Keys To Community (2003)

by James Peniston (b. 1973)

Photo Caption: Photo Alec Rogers © 2016 for the Association for Public Art
  • Title

    Keys To Community

  • Artist

    James Peniston (b. 1973)

  • Year

    2003; installed 2007

  • Location

    Girard Fountain Park, Arch Street between 3rd and 4th Streets

  • Medium

    Bronze on Brick Base

  • Dimensions

    Height 9′, base 5'6"

  • Themes

    Benjamin Franklins

Commissioned by the City of Philadelphia

Owned by the City of Philadelphia

At A Glance

  • A nine-foot bronze bust that portrays Benjamin Franklin turning to greet a visitor

  • Over 1,000 keys collected by the artist from school children are worked into the surface

  • Replaced the much-loved but deteriorated Penny Franklin sculpture

In 2003, the city of Philadelphia commissioned local sculptor James Peniston to replace the much-loved but deteriorated Penny Franklin, an acrylic sculpture covered with 80,000 pennies donated by schoolchildren, located outside the firehouse in historic Old City. Peniston responded with Keys To Community, a nine-foot bronze bust that portrays Franklin turning to greet a visitor. The sculptor visited two dozen nearby elementary schools to talk about Franklin’s role as a community-builder – and to ask each child to bring in a key to be worked into the sculpture’s surface. Over two years, Peniston collected more than 1,000 keys. Firefighters mounted a penny drive in 500 local schools, collecting 1.8 million pennies to help fund the casting. When the molten bronze was poured for the work, firefighters laid in brass nameplates representing fallen colleagues across four centuries of service.

(Text courtesy of Bradley Peniston.)

Keys to Community
Photo Alec Rogers © 2016 for the Association for Public Art

 

This artwork is part of the Around Old City tour

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