Postcards from the blogosphere...the story continues!

Perhaps you have read about the continuing arrival of wonderful mail art paying 'homage to the seed'. I have been assuring contributers these cards will be shown again this year ... so dont think they will be lost from sight. They are sitting in a box close by my computer. The cause of much discussion these cards bring fresh perspectives on the place of seeds in out lives - and really bring the idea of valuing this humble yet miraculous lifeforce contained in each small seed.
If you visit my other blog a number of July/2010 posts include cards sent from near and far!

Have a look at these ... loved the stamps on the envelope from  sanne van winden in the
Netherlands. (Please excuse the poor quality photograph... experiencing difficulty with camera at present.) Sanne's postcards below are printed from original pen and ink drawings....she was concerned the subject matter might not fit the bill... but something about these is so resonant with life bursting through... and that felt just right. It was a colourful envelopt o receive...inside and out...thank you Sanne!!! 

Sanne wrote these gorgeous words to go with her cards...

'a day closer to that day 

that will come again

and again,

even more beauty

 even more to give...'

and from the U.S.

From Jacylin in Chico, California comes this gorgeous card in watercolour... Its a Calfornia Redbud  or Cercis occidentalis and Jacylin wrote that the Maidu Indians would use the branches for basketry and for the shafts of their arrows. Visit her wonderful blog blue china studio to see more of her work and say hello from me! Delighted you sent this beautiful tribute Jacylin!

And here we have something very different and I think you'll agree with me...quite amazing! I'm going to absolutely make sure these cards get another showing... this one was on is way and arrived in time for a few to take a peek ... let me introduce you to 

and if you visit her website www.cathycamper.com you will get see much more from this very clever person... who does the most curious and fascinating Seed Art ...really! Take a close art. I am in possession of this one called 'Rosalia alpina'. I have to make sure children get to see it in particular! The real thing is just a little smaller than this.

I feel very honoured to have Cathy take time to make and send this from her home in Portland Oregon.

... loved what she wrote here:

about the author
Cathy Camper has published articles and stories for children and adults in Cricket, Wired, and Giant Robot magazines. She coedits a tiny magazine about candy called Sugar Needle, and likes to make art out of seeds, and toy robots out of junk. Although she loves fossilized insects and getting surprises in the mail, please don't send her any gigantic bugs, especially if they have more than eight legs. 

Here's another of her works titled "Tribolite Fossil" - its 16" x20"

Seeds used: 

poppy seed, lentils, acorn caps, honey locust, black locust, 

catalpa, yucca pods and seeds, chestnut hulls, elm bark, 

hawthorn thorns, rose thorns, daylilly pods, plant detritus

I find them extraordinary. If you go to her website you can even send an animated postcard to a friend... check it out at the website... click on postcards. Love it! Cathy writes books of various kinds...  do go and have a look! I found more at Google. Huge thanks Cathy! 

And can I tell you I just happened to find something about her seed art one day when on the net and wrote to her...  she later volunteered to send a postcard... how wonderful!

Speaking of Portland I have some delightful postcards to add now from the lovely Gloria Freshly, also from Portland, Oregon. Sometimes I fantasise about living there... why do I get the impression its such a great place? Anyway... Gloria's envelope has written on the back of it the message... SENT WITH HOPE!! ( for goodness in the world). I really liked the thought of that message being read by a postal worker here or there...and caretaker at the gardens who collects the mail.

You know its taken me quite a bit of time to post all these cards...partly because I kept remembering  the extra details .... the added messages which feel important to share too!

OK... here I'm posting these in large format because of the textural quality of the surface... and the way the colour has been applied. Click on these to enlarge for better viewing! I'll add some text straight form Gloria's blog about her process.. What a treat to have all these different mediums, processes and styles of work in these various postcards from people from all over... to appreciate seeds.

Mixed media on vintage postcards... dont you love the way they play with forms?

