Pencil Magazine #2
154 x 228 mm, 152 pages
Maine, US
Biannual
Editor and publisher: Sasha Wizansky
Cover art: Monica Larson
‘A most humble and universal tool’
Gentle on the eyes and in the hands, Pencil is a new title produced entirely in, well, pencil! Everything from the cover art to images, texts and even page numbers inside were originally handwritten or drawn using graphite, reproduced on pages that feel appropriately notebook-esque. It’s an ode to reconnecting with analog tools away from digital distractions because, as editor Sasha Wizansky writes, ‘entire worlds can emerge from a single pencil.’
This sophomore edition for Fall 2025 turns its attention to ‘The Eraser’—the pencil’s shadowy other half. Viewed in a positive light, ‘erasers represent the option to change course’; yet the act of ‘erasure’—a near-homonym—has long held more sinister connotations. As such, the theme opened up the floor for wide-ranging interpretations: from the literal, as in Bogna Gurczak’s wiped car window, to the symbolic, as in Rebecca Jansson’s ‘On Longing’, evoking the ephemerality of physical touch. Another charming and poignant ode to mark-making.