BGuthrie Photos: DC -- German-American Heritage Museum -- Exhibit: In Praise of the Pencil

DC -- German-American Heritage Museum -- Exhibit: In Praise of the Pencil:

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Description of Pictures: In Praise of the Pencil:
The German-American Heritage Museum of the USA™ is proud to host another exhibit from a member organization. On Thursday, April 14th, 2016, the Museum will open In Praise of the Pencil, carefully researched and curated by the staff of the German-American Heritage Center in Davenport, Iowa. In Praise of the Pencil relays the story of pencil manufacturing and its surprising connection to German culture and heritage.
In 1662, carpenter Friedrich Staedtler of Nuremberg, Germany became the first individual to register a pencil business. Over 350 years later, Staedtler continues to be a dominant presence in the industry, having extended its production well beyond Germany’s borders to the United States. The significance of Staedtler to artists, writers, and craftsmen of various trades is rivaled only by Faber-Castell, founded in 1761 by Kasper Faber in Stein, Bavaria. Descendants of Faber eventually immigrated to the United States, taking their trade with them and registering one of the first trademarks in American history.In Praise of the Pencil allows visitors to contemplate not only the German connection to pencil manufacturing, but the context in which this demand was met, and the relevance of cross-Atlantic industry and cultural exchange.

Same Event: Wait! There's more! Because I took too many pictures, photos from this event were divided among the following pages: [Display ALL photos on one page]:

2016_DC_GAHM_Pencils: DC -- German-American Heritage Museum -- Exhibit: In Praise of the Pencil (31 photos from 2016)
2016_DC_GAHM_PencilsO_160414: DC -- German-American Heritage Museum -- Opening: In Praise of the Pencil (44 photos from 2016)

