| Wishing Ceremony | by Sally Sheinman 23 September - 1 November 2005 Art & Design Gallery, University of Hertfordshire Galleries, College Lane, Hatfield, Herts Tel: 01707 285376 The Wishing Ceremony has been developed in association with the University of Hertfordshire Galleries, with funds from Arts Council England, mac in Birmingham and Leicester City Council. Touring to: mac, Birmingham 5 November 2005 - 8 January 2006 About Sally Sheinman Sally is an American who grew up on a dairy farm close to the Canadian border and also worked on Wall Street. She received a BA degree from the State University of New York at Albany. She undertook postgraduate studies at Hunter College, New York City where her tutors included Tony Smith and Robert Morris. Sally has lived in Britain for the last 20 years. |
Sally Sheinman鈥檚 "The Wishing Ceremony" invites you to confess your deepest wishes and desires, and share them with the world in complete anonymity, making it a truly interactive piece of artwork.听
 | | Making a wish |
In the display, at the University of Hertfordshire Galleries until 1 November, a collection of six brightly coloured booths housing wishing tokens invite the visitor to step inside and make a wish. In each booth, the square, handpainted tokens act as an inspiration to say what your heart desires. After touching them you are invited to leave an anonymous handwritten version of your wish attached to the wall of the booth, which helps to complete the artwork. The wishes build up during the course of the exhibition, each one noted and recorded by the artist after the exhibition has closed. The show originally launched in six different locations in Leicester, so also accompanying the show are some wishes from the people of that city. Their desires range from "I wish plastic surgery was free" to "I wish to be comfortable for the rest of my life". By creating an oasis of calm in a chaotic world, Sally provides the space for a moment of silent reflection and quiet contemplation, an opportunity for each visitor to lose themselves for a few minutes within the structure of the booth and focus on their own thoughts.
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There is also a sense of innocent voyeurism about the process, as you release your wishes and read everyone else's. | "As a little girl I always thought that if your wish isn't told to anybody, how is it ever going to come true." | | Sally Sheinman |
Sally says that ideas for art come from many places and this is certainly true of her inspiration for the work. "Where ideas come from are always a little complex" she explains. "But I believe that we should have a more spiritual side to art and that is sort of the idea behind it. "Also I suppose as a little girl I always thought that if your wish isn't told to anybody, how is it ever going to come true. So I suppose all these things sparked it off.
 | | Wishes in the Wishing Ceremony |
"But literally hundreds and hundreds of people made wishes in Leicester so I'm hoping that there will be hundreds and hundreds of wishes here too, because they complete the work of art." Sally knows that she can't make the wishes come true herself, but hopes that if people articulate them, it will give them the inspiration to make them come true. She also just wants to bring a little fun into people's lives. "Who knows what's going to happen?" she says. "Whether wishes come true aren't up to me but in Leicester two or three people came up to me at the end of it and told me their wish had come true.
 | | Wishing Tokens |
"Obviously some wishes are too difficult. We can't bring people back to life, but maybe by expressing those wishes, people help themselves. "It would be wonderful if it just brought a little smile to people's faces and they had a little fun."
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