Into my heart's treasury
I slipped a coin
That time cannot take
Nor a thief purloin, --
Oh better than the minting
Of a gold-crowned king
Is the safe-kept memory
Of a lovely thing.

-Sarah Teasdale (1884-1933)



Coins are more than currency, They are metal objects that hold historical tales as they are passed through the hands of millions of people on a daily basis. In my artwork I have highlighted the personal history of coins by using them as a material to make art objects. I have chosen to construct objects out of pennies, quarters, nickels, dimes and foreign coins that reflect the often disregarded physical struggle the everyday blue collar laborer undergoes to earn the value of these stamped metal discs. Because I come from a lineage of hand workers, men and women who worked farms, printing presses, factories and construction sites, I value skilled physical labor. I constructed the coin art objects to honor my forefathers and to emphasize the complexity of a simple round coin.