I stumbled upon this just a few minutes ago — sculptures made of colored pencil stubs.  Interesting concept, but I’m not overly intrigued by it.  However, I did end up writing a very long comment on the blog.

Have you ever read the comments that people leave on photos, images of artwork, or articles/blogs?  For the most part those who comment have something nice and encouraging to say.  But then those who dislike it have to make some pointless remark about how the artist is a “moron” or “one dumb mutherf*****r”.  Real classy, huh?

This article is no exception.  There are at least two comments exclaiming that these sculptures are a “waste of natural resources” and rallying to “SAVE THE TREES!”  Now, while I am all for saving the trees as well, I found their argument to be rather weak.  All those pencils had already been mass produced.  It’s not like the artist went out himself and cut down a whole forest just for an art project.  He chose a material that was readily available, so I can’t really see how that’s wasteful.  Secondly, out of all the materials to sculpt with, the artist chose something biodegradable.  (Does any know how long it would take for a colored pencil to biodegrade?)  Sure, you could argue that he could have used a metal that could be melted down and used again.  That wouldn’t be too terrible, I guess.  But still… If, for whatever reason, these pieces were to be abandoned in a land fill, colored pencil (not metal or plastic) sculptures would be less harmful to the planet.  If he had made pencil stubs out of steel and then made the same scuptures, then THAT, in my opinion, would have been a waste.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that there are worse things and you should choose your battles wisely.  Or maybe I’m just sticking up for a fellow artist who was just trying to make something original and got shot down for it.  I am no stranger to critiques myself, so it just really irritates me when people make immature comments.