Penny Thoughts

Penny Thoughts like to describe themselves as a platform for creative ephemera; a place for drafts, sketches, half-baked plans as well as fully-fledged ideas and artworks. In its current state, Penny Thoughts is a double-sided, single A4 sheet of recycled paper – the printing is done on a risograph machine which creates not only a vibrant texture but is also environmentally friendlier than other forms of printing. They distribute PT for free around Manchester, leaving Issues in pubs, bars, shops on buses, even street corners to maximise exposure to a wider range of people with varying abilities, skills and creative habits. It’s free because they believe in making artwork and art publications accessible to the wider public as an extension of what art institutions and higher education institutions attempt to do – they want to encourage people to share their work without sacrificing the essential quality of playfulness, of experimentation which often exists in the margins or foetal stages of any creative project. They were inspired by radical pamphlets and publications which cropped up in 20th Century Europe and wanted to create a publication which was not only easy to disseminate, but also collected works in an ‘easy-to-use’ way. The platform aims to continue providing the opportunity for their contributors work to be read by as wide an audience as they can, and prove that the printed word and image still has power in the internet age. PT was set up by Rory Spencer and Jack Rientoul in the summer of 2018, and Eva Gerretsen joined later as part of the editing team in September 2018.