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. PENCIL_160414_001.JPG: Jennifer Maestre Watchtower, 2007
2. PENCIL_160414_006.JPG: Jennifer Maestre Challice, 2013
3. PENCIL_160414_035.JPG: Dalton Ghetti Many artists have used pencils to create works of art -- but Dalton Ghetti creates miniature masterpieces on the tips of pencils. Dalton Ghetti, a Brazilian native now living in Bridgeport, CT as a carpenter, has been carving miniature sculptures into the graphite of pencils since he was a school boy in Brazil. Ghetti uses three basic tools to make his incredible creations -- a razor blade, sewing needle and sculpting knife. He even refuses to use a magnifying glass and has never sold any of his work, only given it away to friends. The longest Ghetti has spent on one piece was two and half years on a pencil with interlinking chains. A standard figure will take several months.
4. PENCIL_160414_038.JPG: Jennifer Maestre Watchtower, 2007
5. PENCIL_160414_050.JPG: Step 1: A cedar plank is the first material used to create a pencil. Step 2: Grooves are milled into the cedar plank. Step 3: Pencil lead is manufactured using graphite, clay, and water. Step 4: Glue is poured into the grooved cedar planks. The pencil leads are then placed into the grooves. Step 5: Another plank of cedar is placed on top, sandwiching in the leads. Step 6: The "sandwich" is then trimmed by a series of saws. Step 7: The "sandwich" is now cut into raw pencils. Step 8: The pencil goes from raw to complete with paint, labeling, and sharpening.
6. PENCIL_160414_056.JPG: Peculiar Pencil Facts: * The average pencil can write about 50,000 English words. * The average pencil can write a line about 35,000 miles long. * A lead pencil is not really lead, but a mixture of graphite and clay. * The average pencil can be sharpened 17 times before it is used up. * Before pencil erasers were invited, writers often used bread crumbs to wipe out their mistakes. * NASA spent millions to develop a pen for astronauts that would write under pressure, in zero gravity, upside down, in a vacuum and under water. The Russians just used pencils. * The largest pencil in the world is the Castell 9000 in Kuala Kampur. It is made of Malaysian wood and polymer, and 65 feet high. * About 14 billion pencils are produced annually around the world. About 2 billion are produced in the United States.
7. PENCIL_160414_059.JPG: In Praise of the Pencil
8. PENCIL_160414_062.JPG: A Jot-to-Jot Timeline in Pencil History: 1500: Graphite deposits are found in Borrowdale, England. 1565: Konrad Gesner of Switzerland describes the wooden tube with lead point inserted for writing. 1662: Friedrich Staedtler or Nuremberg, Germany is registered as "pencil maker." 1761: The cabinet maker Kasper Faber commences production of his first pencils in Stein, near Passau in Germany.
9. PENCIL_160414_065.JPG: 1823: John Thoreau of Concord, Massachusetts starts a pencil business and teaches his son Henry David the trade. Thoreau is first to use a number system to distinguish different types of lead. 1847: The first manual pencil sharpener is invented. 1850: William Monroe of the US invents a machine capable of making grooves in wooden slats to make pencils. 1858: First patent is issued to attach erasers to pencils. 1861: Eberhard Faber builds the first American pencil factory in New York City. Business booms due to demand by Civil War soldiers for pencils to write letters home.
10. PENCIL_160414_068.JPG: 1890: The L&C Hardtmuth Co. of Austria first introduces the color yellow to its premium pencil, the Koh-l-Noor. Yellow becomes the standard pencil color in the US; global preferences vary. 1974: Pencil and Graphics Instruments Safety regulations are published; they limit the amount of lead used in all pencil products.
11. PENCIL_160414_070.JPG: The Staedtler Pencil Company 175 Years Old in 2010? 350 Years Old in 2012? In 2010 the Steadtler Company celebrated the 175 [sic] anniversary of its factory in Nuremburg, Germany. It cannot legally claim to be the oldest pencil firm in the world, due to breaks in its manufacturing lineage, but the descendent [sic] Friedrich Staedtler is clearly "the first person world wide to be mentioned as a pencil manufacturer" in 1562. Today Staedtler has some factories in Asia and markets its products globally, but it still manufactures 80% of its pens and pencils in Germany. It is a classic example of a small-to-medium, privately owned company that comprises Germany's "Mittelstand" or middle class, and like many others it was long a family business. Today it is owned by a private foundation. Innovation is the key that allows Staedtler to survive amid competition from cheaper
12. PENCIL_160414_073.JPG: sources. Two new features in the factory line-up have secured recent high success. One is an extra coating around the tip of colored pencils which keeps them from breaking, and the other is a new development called Wopex. Wopex used mashed wood and up to 80% of a tree rather than the 20% portion used in traditional pencil manufacturing. It is environmentally friendly and produced a pencil which has double the writing capacity of older versions. The company also has a very profitable line of art and craft products sold around the world. The management of Staedtler is cautious, conservative and reluctant to take out bank loans for its innovations. It re-invests profits and charts its business course slowly. It remains a recipe for success.
13. PENCIL_160414_076.JPG: The Faber-Castell Pencil Company: Just six miles down the road for Staedtler, the Fabel-Castell Company was formed in 1761, marking its 250th anniversary in 2011. Its current head is Count Anton-Wolfgang von Faber-Castell, the eighth generation and direct descendent of the founder. "I do hope the company will still flourish with the ninth and tenth generations," he says. At one time, Staedtler owned Eberhard Faber Co., a subsidiary of Faber-Castell, but over time the original family has restored its ownership of segments once lost to the misfortunes of war, broken marriages and hard economic times. The Count seems to have returned to prosperity; he is often spotted around Nuremberg in his Mercedes which is painted the same custom dark green color as the company's bestselling classic school pencil in Germany. Faber-Castell has more of its production abroad than at home in Germany, with factories in
