Why Create Wishes - the Penny Project?

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.