Cleverly designed to look like a gently-used tube of paint, this ball-point pen offers smooth-flowing black ink and a wonderfully ergonomic grip. Simply pull off the cap to start writing. The tube features a segment from one of Vance Kirkland's Open Suns paintings as well as Kirkland Museum's logo. Gift idea: pair this pen with an Open Suns Paintbrush Pencil and one of our exclusive journals.
- Dimensions: 4¼ x 1¼ x ¾ inches
- Black ink
- A Kirkland Museum exclusive
About the Open Suns Paintings (1971–1972)
Vance Kirkland (1904–1981) completed 17 Open Suns paintings as a series within his fifth and final period, also known as the Dot Paintings. With his Open Suns paintings, Kirkland abstractly portrays the birth of stars which have ignited and are undergoing nuclear fusion. Kirkland noted that if one pulled back from the Open Suns paintings, you could be in one of his Energy of Mysteries paintings (1972–1976). If you pull back farther from those paintings, you could be in an exploding galaxy (his Energy of Explosions series from 1976 to 1979). Finally, if you pull back from an Explosions painting, you could be in a Forces dot painting, depicting the shock waves or forces formed from the explosion. Kirkland died during the Energy of Forces series (1979–1981). Thus, the Open Suns series was the beginning of an incredible visual journey through space and time that viewers continue to enjoy today. Learn more about Kirkland and his painting career at KirklandMuseum.org.