Heritage Museum reveals new sculpture

TICONDEROGA | There is a brand new attraction in the downtown corridor- you may have already noticed it. An 11-foot tall, 600-pound pencil sculpture now stands proudly erected on the lawn of the Heritage Museum in all of its yellow and green glory, the iconic color scheme of the Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencils. "The sculpture that we dedicate today significantly aids in the Heritage Museum's mission to advance the awareness and appreciation for Ti's industrial history," noted Terry Smith, Ticonderoga Heritage Museum President who oversaw the project. "It symbolizes a part of our industrial heritage." In the late afternoon sunshine of Thursday, July 25, the shadows of the leaves on the trees outside the museum danced happily in the breeze as guests gathered for the official Ticonderoga Area Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting and dedication, welcoming the new addition to the current existing family of monuments in the town. As Town Supervisor Mark Wright, Assemblyman Matt Simpson, and Sen. Dan Stec offered their congratulations and thoughts on the sculpture (a group effort in the truest sense), the detailed work of a slew of local professionals couldn't help but catch the admiring eyes of those in attendance for the festivities. "When I was walking up, the first thing I thought of were the SATs and the tests I took using these pencils," Simpson recalled. "They were the best pencils- they are the best pencils. I can remember how we would fight over having a Ticonderoga #2. This certainly serves as a continual reminder of our past where our graphite mines were so busy back in the day. Our area had a lot of mining operations going on and I think it is important to persevere and protect our history and our heritage. This is a great example of doing that." Vermont artist Chris Sharp (who also designed the pencil sculpture found in Shelburne) was the designer. Sharp has another very significant claim to fame- he created 19 bronze Dr. Martin Luther King sculptures and sent them all over the country- to the Washington Post, NPR, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and the National Portrait Gallery, and several school systems. President Obama even received one, complete with a button Sharp located online that had come from the infamous 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. And designing a pencil sculpture for a small mill town in Upstate New York has now been added to the list. Denise Huestis, Ticonderoga Trustee Emeritus (and well-known for her incredibly detailed handcrafted, professionally master scaled models of the mills, factories, and forges that once flourished along the La Chute River found on display within the museum) is the lady responsible for bringing the sculpture to town, donating the entire project to the museum. "How amazing we have a Chris Sharp design here in Ticonderoga," she noted. Sharp recommended a Pennsylvania foundry to handle the sculpture's creation, but Huestis was confident that there was enough local talent right in the Ti area's own backyard to bring the sculpture to life. "I said 'thank you,' I was very polite about it," she told the crowd with a laugh. "But I said to myself,'I don't think we need a foundry.' We have people in this area that are intelligent and creative, and we can do this." And so they did. The pencil sculpture was fabricated by Richard Bertsche of Crown Point, the work of art being constructed entirely of steel. Ron Pritt served as painter, and then the award-winning Marc Austin from A&S Customs in Crown Point handled the final leg of completion with his detailing expertise. "Round is the hardest thing to paint," Austin explained, adding that the sculpture required six layers of the green paint, and then another six layers of the trademark yellow. And the sculpture is not just one pencil replica- it is six separate "writing" utensils that form an apex with their leads at the top. That's 72 layers of paint and hours upon hours of careful lettering stencil/decal work afterward to accurately replicate a Ticonderoga #2, with the result a flawless rendering. Wilks Construction poured the concrete base that will forever keep the sculpture safely affixed in place for generations of residents and visitors to enjoy. "The paint job is so spot on that even the green glitters," praised Supervisor Wright. "We may have lost the American Graphite Company to a tragic fire in 1968, but this pencil lives on. It is known worldwide, thus the name Ticonderoga is known worldwide."

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Heritage Museum reveals new sculpture

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