The Postcard Reclamation Project

So in January I started the Postcard Reclamation Project as a way to reuse and give new life to all of the old postcards I have lying around my house. I hate to throw out old mail so this project serves as a way for me to take something old but dear and reuse it.

THE PROCESS
Artist cards, souvenir cards, and random postcards are partially sanded and painted before being letterpress printed and collated into groups of five. Lots of layers of ink and chance operation make no two cards alike.
The collated cards are packaged with a handprinted belly band that has a description of the project.

Cards are available at my etsy site.

John Baldessari | Recycling Images

Artist John Baldessari talks about being a pack rat and discusses his attitude towards appropriating images. art:21

Groundswell (a story of sorts...)

In a bizarre chain of serendipitous events this came together before I finished my coffee this morning...

I was catching up on Rachael's blog where she linked to this which is worth a look. Then it occurred to me that wow, stuff like this is happening all around us and how cool is that? Shoestringers, Sweet Meats, all sorts of random and energetic collectives doing stuff all over the place. And then I thought, hey, we're part of a groundswell of a new generation of artists and makers who put together shows in alternative spaces and practice a DIY mentality on a daily basis. I think that's really awesome and powerful! So then I was thinking, well, groundswell isn't a word you hear or read every day so maybe I better check the defintion (below) but I only got to that after stumbling via Google onto this!

The Groundswell Collective

(I should note this happened early this morning, before coffee and after a pretty awesome dream I had that was consistent with all this stuff...)

Here's the standard definition for "groundswell":

groundswell

Contents [hide] 1 English 1.1 Alternative forms 1.2 Etymology 1.3 Noun

[edit]English

[edit]Alternative forms

• ground swell

[edit]Etymology

ground + swell

[edit]Noun

groundswell (plural groundswells)

1. (nautical) A broad undulation of the open ocean, often as the result of a distant disturbance
2. (by extension) A broadly-based shifting of public opinion

so, to conclude, I have to say the evidence is clear:

Everything Is More Than One Thing...

and away we go...

Mark is 50

Hello friends.
The chief instigator MB turns 50 today!
Head over to justmakingstuff and wish him the happiest of days!

I'm digging this idea...

Fits in with reading some articles about Potlatch and Gift Economy. Pointed to by Shoestringer Rachael.

Itinerant Artist Project.

Yup, makes me happy and hopeful...shifting the paradigm, suggesting other possibilities.

On the calling of art...

The calling of art is to extract us from our daily reality, to bring us to a hidden truth that’s difficult to access - to a level that’s not material but spiritual.

Abbas Kiarostami

Winding up SAC at SAS

Well, we're all home safe and sound and enjoying a quiet snowbound weekend (at least I am, I think Beth might be printing and Margaret is on the road doing her next thing...) I caught up on pics and blogging the Roadtrip site and did a progress report on my latest sound sculpture. And I'm already having ideas for another Shoestring adventure and the dust hasn't even settled on this one yet!

Next stop, I'll be sowing the seeds of creative chaos in the Shoestring Digital Collaboratory for a week this spring at Penland. Beth is coming to assist and we hope to get a good crowd of folks that want to raise a little ruckus and make some fun stuff. Who knows what madness might ensue??? Stay tuned for more info on that.

Huldra Notebooks

Our friend Marianne of Huldra Press has some sweet new little notebooks on her blog/etsy.
check em out.