Loose Change
I must admit to being a bit daunted by the prompt loose change I am considering music, books, poetry and politics as inspiration for my next artwork.
The idea that seems to be most intriguing is loose clothing as I navigate the ‘loose’ change in my clothing after a rapid, ongoing weight loss that has reduced my weight by 40 lbs in 3 years. I donated most of my too large clothing before our cross country move except for my favorite pieces …art garments I hold onto in case I am able to wear them again, some are hand sewn or heavily embellished by my own hand and cannot be altered to fit me. Some I kept because of sentimental attachment, “I have had this shirt since I was in college”. It is surprisingly difficult to give up my favorite cargo pants and comfy sweats they still sit in a box waiting to go to a charity shop. Why do we keep clothing that no longer fits us? Is it superstitious “ as soon as I donate it I’ll gain the weight back “ or is it simple attachment to the familiar?
August 18th was my 34th wedding Anniversary this morning out of curiosity I tried on my wedding dress only to find it is too small to zip up. Perhaps this dress will be an additional inspiration for this new prompt… if so I better get busy!
My initial thoughts about considering money as a prompt is my experience of rarely having cash or coin on me as I move about the world limiting my ability to make a donation to an organization or to a homeless person. I routinely hear myself say “ I’m sorry I have no cash on me”. The next thing I wonder is if charitable organizations will one day have the ability to accept donations by Venmo or another cash APP. This poses an interesting question for our society for instance will the Salvation Army bell ringer go away or provide a digital way to donate. Will people be willing to donate this way?
Ironically, I have been saving change in a jar for years although I rarely have change to put in it anymore. In previous years when I was working in the public and carried cash. I was frequently hearing the sound of coins dropping into the jar and feeling happy to know I was saving towards something special. My partner and I refer to it as my run away fund. This change was only taken to the bank when the container was full. One occasion there was over 600 dollars I used the money to travel. Seeing my jar nearly half full with very little chance to fill it any time soon poses an interesting question for me, shall I continue to grow this saving even at this new slow pace or turn it in now and do something special with it now knowing it will not be that much of a total while also knowing that even if I empty it today the next time I find a coin in my hand I will drop it into the blue jar.
Actually Art Plus Gallery in West Reading PA does use Venmo for donations. We can’t use it for payment for art work, as it doesn’t work with Square. But — easy peasy for donations.
My other thought is — go for it however “loosely” you want to interpret the theme. I learned after a few round of participating in Cloth in Common that I wanted to create pieces that worked with the rest of my body of work.
Otherwise I ended up with a bunch of “red headed step children” that I couldn’t really use.
Terrific ideas, Jacque… you hit the connections to aps and charitable organizations… I love seeing my old coins with dates that have meaning – weddings, childrens births and special collections for travels… it is strange to se the mixture from travels and “handed off” coins. Great post!
I have been putting change into a cheap tin church bank with a corn cob stopper. I finally added a SEE ROCK CITY sign to the roof. It’s got plenty of pennies in it as well as other coins. The change is that now I dig out coins more often to purchase things.