I made the bones in 1999. They were a personal forward looking celebration of the new millennium and become an important interactive part of my touring show.
The sheer number of wishes that people made stimulated by the pair of wishbones was staggering; as was the depth of feeling often shown in them. The first time they were exhibited was on the south coast so I collected hundreds of holed stones from the beach and asked people to make a wish, write it on the baggage labels provided and tie them to one of the stones and lay them beside the sculpture; the Wishbones and Holly-stones inspired hundreds of interations both at the Crypt in Seaford and later at Bognor Regis and during the exhibition; Sculpture, Signs and Seats. They are also called 'Mother and Child'. People are invited to write or draw, and tie their own wishes to the holed stones provided on the table in the gallery and place them in and around the 'bones'. The sculpture was initially proposed for a public art project as a celebration of the new millenium but was rejected. So I had to make it for my own collection of work and it now doing just what I wanted it to do in the first place.