The Palmer Museum of Art has been pumped full of lead -- or rather graphite.
More than 40 contemporary pieces featuring the physical nature and visual characteristics of graphite and pencils are being displayed in an exhibit titled Leaded: The Materiality and Metamorphosis of Graphite, continuing through Nov. 29.
"The show is clearly not about mimicking nature, but rather about the transformation of graphite," curator Joyce Robinson said.
Robinson said the title of the exhibit alludes to the misconception that pencils are made of lead, a toxic metal, when in actuality they are made with graphite, a form of carbon.
"Doodling and drawing is a basic impulse that most people can relate to," Robinson said. "This exhibit, however, expands our understanding of mark-making."
The exhibit follows three overlapping themes: "Graphite as Content," "Graphite as Transformative," and "Graphite as Sculpture."
Michael Galbreth and Jack Massing, known as "The Art Guys," used pencils as building blocks in their monumental sculpture of a skyscraper, titled "Bonded Activity #55 (skyscraper)." The pencils used in the skyscraper varied in size and all had sharpened tips.
Instead of portraying graphite through physical pencils, artist Creighton Michael played with the idea of scribbling on paper in his three-dimensional work called "Squiggle Linear B407."
His large sculpture consists of numerous of short segments of cotton rope coated with paper pulp, graphite and acrylic paste and attached to the wall and on the floor.
Richard Hall, the preparator at the Palmer Museum of Art, installed "Squiggle" for the exhibit.
"It took me about three days to finish installing the Leaded exhibit," Hall said. "It took me a full day and a half to install "Squiggle" -- I had to put about 1,000 holes in the wall."
The entire Leaded exhibit was developed by the University of Richmond Museums and organized for the tour by International Arts & Artists, Washington, D.C.
N. Elizabeth Schlatter, deputy director and curator of exhibitions at the University of Richmond Museums, will be presenting a lecture titled Curating Leaded or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Trust the Artists at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
