So the piece called flag is still developing. When I started it I was excited I finally found an interesting way to use the wings. There is an issue with some of the objects that I find they will sometimes overwhelm a sculpture. I have had these wings for about seven years, I cannot recall where I found it but I believe it was the trash in
East Boston. I have tried to use the item multiple times but each time it was too much for the sculpture. Finally it seems to blend real well here. I do need to work on the side if the wood holding the wings and am not certain about the exact placement of the “nailed pennies” but as you read on you will see they are part of a concept.
Interesting tidbit about the nailed pennies, those were retrieved off a sculpture that I dismantled. Not only do I recycle items found on the street but I recycle my own sculptures that seem bland or no longer speak to me. The recycled piece was from my days at the museum school and was in reference to an interesting article I read that spoke about pennies and the fact that it cost more the one cent to make each penny. Funny we are still throwing money away on them now. I have read that it costs 1.26 to 1.7 cents to make one penny depending on the price of zinc and copper. Here is a link about how much it costs to make a penny. While the older piece was just about decreasing value of currency this piece speaks more to hording as a result of this decreased value. It refers to the mentality that you need to spend to stimulate the economy but then the need to hold on to that cash for your personal well being. There is a constant battle being played out in our economy where it is stimulated by spending but the ones that save seem to be the people that come out ahead.
After writing about this I think that the title "Flag" may not relate enough to this piece. I need to come up with a better title. The concept of “Flag” came from the basic structure of the pennies in the sculpture with the pennies forming a circle like that in the early
Bettsy Ross flag.
I also have arranged the pennies to point outwards as the stars the flag do. I like this aspect but it is not what the piece is about
Creation of miss-match is starting to become real fun. Note, there is a slight change in the name. I cut out one of the school pictures and have placed it into a dial like device – this was also moved to on top of the radio thingy. I am calling this little part of the piece “dial a girl”. It made me laugh when I came up with this little construction.
I removed the tin that was running across the top of the sculpture, it was irritating me and felt it was just not working. I replaced this with some wire and continue to work on the way the wire attaches to the sculpture. 
In this piece I have used a bunch of old school photos. A lot of people ask me is that you? Is that an old girlfriend? Who are these kids? Well here is the secret; the photos came from a box of junk I found in the hall of one of the studios I lived in. I also found a bunch of Duroc Pig certificates, canceled checks and old letters from a farm in the Illinois. It is real interesting stuff and gives a discombobulated history of a family farm. I have used a lot of the school photos and am starting to run low – Yikes. Hopefully I can find some more before they run out. Hint Hint - I accept donations. 
This sort of thing always amazes me – these people were living a life that I have nothing to do with and here I am in the future reading their letters looking at school photos attempting to piece their lives together and get an understanding of who they are. Yet – I am certain there is so much under the covers that I will never know about the death of a family dog, an unspoken affair or a storm that took down the old apple tree. When I create my work I will sometimes sit there and make up these stories. It is almost like I am trying to get the objects to speak about their history. Like the old saying “if these walls could talk the stories they would tell”, my job is to create that sort of conversation. The personal aspect is where it starts to get tricky because to the story I bring my own personal baggage, my life story. My history starts to get muddled in with the history of the object. Taking it to the next level when the work is observed by a viewer their world is then interjected. The muddling continues so that the viewer, mine and object’s history become intertwined. The interpretation is then left up to the observer.
