Well, Here Goes...

Happy New Year and Welcome to the "If I Had A Penny" project. Today I'm off to buy penny jars. Wonder how many I'll need. I'm going to start out with a small one to carry during shows as I, hopefully, collect pennies. Will I come off as a beggar? Hope not (I'll have some information available to explain what I'm doing and how people can participate).  I'll have another larger penny jar back in my studio which I'll use for permanent storage of pennies after they've been counted. Photos to come!

Lots of ideas running around in my head, but we've got a whole year to let this project evolve. This may prove very difficult for me... I usually go with an idea right away and see it through to completion. Patience is not my strongest virtue! I know this project will change me in so many ways. I hope to gain a new understanding of, among other things, the relationship of a piece of art to its audience. It will be interesting for me, as an artist, to seek so much input, to possibly end up working on a piece that does not spring from my own ideas or experience, and to work with materials that represent an appreciation of my work.

It is that representation of appreciation that will probably have the strongest effect on me. As artists, we tend to value our "success" on sales. Compliments are nice, but they don't pay the studio rent. Now those compliments will have a physical existence: they'll have a quantitative value, a visual presence, and will become the materials from which a piece of art will be created by both the "complimentors" and the "complimentee." I'm very excited! Let the changes commence!