Most of us just think of No. 2 pencils as what is used to complete math tests, but one woman took the pencil to a whole new level, creating a massive art project that won her top prize.
I was never the biggest fan of the pencil. I always liked pens – they seemed more grownup, more permanent. (Don’t get me started on those horrible erasable pens that always got all over your hands and not on the paper.) Even when I had to use a pencil, I always reverted to the mechanical pencil because at least it looked and felt like a pen. Even in high school art class, I did not like drawing with a regular pencil (colored pencils were completely different, however). But one woman took pencil drawing to a whole new level with her picture, which won her top prize at the ArtPrize 2012 event. Along with the recognition of drawing an amazing piece, she also walked away with $200,000 in prize money!
Adonna Khare, a former elementary school art teacher, now stay at home mother, created a massive mural, entitled “Elephants,” with nothing but pencils.
A week prior to the opening of the event, the mural stood at eight feet tall by 35 feet wide. She hung it on one of the walls and continued to draw. By the end, the finished piece was 13 feet tall by 40 feet wide! The mural was created as a triptych (with the middle panel being the largest of the three) to assist in engaging the viewers to her work.
According to Khare, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, she said this piece is extremely personal and “It’s kind of a biography of my life transplanted into animals. Sad things like loss and sickness, and happy things like the birth of my daughter.” For example, there is a picture of an orangutan connected to medical equipment. This signified, to the artist, a young nephew of hers that was diagnosed with diabetes and represented “the sickness of a child, and what it means to inflict pain in order for somebody to survive.”
If you are visiting Grand Rapids, Michigan any time soon, stop by the Grand Rapids Art Museum to check it out. Currently, there is no schedule for taking the piece down.
(Via: My Modern Met)
For more great pencil art, check out Incredible Art Over Real World Happenings. And if you need a place to store your pencils, why not use the Incredible Pita Bread Pencil Holder!?
