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Qianqian(Zora)Jiang

Professor Frank

Writing 1E

15 October 2018

Flying Pencil Sculpture

How do you understand the term “rhetoric”? Is it just used for describing the impressive

language that is for persuading others? Actually, that is not the case.​ ​When you start to scrutinize

around, everything is rhetorical — from the compelling architecture to those unimpressive

plants. Rhetoric occurs not only in writing with alphabets, but also in all modes used for

conveying information, such as the genres, placements, colors, shapes, target demographics and

so on. This paper will take you to a journey of analyzing a great work of art​ —“flying pencils”

— to see how each aspect of the sculpture shows its rhetorical languages.

Have you ever walked past the west lawn of Ellison Hall and noticed those “flying

pencils”? It stands in the sun, towering 27 feet over the nicely trimmed lawns. “The sculpture is

created by British artist Peter Logan in 1986 and acquired ​by the UCSB Art Museum as a gift

from the David Bermant Foundation in 1996” (Geogadmin 1).​ ​If you specify every detail, you

may be impressed by Peter’s design of how he used rhetorical languages to show the ongoing
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academic atmosphere in UCSB and the spirit of UCSB students .

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First, decisions about genres and mediums in his design are rhetorical choices. The genre

of the “flying pencils” is a sculpture. ​Sculpture​ is a branch of the ​visual arts​ that operates in ​three

dimensions​ which are length, breadth and depth. If you look upwards, you may find that t​he

whole work is shaped upright, strong and straight, all values about a qualified UCSB student.

Compared with two-dimension, three-dimension is more immediate, tangible as well as real.

Even though the objects of two designs are the same, three dimensional object can provide much

more information than the two dimensional object because audiences is capable of viewing the

same artwork from multiple perspectives, which always gives audiences distinct understandings

about the single design. For instance, if you stand to the east of the Ellison Hall, you may easily

notice that the upper pencils are like off-string arrows, shooting up step by step towards the

endless sky. The status of those pencils implies UCSB’s vigorous academic atmosphere. Pointing

to the sky reveals students’ ambition and energy. Students are poised to complete college work

with their one-hundred percent passion and confidence.

In addition, Logan built the “flying pencils” with stainless steel and aluminum to ensure

the durability of the sculpture. Therefore, although it is installed in 1996, it still looks intact

except the falling paint outside the sculpture. This shows one of the characteristics of sculptures

— ever changing. Sculptures always last for a long time, unaffected by the weather. This

characteristic also suggests the eternity of UCSB. Even if students enter and leave in batches as

time passes by, UCSB is always here. It is always the ‘home’ where you bury all your youth,

laughter and sweat.

Furthermore, placement is​ always meant to reach particular audiences and to persuade

them. “Flying pencils” is built on an empty land near Campbell Hall in the college. Campbell
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Hall is a large hall which can hold up to around 900 students. As a result, there are a great

number of people, especially UCSB students, walking past and by near that place. In addition,

the audiences of the sculpture may also come from surrounding high schools or nearby

communities. The work of art can then convey the message of UCSB’s energetic academic

atmosphere to these visitors. From the sculpture, they can be aware of the continuing academic

work in the campus and the intellectual curiosity of students. So the target demographic of this

sculpture is quite broad and the placement is truly a firm guarantee of an increased exposure and

a widespread fame of the college.

The shape of the “flying pencils” is also one of the means of persuasion. Now, looking

down, you may be surprised at the shape on the ground. Four pencils below forms a solid shape

triangle on the ground. The design of the triangle is in purpose because the foundation of a

triangle ensures that it will never fall down. A​ny added force will be evenly spread through all

three sides without causing the sculpture to fall apart. In geometry, triangle is always​ the

strongest among all the shapes. The other ends of the four pencils below bond together so as to

give a pivot for pencils above. As a result, it is because of the steady pencils underneath that

make the pencils at the top construct a free shape to rotate as wind comes. This concept is

inspired. It can be applicable on students’ study life as well. Only when you have mastered

enough basic knowledge, like when you put enough steady pencils

underneath, can you then study upper division classes to reach your higher and better goals.

Other aspect that shows the “flying pencils” are rhetorical is that all the pencils are

consisted of red and blue. Though the toppest two pencils were designed single-colored, they did

get different colors — one is blue and the other is red. Red is a color of flame and passion; blue
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represents cold and calm. These two colors create an obvious contrast​. Besides the visual impact,

a​ touch of ​blue​ can somehow cools the ​red​ down, which makes colors eye-catching enough but

also harmonious as a whole. So when audiences look at the sculpture, they won’t pay too much

attention to one spot. Bu instead, they will see the sculpture as a whole piece of art.

“​The University Art Museum’s Sculpture and Visual Arts Guidebook details the

sculpture flying pencils as a symbol of the harmony between nature and technology” (​ “​Artist Q

& A: Why Do Illustrators Sketch With Blue Pencil?” 3). As a result, ​kinetic is probably the

greatest ​features of the ​“Flying Pencils” that makes the sculpture really different from other

works. When you see the sculpture at the first time, it seems like that it is only a fixed sculpture.

However, when a mild breeze is unfurling above the sculpture, the whole system starts to run. In

this case, Logan used logos by connecting technology and physics to his design. As the wind

blows, pencils at the top can rotate in all directions and smoothly because forces are balanced in

the entire sculpture. The ingenious technology bestows the charm of scientific knowledge on the

sculpture. As a result of the harmony between nature and technology, audiences can then feel the

strength of knowledge and the flourishing academic work on the campus. ​As Logan’s end

product of ten years’ worth of pencil-orientated sculpturin​g, the fine balance and smooth motion

of flying pencils is a symbol of harmony between nature and technology.

As Aristotle stated 2,500 years ago “rhetoric includes all the available means of

persuasion, and sometimes these means include other forms of writing than just words and text”

(Morey 14). Rhetoric can be expressed in distinct ways. Every step of a design — from the place

it is built to the texture and colors — makes sense when you relate it to the final goal the

designer wants to achieve. From the sculpture “flying pencils”, we can feel that each part of it
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was designed on purpose, either is for increasing the beauty of art itself or highlighting the

UCSB students’ quest for knowledge and the ongoing academic work on campus. As a matter of

fact, the entire UCSB campus is a resource of public art and architecture and is worthy of more

searching for rhetorical languages.

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Works Cited

“Artist Q & A: Why Do Illustrators Sketch With Blue Pencil?”​ LinkedIn: Log In or Sign Up.

Web. 15 Oct 2018.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/artist-q-why-do-illustrators-sketch-blue-pencil-jessica-nolan-ten

er.

Geogadmin. “​Flying Pencil Sculpture.​” ​UC Geography​. 29 May 2018. Web. 15 Oct

2018.geog.ucsb.edu/flying-pencil-sculpture/.

Morey, Sean. ​The Digital Writer​. Fountainhead Press, 2017. Print.