14. PENCIL_160414_079.JPG: South America and Asia, but it remains committed to its German presence. As its headquarters in Stein, near Nuremberg, it greets visitors will a large custom pencil sculpture designed and created by Jennifer Maestre, the artist whose works are featured in our current exhibit. Innovation is also the key to continued success at Faber-Castell. In addition to its luxury "Perfect Pencil" produced in platinum and other fine finishes, it introduced the grip pencil with painted dots on the side to make it easier to hold and use. The product won five design awards and was one of Business Week's products of the year in 2001. It boosted sales worldwide and secured the future of the pencil plant in Stein. "In places where labor is expensive, ideas simply must be greater."
15. PENCIL_160414_082.JPG: Partial to Pencils: A Mini Who's Who: Thomas Edison had its pencils specially made to be 3 inches long, thicker than standard, and with softer graphite. Vladimir Nabokov re-wrote everything he ever published, usually several times, with a pencil. John Steinbeck was an obsessive pencil user and is said to have used as many as 60 in one day. His novel East of Eden took more than 300 pencils to write. Johnny Carson regularly played with pencils on his Tonight Show desk. He used specially made pencils with erasers at both ends to avoid on set accidents. Ben Franklin advertised pencils in his Pennsylvania Gazette in 1729. Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star Spangled Banner" in pencil. Before he wrote "Walden," Henry David Thoreau manufactured pencils for his father's business. Ulysses S. Grant sketched his battle plans for the Civil War in pencil. Vincent Van Gogh preferred German pencils made by Faber-Castell and praised their excellent quality. Ernest Hemingway wrote most of his novels in pencil.
16. PENCIL_160414_091.JPG: Jennifer Maestre Artists's Statement My sculptures were originally inspired by the form and function of the sea urchin. The spines of the urchin, so dangerous yet beautiful, serve as an explicit warning against contact. The alluring texture of the spines draws the touch in spite of the possible consequences. The tension unveiled, we feel push and pull, desire and repulsion. The sections of pencils present aspects of sharp and smooth for two very different textural and aesthetic experiences. Paradox and surprise are integral in my choice of materials. Quantities of industrially manufactured objects are used to create flexible forms reminiscent of the organic shapes of animals and nature. Pencils are common objects, here, these anonymous objects become the structure. There is true a fragility to the sometimes brutal aspect of the sculptures, vulnerability that is belied by the fearsome texture. To make the pencil sculptures, I take hundreds of pencils, cut them into 1-inch sections, drill a hole in each section (to turn them into beads), sharpen them all and sew them together. The beading technique I rely on most is peyote stitch. I'm inspired by animals, plants, other art, Ernst Haeckel, Odilon Redon, mythology. In fact, it isn't easy to specify particular sources of inspiration. Sometimes one sculpture will inspire the next, or maybe I'll make a mistake, and that will send me off in a new direction. I started off in the direction of prickly things when I was in my last year at Mass College of Art. It all comes from one idea I had for a box with a secret compartment that would contain a pearl. The box would be shaped like a sea urchin, made of silver. In order to open the box and reveal the secret compartment, you'd have to pull on one of the urchin's spines. The idea was of something beautiful, sculptural, but that you wouldn't necessarily want to touch, and that also held a secret treasure. I never developed the small-metals skills to ever make the box, but it got me thinking about that kind of form. I started experimenting with different materials to make urchin forms. I found that nails, pushed through window screen, worked well, and I could use many different types and textures and colors of nails. After graduation, I didn't have the facilities to do glass, so I kept playing with the nails and screen (very low tech), and gradually started working larger, adding zippers and other elements. Continuing with the container theme, I started making the tack-coated eggs to place inside the nail baskets. The eggs were so beautiful on their own, as well, that I decided to open some of them up, putting little windows in, for example. While I was doing that work, I was also dabbling in bead work. I taught myself several beading techniques, especially peyote stitch, which is great for creating sculptural work. I was constrained a bit with the nails, because I couldn't get all the turns and twists I wanted. I loved the textures and the contrast between the industrial qualities of the nails and the organic forms of the sculptures, but I wanted more complex forms. I was also thinking about how bad the liquid rubber probably was for my health. So, I experimented with other pointy things and techniques, and finally hit on turning pencils into beads and sewing them together. Using this combination of technique and materials allows me to retain all the qualities that I want in my work, with the potential for more variety of form.
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2016 photos: Equipment this year: I continued to use my Fuji XS-1 cameras but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000. Seven relatively short trips this year: two Civil War Trust conference (Gettysburg, PA and West Point, NY, with a side-trip to New York City), my 11th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including sites in Utah, Nevada, and California), a quick trip to Michigan for Uncle Wayne's funeral, two additional trips to New York City, and a Civil Rights site trip to Alabama during the November elections. Being in places where people died to preserve the rights of minority voters made the Trumputin election even more depressing. Number of photos taken this year: just over 610,000.
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