In the middle of everything, there's a secret message for you waiting to be discovered...
Turn the dial to receive a tiny one-line fortune story from the artist's original writings, chosen for you by the hands of fate and the whims of the Great Gumball.
In the middle of everything, there's a secret for you waiting to be discovered...
Those who interact with The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune turn the dial to receive a tiny one-line fortune story, each from my original writings and chosen for the recipient by The Great Gumball itself.
The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune creates an unexpected, mysterious encounter in the everyday world. The familiar and nostalgic interaction of turning a gumball machine dial is combined with a personal and secret message for the participant to take with them into their day. The machine and its miniature stories invite us to reflect upon the good fortune that is already our own because of our connections to ourselves, to others, and to the world around us.
The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune
© Bailey Lewis, 2026
Experiential storytelling, public art installation
Project Statement
The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune is an interactive installation where participants discover an antique gumball machine in an
unassuming place and discover that it has a mysterious message to deliver to them today.
Attendees who want to know the gumball’s secrets can turn the dial
to receive a capsule with a numbered paper fortune inside. Will they keep the gumball machine's wisdom for their own reflection or will they share with those nearby and all of social media? The decision is theirs alone, for some secrets of the gumball are more personally reflective than others, but all are one-line stories about collective human experiences that connect us more deeply to ourselves, to each other, and to the world we live in.
Experiential storytelling installation
Play the clip to see the experience created for participants by the machine and its one-line fortune story capsules
As seen at ArtFields SC
The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune is an ArtFields Festival public art mini grant recipient, selected for installation at the 2026 ArtFields Festival.
This piece invites participants in with its familiar, nostalgic gumball machine interaction made into an object of chance and mystery, delivering individual mini stories that play with the popular traditions of fortune-telling and secret messages from the universe.
The lighthearted delight of the interaction allows a disarmed moment of unexpected personal reflection for participants, providing an opportunity for them to see themselves in a new way, connect with the world around them through a new lens, and celebrate their individual traits, experience, and overall good fortune.
Materials & Installation Specs
1 antique gumball machine (build completed by artist, as pictured)
original fortune story writings in capsules
(total numbers for stories written and capsules created are both dependent on installation scope)
free spin - no coin required
indoor or outdoor installation - outdoor requires additional specs
8-feet installation site around machine for optimal pedestrian flow
discreetly chained to permanent structure or sidewalk/concrete pad
ability to refill the machine on-site for longer installations
Fortunes are one-line stories about specific, collective human traits and experiences, adult-focused but appropriate for all ages and from the artist’s original writing.
Each story includes its number to add an additional layer of comparison and meaning for participants.
Example:
#32 When did you get to be so compassionate and kind?
The Great Gumball is impressed.
Artist Statement
The stories we tell ourselves become the plot lines that shape our individual lives and form our collective realities, so I believe that we need more stories that help us see ourselves and our connection to the world more clearly, give us words for our experiences - even the tough ones, and encourage us to celebrate ourselves more.
My work, including The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune, aims to tell these types of stories by colliding the mythic with the modern-day, putting twists on familiar formats and folkloric practices for playful encounters with the magic seam that runs just beneath the surface of the seemingly mundane.
A light-hearted and slightly surreal approach to self-reflection and collective storytelling allows humor to lead the way, opening the door for truth to walk right in behind it. But the truths found in my stories don't ask you to criticize, question, or "fix" yourself. Instead this kind of truth asks: What good fortune is yours just because you are you? And what story from our common human experience wants to find you today to remind you of that?
These are stories we've lived by for thousands of years - as old as myth itself, yet as modern as you and me.
About Bailey Lewis
Bailey Lewis is an experiential storytelling artist and award-winning writer (MFA with distinction, University of South Carolina). She combines words, images, and tangible materials to create intuitive and public story experiences. In Bailey's work, each story chooses its recipient, inviting audiences into personal and collective explorations of our connection to ourselves, each other, and all that is.
Over her 20+ years as a storyteller, Bailey's work has been published in many literary magazines, named a winner of multiple national storytelling contests, honored as a recipient of several grants and fellowships, shown at exhibitions across the country, listed in Wigleaf's Best of the Web, and nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
Bailey's art has recently exhibited at ArtFields South Carolina, where her experiential storytelling project, The Gumball Machine of Great Fortune, received a Public Art Mini Grant for its installation. Her multimedia storytelling project, Found Oracles, is an ongoing story card project that is ever-expanding at foundoracles.com.
If you ever can’t find Bailey, look by the water. She’s probably researching the history of an ancient mermaid or listening to a starfish tell her its secrets.
Or, you can always find her and her work online at baileysendsword.com.