In Mankind We Trust #17 Penny Art

Posted on December 29, 2009 by admin

In Mankind We Trust — Kelly Janice

In mankind we trust penny art

In mankind we trust penny art back

Inspiration: I was inspired by the actual project at hand. I find it so inspiring when people reach out to help others. The Penny Experiment is a perfect example of people with no connection working together for the good of mankind, hence the phrase “In Mankind we Trust” on the pennies in my piece. I wanted to create a piece representing the hope that things such as the penny experiment bring into my life. I am very proud to be a part of something as wonderful as this and hope that is reflected in this piece.

About the Art: I feel very strongly about god being mentioned on our money. If this country is meant to be a melting pot of all cultures and beliefs, people should not be alienated with the mention of god on something as important as our countries currency. I realize that religious freedom is the reason this country was founded, however, freedom of religion also means freedom from religion. Along with representing the good in mankind, I wanted to show that it is the people of our wonderful country that we should be putting our faith and trust into, not god.

On a more fun and personal note: along with the number 17 representing my daughter Sydney’s birthday, I also chose a 2009 penny to represent the year she was born.

The significance of the number: I chose 17 because my daughter Sydney was born on the 17th of February 2009. The number and it’s significance did not shape the art at all, but it was very important to me that the number I chose had a special meaning in my personal life.

Materials: Sharpies, tempera paint, Mod Podge, and a 2009 penny. I created this piece by making each of the pennies separately, stenciling the words in the background, and decoupaging the pennies to the background.

Size: 6 inches x 8 inches

About the Artist: For as long as I can remember I have wanted to be an artist. In Kindergarten we took a personality test that told us what we should “grow up” to be; my results were painter. When I first went to college I was a psychology/art major with the intention of becoming an art therapist. My dreams quickly changed when I realized I hated psychology. After that I picked up education and discovered the wonderful world of teaching. I graduated in 2002 and have been teaching elementary art ever since. It is wonderful to share your passion with children that get so excited to learn new information. I love teaching just as much as I love creating my own art.

I currently teach K-5 art and am in the process of receiving a Masters in art education through The Ohio State University.

If you’re curious to find out more information about Kelly’s artwork, you can see more at Kelly Janice. You may also follow her on twitter at @kellyjanice, on Facebook and on MySpace

Price: This piece is not currently for sale: There are great reasons to purchase Penny Experiment art. If you would like to purchase In Mankind We Trust #17 or other artwork from this 100 Penny Postcard Art series, please email me and I will put you on my list to inform when this series is for sale.

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Zen In America #59 Penny Art

Posted on December 29, 2009 by admin

Zen in America — Niki Banffy Nesbitt

Zen in America penny art

Inspiration: 50 years of Zen (Suzuki Roshi came to the US in 1959 and began the American zen buddhist practice).

About the Art: Wheel of dharma (Buddhist)

The significance of the number: 59 – 1959 was when Suzuki Roshi came to the US.

Materials: pen and ink — stenciled method

Size: 4 inches x 6 inches

About the Artist: This world we move through from birth to death is our home.

The hotel room, the cafe, the street corner, the beach, the log by the lake. These are each sacred and beautiful spaces that we experience every day for a moment, for a lifetime, once, or revisited again and again, sometimes with great awareness, other times with little notice. My work attempts to express a spirit of place, slivers of this world’s beauty, natural and man made. I am keenly aware of the impermanence of form as I draw. Stippled marks of dark ink fall on to white paper. Shapes, texture, pattern push forward through negative space, becoming whole and revealing subtle form. When form falls away, they are simply marks on paper.

My photographs are snapshots of subject matter captured in the sacred moment of a quiet meeting. I attempt to reflect on and record an intimacy of shared space. Once the shutter is released, that moment has slipped away.It is my hope that those who view my work will rest within the moment of its expression and reflect upon the limitless, simple beauty of the world around us…from austere and perfectly composed mountain peaks to the broken window in the warehouse reflecting light in a puddle on the floor.

