I’ve read multiple articles in the last year detailing the phenomenon of “pandemic organizing/decluttering/good-will-ing” – stuck at home day after day with all of our things, many people are finally deciding to tackle that home organization project they’d been putting off. Well, I finally succumb to the trend a few weeks ago and tackled a clean out of our spare room – this room houses my “studio space” ( = folding table shoved into one corner of the room). This hasn’t been good for new art production but it has been good for personal art archeology! I’ve been uncovering some lost/forgotten/unsent mail art in the last few weeks and thought I’d bring them back into the light. I hope everyone is staying safe and sane as we pass this one year anniversary of the pandemic.
A pleasant surprise across my WP Reader Dashboard – SJB Creates posted a video of Pandemic Postcard Exhibit at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center in Maryland. They had submitted some postcards and their cards are featured at around minute 10 of the video. I watched in anticipation, since I had submitted a card way back at the beginning of the pandemic (feels like 10 years ago now) and was thrilled to see my card around 1:30 of the video! The direct link to the Annmarie Sculpture garden is here. The video is a fantastic compilation of postcards from all over.
In 2020, Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center in Maryland invited all ages to send homemade postcards to be included an important community art exhibit. The goal was to collect and exhibit postcards from the community that express our feelings and share how we all coped during the social-distancing period of the COVID-19 crisis. I […]
Edit (Saturday, Oct 10) – the livestream is over – thank you for all the support and love. The benefit raised $2200.00 to be split between the San Diego Blood Bank and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Amazing! The link to DJ Wyntre Mysteria’s twitch page is still active and there are videos of some of the livestream, if you missed the real time action.
First off – the livestream benefit in honor of my dear friend Tiran – who is battling AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) is happening RIGHT NOW (until 11 pm PST tonight)!! You can tune in at any time and donations are fabulous, but not required – your support and encouragement is fabulous too! As you can see in the screenshot, they’ve already raised over $1600.00!
Back in August, I participated in the POPO August POetry POstcard Festival and had a blast with it. I think I got the email from Kerfe encouraging me to sign up about an hour before the deadline and I signed up with mere minutes to spare in the middle of July. I committed to sending one postcard a day every day in August to 31 strangers from around the world (although 95% in my group were U.S. addresses). There is a lot of freedom on the type of card – I received both handmade and commercially produced – and also for the poetry on the back. The guidance for the poetry was for it to be inspired by the epistle form.
I decided to cut up old illustration board I had to make my cards – I went by measurement for the cards and let the image that resulted on the back be random. Not every card was a masterpiece, but I liked the effect.
The epistle I wrote on the back of the card above:
“’What you have given me is, of course, elegy: the red-shouldered hawk is among these scattering partridges, flustered at…’ Eavar Boland from On the Gift of the The Birds of America
The sharp shinned hawk is but a teenager, he hops clumsily from eucalyptus to eucalyptus; we see him learning to fly over the bulldozers and water trucks, bursts of wings to stay alight.”
This one read: “’A Rip in the Fabric of Interstellar Dreams’ – I’m still drinking my coffee so I don’t immediately understand the journalist is talking about a radio telescope in Puerto Rico; I imagine a great tear in space, the loss of so many to a tiny virus, compressing space-time”
“I saved my father’s butterfly collection and hung them in my own house not knowing a thing about them. This morning the light caught the Great Blue Hookwing, blue dappled wings like headlights in the rain”
I didn’t wind up getting 31 cards from other participants: sadly there seemed to be quite a few problems with the USPS and cards were returned or lost. But I did receive almost 20 cards and they were beautiful! I learned a lot too and definitely plan on participating next year.
I will be posting a few more cards/epistles I did on Instagram as well!
First off, I am excited to see the group post of all the art responses to the Kick-About #5 is up on Red’s Kingdom Blog and it is a fantastic collection of work. I am proud to be a part of it and look forward to the next Kick-About! I had posted my monoprints on Friday (scroll down or click here), but I encourage you to check out the whole show and see the work of all the artists together.
I love sending postcards and mail art is one way I try to let friends know I am thinking of them. I figure anything is better than another bill or advertisement in your mail box. I often work on several postcards at once – letting them come together slowly, sometimes waiting for the right picture or words to complete them.
These are three that came together but then turned out a bit more ominous than I intended.
I still have the first two – if anyone would like them, they are up for grabs (just fill out a contact me form). Just know they were made with good intentions and no specific event in mind! I did send the last one below, it had so much texture, I used a molding paste under the finish, and I thought its recipient would appreciate that about it.
I remember learning many years ago that William Carlos Williams was both a physician and a poet – that he chose both professions equally and in turn each informed and influenced the other. I have always found this to be remarkable and refreshing. There always seems to be a tendency to be “either/or” and not “both” in this world! This excerpt comes from one poem in a series entitled “The Descent of Winter.” It is known by both its first line and by a section number – 10/30. If you would like to read the whole text of “10/30” AKA “To freight cars in the air,” scroll down or click the “read more” link. Mixed media collage and composition by me.
This is also a piece of mail art – the collage is on one side of a postcard. I’d love to send it to someone! If you’d like to receive this postcard in the mail, use the “contact” tab above to send me an email. There is no charge for the card or postage – international is okay too! It’s been taken – thanks, everyone! I’m hoping to post more mail art again soon! (I’ll update the post when it’s taken.)
Illustrated Poetry 