Exercise 3 in DMST 4000 at DU was to represent an object through an Icon, an Index, a Symbol, and a Metaphor. I chose my beloved Bic Great Erase mechanical pencils, which have been out of production in the US for some time now. My official reasons for the choice were:

• It has been my favorite pencil since 1998
• It was discontinued several years ago
• I have a stockpile in my closet
• I’m mocked by other artists for using .7mm lead

I wanted to use the project to draw attention to the near-extinction of my beloved writing instrument.

The Icon image shows the pencil as the last of its kind: one pencil left where once there were four dozen.

The Index shows the leavings of the pencil. It has made its mark, but the mark has been removed by the selfsame maker.

This Symbol is a collection of rough, imprecise marks meant to indicate other pencils, while above and in the center of the mass of lines is another line, dark and perfect. The dark, perfect line is the Great Erase, alone but still awesome. This was the weakest of the four images.

The Metaphor was by far the strongest of the four images I created for this project. The dodo was erased from the world by human hands, as this pencil will soon be as well. I thought a partially-erased dodo would be a suitably clear metaphor. My classmates at the time still bring this one up in conversation.