If you’re curious to see more information about Niki’s artwork, you can see more at NikiBanffyNesbitt.com

Price: This piece is not currently for sale: There are great reasons to purchase Penny Experiment art. If you would like to purchase Zen In America #59 or other artwork from this 100 Penny Postcard Art series, please email me and I will put you on my list to inform when this series is for sale.

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Launching Penny For Your Thoughts Book #1

Posted on December 29, 2009 by admin

I’m sitting in an Internet cafe with a cup of tea (Green Tea Tropical – my favorite) getting ready to launch the first Penny For Your Thoughts book out into the world:

Penny Experiment Internet cafe

I wanted to give it to a random person, so I left it open on a table in the middle of the cafe:

penny for your thoughts book

book on table

We’ll see if anyone picks it up in the next few hours. I always feel nervous when I do something like this (not sure why). I decided to leave it open on the front page because if it was closed, I figured everyone passing by would just assume it was a forgotten book and never even look inside.

Now the big question is will I be able to concentrate on all the other work I have to do while the book is sitting there. Fingers crossed.

Update 2:30 The first people (a group of five) stopped to look at the book as they wanted to sit at the table (others had walked by and glanced at it, but not stopped to actually read what was written). They came to a group consensus that the book and the idea was “inane” which I think was one of the reasons that I was so nervous about launching it randomly. Nobody wants to hear that anything they do is stupid.

If I picked a person to give it to, then I know that they would be a bit more receptive, but I also find it good to see how people react (even when it’s negatively). They did read the entire front cover (each person in the group) and they did read what I wrote (flipping through 70 pages to do so).

I wonder if I was a bit more artistic if the initial look of the book would have made a difference. If the book remains for another several hours with nobody taking it, I may have to think about decorating it a bit more.

Update 3:35 The group left and a new group of four immediately sat down at the table (it’s crowded with the late afternoon crowd. They immediately opened up the book and we shall see their reaction…the book remained open, but the group started talking about other topics and ignored it until 3:55 when they closed the book and continued their conversation without a second thought. No idea what they think as they haven’t discussed it. I have one more hour here and then I’ll have to leave and let it go without fully knowing if they don’t come back to it.

Update 4:45: Time to go and the group is still talking away without mentioning the book on the table. I guess it’s time to really let it go free and hope that someone emails me with updates along the way….

Update 7:30: You knew (well, maybe not you, but I did) that I wasn’t going to be able to stay away. Upon returning, the book was still there, but had been moved to another table. I plan on staying until closing, so we’ll see what, if anything happens…

Update 7:40: Two women waiting for coffee glance at book and open it up. Read the inside and a “neat idea” was heard – but as soon as they get there coffee, they move to the back of the cafe and leave the book on the table.

Update 7:50: Another nibble. A young woman walked across the room to take a look at the book, read the front page, then walked back to her boyfriend to explain what it was — but without the book…possibly looking up the site on their phones?

Update 10:45: Still no takers. I need to decide whether to just leave it and let the workers decide what to do with it or take it home and come back tomorrow to try again…

Day 2 11:30 am: I decided to take the book home last night and when I did, my sister and her friends who were over visiting found it and added their thoughts to it. This makes the book look a lot less blank and maybe will encourage someone to write or take it. I had also planned to move where I placed the book to the back of the cafe, but that plan was thwarted when the table in the back was already full, so it’s back where I first placed it. Fingers crossed for better luck today…

Update 1:00 pm 1.5 hours and only a single glance at the book. This might be a lot harder than I thought it would be. Might need to start looking for other locations where it might be easier to find someone to claim it…

Update 2:30: Nothing in the past 1.5 hours – not even a glance at the book. I have decided that I when I leave here in another hour or so, I will leave the book and then check on it in the evening to see if it is still here.

