Tiny Metal Plants, Animals, and Buildings are Liberated From Coins by Artist Micah Adams

Toronto-based artist Micah Adams uses a jeweler’s saw to cut out the embossed animals, figures, and objects from coins of different sizes and denominations. The metal cut-outs are used to create tiny readymades and fun collages. From a growing pile of copper leaves taken from Canadian pennies to intricate birds and flowers borrowed from a foreign currency, each of Micah Adams works is hand-cut using the same basic tool. Working at a smaller scale is something that the artist came to in art college while making sculptures and spending his free time in the jewelry and metalsmithing department. The practice of cutting coins evolved out of using other materials.

“I was making small assemblages from things I’d collected over the years, tiny things like toys, bottle caps, beach finds and even teeth,” Adams tells Colossal. “Then I cast them in metal. They were like tiny bronzes or miniature monuments. That lead me to look for tiny things that were already metal that I could use. So I looked at coins and their designs for things I could cut-out.”

Micah Adams is currently working on another solo exhibition of his coin collages and other works that will open at MKG127 in Toronto in February 2020. He also has an Etsy shop where he sells earrings, ties tacks, and other keepsakes. For future updates and to see more of his art, follow Adams on Instagram.