This one below refers to a technique of Linoleum rubbing - Prismacolour on paper.

Gloria: With the exception of the white and dark brown portions of the flower, above, virtually all of the glued elements on these cards are the end result of assorted rubbings that I did of a discarded piece of linoleum  my sister gave me last week. I found it more than a little challenging to work at this scale, but I seemed to have better  luck when I simplified the designs. 

  Gloria wrote at her blog on July 18 and July 7 about the homage mail art show.... Go see her lovely blog... Thank you so much Gloria for parting with these and sharing your best wishes and artworks!

We will stop off at Maryland on the East Coast now to view a very interesting work that Elizabeth O'hara posted on her blog as a tribute to the homage to the seed mail art show July 11th. The title of the work is 'Seed Talk'  Elizabeth says:  'its dedicated to artist Sophie Munns for her careful observation and

beautiful interpretation of seeds.' 

She also posted on July 6 about the mail art show... and managed to find this stamp which Id not seen before...

Warmest thanks to you Elizabeth... and go well with all your new endeavours!

Back on Australian soil now for a textile postcard that included some gorgeous hand dying and stitching as a tribute to the fames Black bean pod we know so well around here. The creator is Margie Creek who was part of a group of textile artists from the Darling Downs, a rural area - the bread basket of australia it has been called. I met Margie and 9 others inmay when they came to the Botanic Gardens at Mt Coot-Tha for a visit to see what I was doing for the project on seeds....good exchanges have lead to further connections and I hope to go up and visit in September....and hour or so from here. Margie doesn't have a blog as such but I was keen to make the link and delighted when she and another in her group Nicki Laws got involved.

Big thank you Margie for taking the time to make this and send... it was much commented on!

These are from Brisbane - from Sally Flynn... and I must say how much I loved her medium for working on... a timber veneer. Light-weight and thin... but so suited to what Sally did with them. Lovely to discover Sally and her blog....thrilled she took part as Id not met her or discovered her blog before. Where was she when the Open Studio Week was happening? Not Brisbane ...oh no...she was stuck in Paris and Amsterdam and Germany and the like having a delightful time... just visited her blog and it looks like Paris today!  Happy travels Sally and big thanks for finding time to make these wonderful postcards (she sent a few) Note the stitching also on the printed wood.... pretty cool! Oh... and the winged seeds pods are from the Sycamore tree... helicopter seed pods.delightful!

Someone who did get to visit Open Studio Week created this fabulous card below on the spot the day she came. The lovely Katrina  ( her blog is katrina recycled ) joined the communal table on the saturday and picked up textas and started drawing the seedpods children had been working with earlier whilst engaging in a great table discussion with a number of us enjoying tea and conversation.

Katrina, is mum to a couple of kids, works (I think) full time and makes the effort to get stuck into her art whenever she can... I loved the fact she sat and warmed to the conversation and just created something on the spot. And I think her card is fantastic to boot. Love the small branches of seepods sitting over this text...wonderfully composed! Big thanks Katrina for coming all that way from out of town to visit and add something to this project ...glad you enjoyed the gardens at leisure - it was delightful to see you!

OK...last but not least...you may have seen these wonderful postcards by Brisbane based Leanne who has a gorgeous blog Homemade Rainbows... her July 15 post is a delightful teeling of her visit to see the open studio event... and we met for the first time after having exchanged various blog communications for a while. Take note of the excellent quotes on her cards... Click on the images to enlarge them and see better what amazing texural additions she has included in the top one. Love the Nietzsche quote at the bottom...quite wonderful!

well....theres a few to photograph yet...sorry for this unbelievably slow process... I was very keen to give all who took part, or told others about it, a good chance to shine and be acknowledged ... You were so wonderful to take the time for this homage theme... the earth needs people who aren't too busy, overwhelmed with life demands, or distracted who can weave some magic around this extraordinary heritage which is ours to protect...

with gratitude...

