WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?
Artist: Jane Morgan.
A Penny For Your Thoughts.
Sponsored by Annabel Karmel.
During the summer of 2023, a public exhibition of sculptures was created for Julia’s House hospice foundation. A leading children’s charity providing support and care for children with life-limiting illness. The hospices are located in the West Country counties of Dorset and Wiltshire and are funded almost exclusively from private donation and fundraising.
Over the past two decades Jane Morgan has fabricated a number of her signature Penny Sculptures exclusively for various charities and in conjunction with the late Mark Shand, brother of Her Majesty Queen Camilla.
After Mark Shand’s tragic death in New York in April, 2014, Jane stepped away from producing these works, concentrating on developing her private practice.
In 2022, she was approached by the philanthropist, Annabel Karmel, as a trustee and patron of Julia’s House and was invited to create a work to raise funds for the children’s hospice charity. It was such a deserving cause; how could anyone say no. After almost 900 hours of studio time and fabrication, Jane and her team completed one of her finest and glittering works to date. The sculpture was on display in London and in Swindon, Wiltshire.
The sculpture is fabricated using British One Penny coins minted between 15thFebruary 1971 & 2008, all bearing the infamous crowned portcullis with chains design, (an adaptation of the Badge of Henry VII) which is now the Badge of the Palace of Westminster), with the numeral “1” written below the portcullis, and either NEW PENNY (1971–1981) or ONE PENNY (1982–2008) above the portcullis. The Penny coin was originally cast from solid bronze, but since 1992 has been minted in copper-plated steel due to the increasing price of copper. All Jane Morgan’s Penny sculptures feature only the early portcullis design with coins dating between 1966 & 2006. These early coins display the portcullis design which is no longer available or minted in the UK. It is the sourcing of these original coins that is at the heart of her work. As each of Jane’s coin sculptures age, they evolve to take on their own patina, visually changing with the passage of time.
