Every year, people look from afar and watch the giant pencil sharpened

John Higgins likes to think of the six-meter-high pencil on the front lawn as pop art.

He told him: “When you think of Pop Art, you think of Andy Warhol or Claes Odenberg. I mean, these are these iconic artists. They take a simple object in bold shapes and colors, which is fascinating. happen Guest host Stephanie Skenderis.

“That’s exactly what it is.”

Once a year, a large number of pop art has become interactive community art installations. Hundreds and sometimes even thousands – head to the house of Higgins in Minneapolis and look at giant pencils sharp with giant pencil shoes.

“It's fun. It's nice. There's no agenda. It's not a business event. There's no ticket or anything,” Higgins said. “But, through word of mouth, I think people are coming and they're really happy.”

Giant pencil used to be a huge tree

Saturday marks the fourth annual pencil sharpening event. But the sculpture’s origins date back to 2017, when a sudden and powerful storm struck the city and tore off Higgins’ beloved oak tree from his front lawn.

He said the tree was about 180 years old.

“It's hard to see this,” he said. “It's very sad, I said.”

He remembers that in the aftermath of the storm, the oak trunk was cut off.

“It looks very sinister, it looks very sinister – just damaged the wood at the top and then looked like a skeleton was broken at night.”

So he and his wife, Amy Higgins, decided to turn it into art. They invited the woodcarving Curtis Ingvoldstad to transform it into a replica of the classic trusted brand No. 2 pencil.

“Why do you want a pencil? Everyone uses a pencil,” Amy said. “Everyone knows a pencil. You see it in school, you see it on people's works or drawings. So, I think it's easy for everyone to access it and it can easily represent something that everyone can make what they want.”

Once Higgins thought of pencils, they came up with the idea of ​​improving their pencils. Therefore, Ingvoldstead also made a stereotypical pencil shoe knife for this task.

“About four feet [and] Higgins said it weighed 100 pounds. We lifted it up a few times and the pencil was sharpened. ”

“Life is too short” to miss sharpening

Higgins said that in the first year they did this, hundreds of people appeared, mostly from nearby and surrounding areas.

But over the years, it has grown through word of mouth and social media. Last year, he said about 1,000 people participated. He estimates that there are thousands of people in this year, people from states, and even other countries.

Some people dress up as pencils or erasers. Two Swiss Alphorn players provided part of the entertainment. The host commemorates the late music superstar prince's Minneapolis idol, the late music superstar prince, by handing out purple pencils on his 67th birthday.

Rachel Hyman said she flew from Chicago to the event on Friday, a friend told her.

“Some people sharpen pencils on the lawn, is that what happened?” Heyman said Saturday while wearing a pencil outfit. “Yes, I'm going to be a part of it. Why can't you? Life is too short.”

Ceremonial sacrifice

You may be wondering why the huge pencil sculptures even need to be sharpened. Higgins said the tip, while not made from granite lead, wears out of weather throughout the year.

But, most of the time, he said, it was symbolic.

“It's a community pencil. With the sharp thrill, there's a chance to update, a new starting point, a promise to write another note,” he said. “People love that message.”

With each sharpening, the pencils get shorter and they lose a part of the artwork. Sculptor Ingvoldstad said it was all.

“Like any ritual, you have to sacrifice something,” Ingvoldstad said. “So we are sacrificing part of the pencil monument so that we can dedicate it to the audience coming and say, ‘This is the dedication we offer to you and with all the things you have done this year.’”

So many years until there was a bright pink eraser with only a little stub? Then what will happen?

“We don't have an answer, we're good about it,” Higgins said. “But today, at this moment, we're going to do everything we can and make the most of it.”