Update 2:36 Woohoo. Two young women opened up the book and immediately sat down and pulled out a pen. One is writing in the book right now. Not sure if they will take it, but good to see something after all these hours of nothing. And the second young woman is now writing…

Update 2:50 Both wrote, but left without taking the book. As it gets later the Internet cafe is filling up which may get more people to look. At least we made progress from yesterday. I must admit, I’m very curious to know what they wrote. Back to the waiting game…

Update 3:30 Time to leave and I’ll leave the book where it is. I will come back in the evening to check to see if someone took it, and if not, make a decision on if I want to try another method to set it out on its way.

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Food Delivered To Food Bank

Posted on December 28, 2009 by admin

I have a confession to make. I’m a bit ashamed to say that I have never been to a food bank before beginning Penny Experiment. I have never been a food bank advocate and I probably know less about how food banks work and how many they feed than most of the people that have visited this blog.

The main reason that donating to food banks even came to mind when I first found the penny was because I was at the store the day before with my sister and as we left, she made a point to say that the next time we went shopping that we should purchase some food to leave in the food bank collection barrel by the grocery store door. What I think it does show, however, is that even if you don’t know a whole lot about something, it doesn’t mean that you can’t help out.

So this afternoon, my dad and I loaded up the car with the food that I purchased from Safeway

Food in car

and delivered it to the Open Heart Kitchen in Pleasanton CA.

open heart kitchen

Evelyn at Open Hear Kitchen received the packages and took it all back into the storeroom to unload:

Evelyn Open Heart Kitchen

$62.67 worth of food to the food banks, $999,937.33 to go…

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Penny For Your Thoughts Book 1/100

Posted on December 28, 2009 by admin

I am not artistic at all (one of the reasons I’ve asked others to help launch Penny For Your Thoughts books — hopefully those that choose to participate will do a much better job) and my “Penny For Your Thoughts” book reflects this reality. I had an old sketch diary that hadn’t been used for years, so I co-opted it for this Penny Experiment Project:

Penny for your Thoughts book 1

Penny for your Thoughts book cover

Inside the front cover I wrote the basic guidelines for this project so that anyone that ends up with the book will know what to do:

Penny for your Thoughts inside page

And then provided information where to send the book when it is finished so that I can share and sell it:

Penny for your thoughts book back page

I actually chose to write my thoughts in the book. I placed a single word on the top right corner of each page (70 pages in all) to share my thoughts, but I will keep them a secret for only those who happen to get the book until it returns back to me.

I’m really curious to see how this project works as there is always the possibility that the books will not return. In fact, most people that I have told the idea to have said that none of them will get back to me. For some reason, I have faith that the books will return and that the people that end up with the books will take good care of them. Plus I’ve received plenty of “that’s never going to work” on this entire Penny Experiment which I also have decided to ignore.

I plan to hand my book out to a stranger at an Internet cafe since Internet cafes are where I spend a lot of my time these days. It’s also where I was heading when the whole Penny Experiment came into being, so it seems an appropriate place to launch the fist book. I’m not sure yet if I’ll go up to a random stranger and give it to them or leave it on a table for someone to pick up on their own – still need to think about that a bit more. In any event, it’s exciting to see how this all turns out.

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Penny For Your Thoughts Book Participants Needed

Posted on December 28, 2009 by admin

Now that we have 100 artists producing penny postcard art, it’s time to launch the next phase of the Penny Experiment project. This project will be 100 “Penny For Your Thoughts” books. Basically, it needs to be a book of some type with blank pages inside where people can write down their thoughts when they receive it, then pass it along to the next person who will write down their thoughts, and this process will continue until the entire book is filled. Once the book is full, it will be sent back to me where I will scan it to share with everyone and then it will be sold. 100% of the money that the book earns will go to buy food for food banks.

What I need is to find 99 participants (I will be launching one of the books) that would each like to launch one of these books into the world. The books can be purchased or made (and decorated if you like), but they need to contain the following information:

Written on Front Cover

Penny For Your Thoughts Book (your assigned number)/100
Penny Experiment

Written on Inside Cover

This book is a traveling art project for PennyExperiment.com (an attempt to turn a found penny into $1 million worth of food for food banks) which has landed in your hands. Please leave your mark on the book with art, words, photos or any other way you want to decorate the pages with your thoughts. Once you are finished (or if you do not want to participate), simply pass it on to another person – friend or stranger – you meet. Once this book is complete, it will be sold to raise money to buy food for food banks, so please pass it on.

