Stacking Pennies
February 11, 2006
A recent Make : Blog entry points to this strangely fascinating website with pictures of pennies stacked in cantilevered fashion to produce the most amazing structures. The pictures start with the simple designs and progress to the impossibly complex. If nothing else, it's a fun diversion. But who has the time to create them?
View Pictures of Pennies
Comments (5)
When I suggested to Fred that we may want to spend the rest of the day working on one of these things, he said he could think of better ways to waste his time. Me too- like being on the stupid computer!
There's a show at Meijer Gardens of work by Andy Goldsworthy. He does amazing sculptures using natural objects and some aren't meant to last. There's a great 90 minute video of him working on his things in nature. Check out photos of his work in books at Schuler's. As amazing and ephemeral and a little more aesthetically pleasing than the stacking of coins. If I worked with the coins, I'd have to send them though the dishwasher first. EEEwww! Gross.
Feb 12, 2006 ; 11:43 AM
Ginny, I'm with you and Fred on the time-wasting. In fact, I have so many ways of wasting time that I sometimes wasted time in one way to try to avoid wasting time in another. Pathetic.
Thanks for mentioning the Andy Goldsworthy exhibit. I'd love to check that out. For those who want a sample of his work online, you can visit his artnet gallery or take a look at some pictures gathered by the Google Images directory.
Feb 12, 2006 ; 3:54 PM
Oooohhh! I don't have much to say about stacking pennies, karl, although i am thinking about killing a homeschool day with earl by trying it out . . . but aunt ginny! i LOVE andy goldsworthy. he's been my favorite artist for years. a few years ago i got a big coffee-table book of his art from the library, thumbed through it with my daughter, and then we went outside and found natural objects to make our own ecological art. totally fun. simple, beautiful, temporal. he's an inspiration.
Feb 14, 2006 ; 8:33 AM
So - every "stack" is 10-high, huh? I hereby expose these frauds, because the very first picture reveals that the stack is really ELEVEN high, even though they revert to 10-high in subsequent examples.
Feb 15, 2006 ; 2:13 PM
Hi Karl, this entry reminded me of an art exhibit of canned food structures I experienced this Autumn in NYC.
Upon paying your 10 cans of non perishable food item entry fee, one was able to view structures such as mermaids, skyscrapers, and zoo animals all made by stategically placing the cans, paying close attention to the colors on the labels used to create the desired visual effect. The can structures were then disassembled, with the food distributed to homeless shelters. It was really a fun and somewhat mind-boggling exhibit.
Best to you and yours...
Nicole
Feb 11, 2006 ; 10:17 PM