs, then move to the body and then last, the details.”

In order to determine what he wants to create, oftentimes he takes inspiration from things he sees in movies.

“Sometimes I sculpt what I want and sometimes I do whatever and I figure out what I want to do,” Graves said. “Like when I saw those Godzilla movies, I thought that maybe I should make a Godzilla sculpture.”

Matyak enjoys how Graves uses his artwork as a way to express his emotions.

“What I love about his pipe cleaner sculptures is that it’s just the process of how he creates them. It’s so amazing that he’s self-taught,” Matyak said. “If he does a drawing or with his pipe cleaners sculptures, he kind of comes up with stories about them and puts a lot of humor into his work.”