Preamble

Date: 1987
 * [[image:https://s3.amazonaws.com/saam.media/files/styles/x_large/s3/images/1988/1988.39_1a.jpg?itok=_3DpYdNu width="269" height="264" link="@https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/preamble-27722"]] || Title: **Preamble**

Artist: **Mike Wilkins** Born: Durham, North Carolina 1959

Medium: painted metal on vinyl and wood Dimensions: 96 x 96 in. (243.8 x 243.8 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of Nissan Motor Corporation in U.S.A.

Accession : 1988.39 || "The organization of the work didn't take very long. The Preamble fit very nicely into 51 license plates (the 50 states and the District of Columbia), and 51 plates would fit well on an 8-by-8-[foot] background. The harder part was getting all 51 DMVs to go along with the project and print up a plate with their specific part of the Preamble. I got most fairly quickly, but you need them all for the piece to work. I had to work on some states."
 * Exhibition Label: **


 * Suggested Questions: **
 * What are some differences between each state and each state's license plate?
 * Why do you suppose the artist created this work of art? How is it organized?
 * How does this artwork represent the individual states?
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">How does this artwork represent the United States?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">Social Education- Mike Wilkins Article <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">Newspaper Article- Mike Wilkins <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">Signs and Symbols Guide <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">Wilkins Cre8ing 4 the Ppul <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px;">Resources: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Artist Biography <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">SAAM Collections Page
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Links: **