MINNEAPOLIS — If you’re in the Lake of the Isles area and see a home with a giant pencil in the front yard, you’re not hallucinating. It’s a living piece of art, and Minneapolis homeowners Amy and John Higgins couldn’t be more proud of their unique creation.
A giant pencil.
The idea to create the massive wood sculpture was hatched about five years ago, when a powerful wind storm blew the top off of an oak tree that had stood for over 100 years.
"We started to scheme up a grand idea," John said. "My wife (Amy) and I wanted a sculpture, and it came out to be a pencil."
Not just any pencil, mind you... an exact replica of the No.2 pencil many used in school. It's carved out of what remains of the base of the old oak. It's a 16-foot-tall creation, complete with a sharpened tip, pink eraser and of course, that iconic yellow color.
John is very fond of pencils, saying "The No. 2 is a classic. As students we took the math tests, we had to fill in the ovals, we wrote letters – maybe a love letter, a poem but the color of a pencil, the feel of a pencil, the sound when you sharpen it, the smell of the cedar, there’s so much special about a pencil that we can all relate to."
Artist Curtis Ingvoldstad of Big Woods Sculpture was commissioned for the piece, and John is quick to praise Curtis as a triple threat.
"He's an artist, engineer and mathematician all in one" with an understanding of how art form relates to the human eye, John says. "Then he saw it, just like Michelangelo, he saw this pencil within this tree trunk."
The pencil was recently sharpened, completing the overall aesthetic. John hopes to make an annual tradition out of it, sharpening a foot down each year.
"That’s what makes this pencil have a soul. It’s going to be a living sculpture."
To learn more, you can check out the "Lake of the Isles Pencil" website here.
Watch the latest coverage from the KARE11 Sunrise in our YouTube playlist: