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Pencil Rocket

Charles Williams
  • CW - Pencil Rocket - Master Image

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    Photo: Ron Lee/The Silver Factory
  • CW - Charles Williams's yard - Master Image

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    Photo: Robert Arnett, 1988
  • CW - Charles Williams on his porch - Master Image

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    Photo: Courtesy of Charles Williams
early 1980s
Papier-mâché, plastic fan blade, table-fan base, plastic, doorstop, paint
24.25 x 59 x 19 inches
Collection of
High Museum of Art
Museum purchase and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Description

I made this papier-mâché pencil rocket. To a certain extent, it was a experiment on a experiment. I had dealer with papier-mâché back in school in Chicago but didn’t like it. I attended a fair in Kentucky and had bought a pencil balloon, and I thought about what I could do with it other than a pencil. I thought about a mold, in other words, doing papier-mâché from the pencil. After I got it down, I attached a fan propeller to give it movement. I set it on the porch and the wind turned the fan. It was a little bit fascinating to everybody that came by.