Grind

Graphite on Dissused Millstones
Site-Specific Installation

Viarco has been making pencils in Portugal since 1907. The old millstones, used to grind raw graphite stones into ultra-fine powder for pencil cores, sit behind the modern factory, remnants of 100-year-old production methods.

Graphite is as beautiful as it is utile. It marks surfaces for drawing and writing; it coats surfaces with a gorgeous metallic sheen. As artist-in-residence, I spent each morning grinding graphite ingots produced at Viarco, rubbing and pressing the graphite dust into the stone and its crevasses with bare hands. Each layer of hard grinding and deep pressure increased the patina's luster. The graphite covers three millstone textures—rough, medium, and smooth—used to reduce the mineral into powder a century ago.

Made as artist-in-residence, Viarco Fábrica de Lápis, Sāo Joāo de Madeira, Portugal