Blog / 2025 / My New Friends

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

I’d like to introduce you to my new friends. They take up rather more space than my work normally does in my very small studio!

They will be installed in Philadelphia next year as part of a public art project to celebrate the 250^th anniversary of the United States. And they are, of course, sculptures in the shape of the number one, and they will each represent something that Philadelphia was first in.

So, for example, the steamboat—first steamboat for passengers and freight from 1790. Unlike steamboats that you might be thinking of, like in old pictures and things, this steamboat from 1790 didn’t have a wheel with paddles on it. Instead it had paddles at the back that worked a lot like how duck feet work to propel a duck forward.

My three sculptures are part of a larger project called 52 Weeks of Firsts, which is an initiative put together by the National Constitution Center, Historic Philadelphia, and Mural Arts Philadelphia all working together. Every Saturday in 2026 a different first will be celebrated somewhere in the city and the sculptures will be on display throughout the year.

I’m excited to be part of this public art project and thrilled with my new friends, even if they do make navigating my tiny space a little challenging!