Project Progress

PROJECT PROGRESS: To date, I have collected three gallons of pennies! Will tally them soon. Check here for Project Progress throughout the year.





Tuesday, February 8, 2011

It's going pretty well...

Another First Friday has come and gone, and things are going well in the penny department. Collected a lot of pennies... not as many as last First Friday since I wasn't showing in the gallery, but we had some action back in the studio area. We (the MonOrchid Artist Collective) were selling Hot Chocolate back there too which didn't hurt in terms of traffic. Anyway, I really need to make time to count the pennies (and nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollars) so I can update the count on this page.

By the way... what are your thoughts about using the silver change and dollar bills in The Piece? Or should we convert everything to pennies as originally envisioned?

Response was pretty good this time... at least in terms of pennies. Several people I approached had already heard or read about the Project. That's a good sign! One Art Teacher, a member of my Collective, has got her students involved collecting pennies for us. Many people I talked to seemed interested in getting on this blog and adding comments. Unfortunately no one has yet. Someone needs to break the ice! It won't be much of a community project if there's no community. But I'm committed to doing this... collecting pennies for a year and making art out of them. I'll do it with or without the public input. But honestly, without public input it won't be the project I had hoped for.

I really wanted to give people an opportunity to be involved in the creative process and in the creation of The Piece. But all I can do is offer the opportunity. So that's what I'm doing. I'm a little disappointed about response to the blog so far, but then it's only been a month or so. We have a long way to go. There's plenty of time to discuss details. And no decisions can really be made untill we see how many pennies we have to work with. I'm trying to remain positive about the eventual outcome. Next month I, and this project, will be featured in Phoenix Magazine... so there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic! It's another lesson I'm learning as a result of this project. Optimism, along with Patience and Perseverance, are the traits I'm developing right now.