I’m always looking for new material that works well for mosaics and noticed that pennies, which are being phased out in Canada, had a diverse tonal range from spanking new mint to old and almost black. I got the idea to do a giant four foot penny as an entry into the Peace Arch Annual Sculpture Exhibit.
Featured on Global News, the penny sculpture has a portrait of the Queen on one side made from Canadian pennies, and the image of Lincoln on the American side created from US cents. “Two sides of the same coin”, as I’m calling it, celebrates our two countries shared history and culture, ironically using pennies that are as different as possible to create the portraits on each side.
I didn’t paint or draw on any of the pennies but did use a pencil eraser to bring out more details in the faces. Of course I’ve hidden a couple “draft dodger” pennies to make it interesting. The completed coin sculpture, which was also featured in the Kamloops Daily News, is 46″x 46″ x 4″, weighs 175 lbs, contains 8150 pennies and is sealed in epoxy to prevent theft and vandalism.
