What is a Legacy Coin?

Coins are a medium of exchange. What is your currency? What drives you? Who and what are you? What is your core belief?

Looking at my Legacy Coin, I see myself. I read the words, and I can hear my voice. I hear the whisperings of all those who poured into me. The Legacy Coin is a living legacy. Its primary job is to remind us who and what we are about, especially when we get distracted and lose focus. It is a gift you give yourself; it’s a mirror, a mechanism to reconnect with our greater selves.

I’m always looking to make my art more meaningful and purposeful. You have the symbolism of the coin, a medium of exchange. We have to know what we are worth. It isn’t all that popular today, but we need to know what we stand for, and then we need to stand.

How the concept born:

Once we settle into adult life, perhaps mid-way into the thirties, we begin to seriously question who and what we are. Clubbing, though enjoyable, no longer holds the same kind of excitement. We’ve experienced the thrill of driving cars, even if we haven’t owned them. We have a credit card or two. We have worked for a while, long enough to realize that what we thought was a good paycheck doesn’t really go very far. We’ve lived long enough to have outgrown the thrill of living independently, now sobered by the responsibilities that go along with the luxury.

I can’t say precisely when, but a voice begins quietly questioning what life is all about. It starts as a whisper but gets louder and louder if ignored.

How the concept evolved:

I first developed the Legacy Painting concept in this frame of mind. I was taught that it takes us 70 years to learn how to live, and I can believe it! In all that learning, we are constantly defining and redefining who and what we want to be—like a person trying on suits, trying to find what fits.

You see, the format of a coin doesn’t allow you to write a lot. You have to be succinct, making selecting the right phrase challenging. I needed to decide if I was attempting to define who I was at that time or if I wanted to describe the person I wanted to grow into. The ideas kept coming. After all, I was the inheritor of the gifts of wisdom from family, teachers, and mentors. There were familiar phrases I grew up with and those I have tweaked over the years. They have value to me. They are part of me. I remember getting a little teary thinking of those influential people in my life, the wisdom they shared, and the lessons they taught.

 

Interested in commissioning a Legacy Coin?