Participate in my upcoming artwork about standarized tests.
Print this PDF as a poster or send it to anyone you think will be interested in lending their voice or giving their pencils.

Commonly asked questions about this project:

Do you have a deadline for receiving pencils for this artwork?

My deadline for collecting pencils is October 2008.

Will you accept colored pencils?

I will take any pencil that you send. It is most important that you participate in the artwork, however, I prefer that most of the pencils are yellow HB #2 pencils that a student would use for taking a standardized test. Pencils that have different colored exteriors other than the standard yellow #2 pencils are good.

Colored pencils (by that I mean, pencils with a color core for artwork) are not as good just because a student would not use a colored pencil to take a standardized test.

 

How many pencils do you have so far?

Currently I have enough pencils to make a solid rectangle measuring 10 feet by 25 feet:

I have 191.75 lbs. of used pencils.

One foot of pencils = 12 ounces.

192 lbs. of pencils = 3072 oz.

3072 oz. divided by 12" = 256 square feet = 16' x 16'.

While I am confident that I will have enough pencils to make a 10' x 25' rectangle, if you would like to participate, I am still accepting pencils for the project!

My next step is to enlist a group of volunteer high school students to drill holes in each pencil. Once that is done, construction of the project will begin.

Right now, as the pencils come in they are organized by the color on the outside... if they have interesting lettering or words printed n the outside they go in the "special pencils" or "medium quality pencils" box.

Check back soon for a new update on how many pencils I have collected.

How big will the finished artwork be? What will it look like?

The artwork about standardized testing will be in the shape of a bell curve. The bell curve will be approximately 10 feet high and 25 feet long.

If you don't know what a bell curve looks like scroll down to the bottom of this page to see my previous artwork about education titled, "Measuring Compliance". The graph in the background is a bell curve. Student performance on standardized tests is evaluated against other student performance within the bell curve.

 

I have some very special pencils that I found in my grandmother's house. Can you use them?

Yes, absolutely! I save all unusual pencils in a separate box. I already have quite a few very old pencils. One pencil has an enameled pencil clip. Another person sent me a box of pencils from the "Pencil Brothers: Ken Cory and Leslie W. LePere" exhibitions dating back to 1973.

It is very interesting to find pencils with writing embossed or printed on them with the name of a school or given as a present to the students from the principal of a school such as: "SKYLINE SCHOOL, STUDENT OF THE MONTH."

Sequoia High School just gave me a huge quantiity of pencils they couldn't use! They are all purple!

 

Do you have a model of the project that you will use the pencils for?

Not yet, but last year I did complete another artwork about education titled, "MEASURING COMPLIANCE". Scroll down to see an image of this work. If you CLICK ON THE IMAGE you can see multiple views, and an artist statement below.

 

Where will you exhibit this work?

I don't know yet as I am still looking for an exhibition space for "MEASURING COMPLIANCE" and this new artwork about standardized testing.

Check back soon for more information about my artwork including additional questions, answers and comments from individuals. If you would like to add your comments, contact me and let me know what you think about standardized tests. CLICK HERE.