Mended Pencil

Whether or not it should, pencils can be broken, mended. What might mended pencils do? That the mend appears incongruous indicates a condition in which care is strange. That mending nevertheless occurs, and can be sustained and repeated, is evidence that the presumed base reality which distinguishes "incongruity" is  contrived, not a natural condition, not actual. Incongruity indicates an opportunity to become acquainted with the actual, or in the least what is not. As we may never directly perceive the actual, we are left with the question "What might we construct from this new understanding?" Questions, rather than answers.

To recreate (emulate) the pencil, one scribbles and scribbles, erases and erases, sharpens and sharpens, until the pencil is of exact length with the original. "Arranged" for drawing as a means for its reconstruction, the Mended Pencil encourages being and doing, redirecting concentration from what is drawn and how. 

Encountering incongruity exposes a condition that Mended Pencil behavior is "uncomplementary" with and another with which it is harmonious. This may lead to new relationships and meaning making, sense making based on this new harmony. To respond and behave with the pencil as a mendable thing might lead to things made with care and mending in mind. How might that influence the ways in which we engage life with the pencil? 

To encounter work which results from Mended Pencil Study in much the same way one might the mended pencil might emphasize the decorous quality that the mend demonstrates and the sign of care implied therein. To position the scribbles, made through the process of recreating the mended pencil, is a public display of affection--itself, and especially what appear to be purposeless scribbling, perhaps, an unbecoming thing. That the scribble does in fact have reason--to make sense of and with care--might diminish the notion that things are arbitrary, purposeless, and that even scribbling has the capacity to be learned from or aid in learning. 

This also harkens to research into particular instances in the history of writing arts which suggests that writing on or pinning writing to surfaces such as walls, whether public or private, were generally acceptable. With this, there was hardly a difference between drawing and writing, all understood as presenting a mark indicating meaning. The posy is one such writing which understands itself to be written on something rather than its implementation merely a vehicle for writing. To scribble on scroll formatted paper allows for spontaneous writing without the anticipation of a conclusion. What may result from emulating the mended pencil then varies formally--in length in both time and dimension--revealing various states of mind or spatial circumstance as well as the manner in which the pencil may vary from one to another in its production.

Mended Pencil studied are only examples of what might be made, and are only expressions of what I have learned rather than what should be. They are ways to reach a state of being and doing with the pencil.

From it, I found a new approach to illustrative drawing centered on scribbling. Because the scribble allows for more of the the drawing surface to be visible, it distributes density and "empty space" across a larger area without sacrificing balance. Likewise, it is a way of drawing which understands itself to be partnered to paper, with the balance between drawing medium and surface creating a sense of movement and volume. As recreating the Mended Pencil elicits a state of mind I refer to as being and doing, drawing by way of scribbling allows for spontaneity and variation, while minimizing the chance for hesitancy or idealization. That a drawing can be comprised of scribbles creates the opportunity for a piece to be about what arises from drawing without being at the expense of the act of drawing. Drawing then no longer becomes simply a means to an end, but part of the process evident in the final appearance of a piece. A scribble is often identified as being more closely associated with the act. Scribble in both the noun and verb sense seems to be more impulsively maintained, that what is seen is the consequence of action. This is a linguistic association which seems to be less automatic within the word "drawing".