You can follow the progress and updates to this book at www.pennyexperiment.com. If you have any questions or just want to give an update on the book, please send an email to [email protected]

Written on Back Inside Cover

When this book is complete, please mail it to:

Penny Experiment
10470 Orange Ave
Cupertino, CA 95014
USA

Other Considerations

This book will likely be passed around quite a bit, so it needs to be sturdy enough to withstand this use. Pages should also be thick and sturdy since people will likely be writing on both sides of each page.

If you decide to particiapte, you will need to be able to scan or take photos of the book and email them to me before launching the book to the world so I can place them on the website. You are free to also make a post on your own website or blog using the images.

Additional Information

In return, the person who launches the book will receive (if desired) a bio on this website under the images of their book, a link to their own website and the knowledge that they helped out a lot of people in need during these difficult economic times.

If this sounds like something in which you would like to participate, please contact me and I will assign you a number for your book. Please also feel free to contact me or leave a comment with any questions that you may have.

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First Food Purchases

Posted on December 27, 2009 by admin

Let me begin by stating that this first round of buying is not typical (if only it were) due to some good coupons I had that are not readily available to the general public. That being said, the way that I went about it is what I (and what the couponers that are going to be helping) shall be doing to try and maximize the amount of food purchased with the money that is earned from this Penny Experiment.

I went to Safeway on 12/21 (one of the things you learn is that you have to purchase the food when it goes on sale and not leave the shopping for a certain week). This is what I was able to buy:

1 bag Safeway Brand chocolate chips
1 package of Jello Mousse
4 bags of Bertolli Frozen meals
8 boxes of Kellogg’s Cornflakes

Safeway receipt

Safeway grocery receipt

Safeway food receipt

The total value of all this food was $62.67 and I was able to buy it for $0.42 with a total savings of $62.25.

Safeway receipt total

This is how I did it:

I had a Safeway coupon for a free bag of Safeway brand chocolate chips with the purchase of $20 or more on 12/21. Since the total value of all the food was more than $20 before use of the coupons, this item ended up being free. Anyone could have done this.

free chocolate chips

I had a free coupon for a package of Jello Mousse. This was a coupon that was received as part of an event package for a conference I attended, so it wouldn’t be one that the average person would be able to get hold of. This item ended up being free.

free Jello Mousse

I had four coupons for 1 free bag of Bertolli Frozen meals. These were coupons that was received as part of an event package for a conference I attended, so they wouldn’t be available to the average shopper. These four items ended up being free.

free Bertolli frozen meals

I had four coupons for Kellogg’s Cornflakes which were on sale at Safeway for $0.99 a box. 2 coupons were for $1.50 off two boxes and the other 2 coupons were for $1.00 off of two boxes. With the $0.99 price, this meant that the coupons allowed me to buy 8 boxes for $2.92 (the total regular price was $7.92 – $5.00 in coupon savings). This deal was available to anyone with the coupons available online and from the Sunday paper.

free corn flakes

This amount ended up getting subtracted out because the Bertolli meals that were $5.99 each were on special for $4.99 each when you purchased 4. This extra discount (which I wasn’t expecting) covered most of the Kellogg’s Cornflakes making the entire purchase only $0.42.

free food

This was my first try at using some of the coupon skills I have been learning. To tell the truth, I was more than a little nervous when I walked up to the checkout counter not knowing how it would all work out, but it was amazing to see the price I needed to pay keep falling as each coupon was scanned into the computer.

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Coupon Help Needed!

Posted on December 26, 2009 by admin

Now that I have $1000 to spend on buying food for food banks, I’m going to need your help. Getting the best deals on food means finding coupons to match with sales to get those items at greatly discounted prices. The problem is that many online coupons that you print are limited to one coupon per computer.

