I now have a FaceBook page for Mail.Art. Please check it out, "like" it, and share!

Happy New Year!

I am thrilled to share a new technique that I have started to play around with.

For Christmas this year my husband gave me a calendar filled with artwork created by the Northwest artist named Nikki McClure. She creates paper cut designs. Her work is truly original and unique. Contemporary Genre Art or daily life imagery using only black paper and an X-Acto knife.

Since the beginning of the year, I have been sketching out my own designs onto cardstock and postcards and then cutting away the positive and negative portions with an X-acto blade. There is a simple, fragile beauty to the finished product. I am going to keep working with this method of mail.art until I have a completed series. So far this is what I have created.

Back to the drawing board

After a bit of a hiatus, I am back to creating the smaller simpler works that I so enjoy creating.

Most of these works start out by tearing up a cardboard box or a cereal box and cutting them down to the postcard size. I look through all the collage images and scraps that I have collected over the years and find new images and search for some inspiration. This past week I found inspiration in a funny little frog and a schooner.

Feels good to be back.

The Speaking Voice

My work will be on display for a solo art show at Mighty-O Donuts (famed organic and vegan donut joint in Seattle, Wa) from May 1st to May 31st. 

Please stop by in Wallingford if you are in the area. Pieces will be on sale and detailed information for purchases will be available at the shop.

The title of the show is called Mail Art: The Speaking Voice, drawing from the title of a 1897 book written by Edgar S. Werner I found 14 years ago based on vocal exercises for development and preservation. Most specifically I have used the images included in the book of a man and a woman in awkward poses intended to be exercises, but I also intend a deeper meaning of what it means for me to improve the power of my own voice. 

Kudos to the USPS

I love that the postman knows my name. He sees me waiting for the mail or coming out right after he has delivered it and says,"Hello, Ritchey!" That in itself is awesome. I love that connection.

But what I find truly incredible is that in this past week we have had snow. Real snow. And in
Seattle any kind of snow is amazing, but we got the first snow storm in Seattle for quite some time.

The city shuts down. Literally. Hardly any stores were open or if they were they were ghost towns. Very few buses were running on time and they were all on a snow schedule. Roads aren't plowed. Chains and snow tires are nearly required. People called off work or the businesses/schools/universities were closed for all non-essential personnel. And yet our postman was out in his mail truck. Early even!

The USPS has no official creed, but an inscription on a Post Office in New York City reads... "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

Over the few snow days this is what came in the mail...
Day 1: Residential junk mail business advertisements
Day 2: Postcard advertisement for a chiropractic care professional
Day 3: Passports, Letter from Cousin Dylan (age 3) to our 2-year-old son Ewan, and birth certificates

I will always appreciate our postal system and have an even deeper appreciation now.

Kickstarter Campaign: A Success!

"This project will be funded!"

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for everyone's support of my work. Thank you! I am heading to Paris in February!

Incentives are in the works... I am still collecting addresses and funds. Below are some of the works being sent out!

Happy Holidays, and thanks for all the contributions to kickstarter up to this point!

Just to illustrate the importance of Mail correspondence, I've made a little video illustrating just how personalized the experience can be.