Wishes - the Penny Project

Wishes in Brazil

2011-06-24T05:57:00.000-07:00

Ignacio Pérez Pérez, who has been active in the Art Is Everywhere sign project, sent these photos of this 'penny action' from Sâo Paulo, Brazil on June 15th, 2011. The English translation is: "Make a wish and forget it."

In Memory of Paul Reiter

2011-05-13T16:40:00.001-07:00

I was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death of Paul Reiter today from a mutual friend. Paul was an amazing person, and perhaps the most noble and humble individual I have ever met. He always gave of himself without question to everything he did and was a strong supporter of & advocate for the arts. He extensively collected works by local artists and attended numerous exhibitions, always bringing a smile & keeping an open mind and encouraging others to do the same.

I first met Paul through the Life Blood Exhibit preview party, where he purchased one of the auctioned artworks to benefit the show. He continued to support the Life Blood Exhibit after that, following both that show and my own personal endeavors, like the Art Is Everywhere sign project, of which he was one of the first to register for a sign and kept that sign in the back window of his van where it could be seen by people all over town. He was always very giving & generous and his continuous presence & support strengthened the art community

Please read this article in the St. Louis American to learn more of Paul's unending support and passion for art, along with his loyalty to his family, the St. Louis American, and the St. Louis community as a whole. He will be sorely missed.

http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_news/article_c49d4b8e-7c24-11e0-9586-001cc4c03286.html

Fluxus Quarterly

2010-02-01T08:09:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Keith Buchholz for including the Penny Project in Fluxus Quarterly. For the project, I made 50 penny packets so that recipients could write and disperse their own wishes. Each packet contained 5 pennies and pre-cut labels and some information on the project.

The Penny Project had previously been publicized at the 2008 Amnesty International Midwest Regional Conference. Conferencegoers were invited to write down their wishes to include on pennies, which I later dispersed around the St. Louis region.

Penny Label Template

2008-07-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

I finally made a penny label template with this web address. I am hoping that this generates some more activity here on the blog. Unfortunately I cannot post the pdf here, so I am posting it to my website instead. You are welcome to find it there, print it out on label paper and use it to make your wishes if you would like, although this isn't required and you can do everything by hand if you would prefer or if you don't have any printer-grade label paper.

http://jenniferweigelart.com/Environment/Forgotten/Wishes.php

Found Wishes

2008-07-10T12:07:00.001-07:00

What are some wishes you've found and where were they?

Wishes Dispersed

2008-07-10T12:06:00.001-07:00

What are some wishes that you have written on pennies and dispersed?

Penny Placement

2008-07-10T11:58:00.001-07:00

Where have you placed pennies?

Your Participation is Encouraged

2008-07-10T11:24:00.000-07:00

I have gotten a good response to this project as of yet and several people have voiced an interest in participating. I hope that as many people as would like to participate will do so - this is a Creative Commons project that I would like to see extend beyond the scope of what I can do by myself. Voicing your wants and desires and then throwing them away can be an excellent healing mechanism, and I would like for others to be able to share in that experience.

Please feel free to participate in Wishes - the Penny Project by writing your wishes on label paper, sticking them to pennies, and placing the pennies around, penny-side-up, so that people can find them. Any and all expenses associated with participation will be incurred by the participants and not the artist who began this project. Please place pennies where they will be found and where they will not create a hazard.

If you do decide to be involved or if you find some wishes, feel free to post a response to this blog so that we can create an ongoing dialogue of wishes. I would like to find out where pennies have been left and how people respond to finding them. If you post any documentation online, please link to my penny page:
http://jenniferweigelart.com/Environment/Forgotten/Wishes.php

Due to the open format and inclusive nature of this project, please be aware that some wishes expressed may not be those of the artist who initiated this project. Also, I will be mediating comments on this blog and want it to stay family-friendly since I know several people who are planning to do this with their kids, so please be aware of this when posting comments to the blog. Thank you so much and I hope that you will participate in this project!

Why Create Wishes - the Penny Project?

2008-07-10T11:17:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been really thinking about how to reach out to a larger audience beyond the scope of the art world. As I've stated on my Chaotic Black Sheep blog, many nonartists feel alienated by the art world and the gallery scene, and I am trying to find ways to connect with those people as well as those who are involved in the arts. As of right now, I have two projects aimed toward this end - Wishes, the Penny Project, and Art Is Everywhere. I am hoping to develop more such projects over the course of time.

I have always loved the connection between pennies and wishes and feel that pennies are overly neglected. They are generally seen as worthless or worth very little. Yet we associate them with good fortune, both in regards to thinking ourselves lucky for finding them and in regards to bestowing wishes upon them and tossing them into fountains in the hopes of realizing our desires. I have created several works based upon the idea of Spent Wishes incorporating pennies for these reasons, and this piece is a continuing exploration into those themes.

With this work, I hope to get people thinking about their own needs and desires while encouraging them to actively participate in the world around them. Writing down personal wants and desires and tossing them away can be very cathartic. Thus, this is a Creative Commons project; go ahead and put some of your own wishes on pennies and place them around for others to find. Feel free to use this project as a means of social commentary - many of my wishes are political in nature and question the status quo. If you do decide to participate, I would recommend placing pennies where it is dry so that the stickers aren't damaged.

Wishes - the Penny Project overview

2008-07-10T11:11:00.000-07:00

I have recently begun working on Wishes, the Penny Project. For Wishes, pennies are altered with the addition of small removable stickers, each sticker voicing a wish or desire (some based on my own wants, others based on wishes that I perceive others to have). Some examples of such wishes are "I wish I could tell him I'm sorry." and "I wish people weren't so cold." The pennies are left penny side up, sticker side down, on the sidewalk such that passer-bys will happen upon them and pick them up.

So far, I have been leaving pennies pretty much everywhere I have been since I started this, mostly in St. Louis, Missouri. My hope is to connect with people who may or may not otherwise be involved in the arts and the art world and to get them to better appreciate pennies while thinking more about how alike all of us really are.