This is where I am asking for your help. If you won’t be using these coupons yourself, it would be fantastic if you could print them out and send them to me so that I can take advantage of the savings for the food banks. Here are some coupons that I need:

Target Coupons

You can print Target Coupons here. The four coupons I need are:

$1 off Green Giant Broccoli
$1 off Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate
$5 off 4 package of Kellogg’s cereals
$2 off Archer Farms Ham

You should be able to pint out these coupons 2 times each and you will have to search through all the coupons to find each.

Other coupons I can use:

$0.75 off of malt-o-meal coupon (Get Coupon here)
$0.75 off Mom’s Best Naturals Oatmeal coupon (Get Coupon here)
$1.50 off 2 packages of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes (Get Coupon here)
Another $1.50 off 2 packages of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes (Get Coupon here – you may have to search a bit for it)

Please print off as many of these coupons as you can and send them to:

Penny Experiment
10470 Orange Ave
Cupertino, CA 95014

I will do my best to pair the coupons up with sales to get food for the food banks at a fraction of the regular price. Your help is much appreciated.

If you are into granola, you can get a free sample for yourself at Galaxy Granola. if you aren’t into granola, get the sample anyway and take it down to the local food bank on your next trip.

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100 Pennies United For Meals Currency #100 Penny Art

Posted on December 26, 2009 by admin

100 Pennies United for Meals “Currency” — Chris Hammer

100 Pennies United for Meals penny art

100 Pennies United for Meals penny art back

Inspiration: Food Stamps, Old Hawaiian style paper money

About the Art: A few penny types and US Dollar mottoes

The significance of the number: I used 100 US Pennies, the brightest one in the last 0 is a wheat back penny.

Materials: Photographed and computer printed.

Size: 5 inches x 8 inches

About the Artist: My Birth was in 1959, the 1st year of the Lincoln Memorial back penny. I don’t consider myself a “professional” artist. I simply like to create pictures. I’m pretty political, Pro-Peace / Anti-war and do some signs & pictures.

If you’re curious to see more information about Chris’ artwork, you can see more at LPrevolt or follow on twitter at @LPrevolt

Price: This piece is not currently for sale: There are great reasons to purchase Penny Experiment art. If you would like to purchase 100 Pennies United For Meals Currency #100 or other artwork from this 100 Penny Postcard Art series, please email me and I will put you on my list to inform when this series is for sale.

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What Can Be Accomplished In A Month In Your Spare Time

Posted on December 25, 2009 by admin

“Always concentrate on how far you have come, rather than how far you have left to go. The difference in how easy it seems will amaze you.” –Heidi Johnson

It’s been a month now since I began Penny Experiment working on it when I could during my spare time. When I started this Penny Experiment, I did so on the spur of the moment, not thinking through how much time and effort it would take. Once I began to consider possible ways to actually reach the goal of giving $1 million worth of food to food banks, I flat out asked myself, “what the hell have you gotten yourself into?”

Despite coming back to this question on more than a few occasions over the past 30 days, I think that Penny Experiment has made tremendous progress (although there is still a long, long way to go). It started with a found penny on the ground and the idea that a penny had more worth than most people thought.

Not only does it blow me away that I have turned that original penny into $1009 during the past month, but even more mind boggling is that 100 different artists wanted to participate in the experiment. This is especially true since I have absolutely no background in art or any connections to the art community and I have never met a single artist that is participating except online.

No matter where Penny Experiment goes from here, I will consider it a success. $1000 worth of food, at the very minimum, will be going to food banks in the coming months that would not be happening if I had chosen not to act. That is the lesson that I’m learning from this entire experience thus far: I should act a lot more often than I do rather than try to plan everything out before beginning. The truth is, if I had sat down and tried to figure out how to turn a penny into $1 million worth of food and not just started, nothing would have ever come of it. Sometimes it is important to commit to doing something even before you know how you are going to accomplish it.

While this experiment is still in its beginning stages, it’s reached the point where I can actually start to do the good that I had hoped to accomplish. The next month should see the beginning of donating the food purchased to the food banks and that is definitely something that is exciting to look forward to.

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