Sophie

NB If you go to the other blog you can read several july 2010 posts displaying the wonderful postcards that arrived from all over!

July 12 to 18: Open Studio Week... Mt Coot-tha

Read "you've got mail" to see what's been happening with "postcards from the blogosphere" - the mail art show organised for the Homage to the Seed OPEN STUDIO WEEK.
so what is OPEN STUDIO WEEK?
Click here to get the background story and overview of  WHAT'S ON! NB Children feature on Saturdays program on that overview!...And scroll down below to get info on one-off events happening over the week. By clicking on each flyer it should open so you can better read the information. Don't hesitate to email or phone with enquiries.  The Gardens are a popular destination for recreational walks and picnics as well as those researching on an aspect of botanical life. From Monday July 12 - for 7 days - you can stop off at the Randall Studio and spend some time viewing the artworks and other collected items, learning more of what informs this project and making links to community and broader initiatives that are connected with the conservation of seeds and the future of Seeds.

wednesday afternoon: 

An ART WORKSHOP seeking a fresh take - In a format not unlike a bookclub in some respects ideas are to be explored here. You wont be asked about the latest novel you have read - or then you might... rather ... the prompting will dig down into the deeper layers that inform your Art Practice. This class will be an introduction session to a course that will run from August for 6 weeks.
It provides an opportunity to see if this approach has any resonance for you - so would therefore perhaps best suit those for whom the questions around the direction and development of one's work are quite vivid and and where a level of dialogue and external stimulation is sought. It combines visual exploration with engaged conversation that is designed to spark one's curiosity to delve a bit closer to the core interests and enthusiasms that speak loudest to you.
With the Visual Art's tendency for external mechanisms to pull one away from inner promptings this class asks simply..."what really matters and how does one find the way there?" a large question that is set against the audacious questions about being on the planet at this time and what listening to key global challenges asks of us! Age old challenges meeting with the fresh serving of current circumstances.
How do we move beyond cliche and formula. What is cliche and formula to us?  And finally.... what's an art practice really made of?

Thursday afternoon:

Its a great pleasure to be able to invite you along to this presentation by Jason Halford who has provided

continuing valuable dialogue around the Homage to the Seed project over the past 10 or so months - from the time I first joined volunteers at the Seed lab at M Coot-tha - which is part of a joint project with the Millennium Seed Bank Project. His talk will involve the telling of stories ... something he is quite known for ...and a great way to travel into the project's core purpose and goals!

Sunday afternoon:

This event will take place on the FINAL afternoon of this densely packed week. Two excellent speakers with question time and 10 minute spots from 4 important community projects are involved. You can email RSVP's if you want to reserve a place!

thank you bloggers for planting the seed!

This is a quick thank you post to.....

first of all the talented Leanne at homemade rainbows weblog here in Brisbane. She is one of the wonderful people who has responded to the 

call out to bloggers to be part of a mail art event

I posted 5 mights ago at both my blogs... see previous post... by posting a story on her blog about the  mail-art event and the residency project as a whole. Then she went on to discuss the film "Food Inc" which took the intervention of many locals here in Brisbane to seek/demand a screening here of this timely and important film. For some this is another version of what they are fully aware of... but for many it will be a revelation and... it must be said a critical revelation of the industrialisation of food in the US -  a story that is replicated here and elsewhere to a significant extent...and therefore - globally - relevant viewing for all.

Just skip over to Leanne's blog and you will find the trailer to watch of this film. And you will find the most wonderful photos and posts written by Leanne that bring such grace and delight to the everyday life.

Sunflower image by Leanne and the chumbakka fruit jelly images below also. I discovered Leanne at Brisbane Local Food which is a great 'ning' network on growing local in subtropical Australia. Her blog is well worth a visit... her photography and beautifully written posts are a pleasure to read.

chambakka jelly.... read more here.

Also...I have had brilliant e-conversations with blogger friends and I am now thinking "wow!"... there's really a lot of brilliant energy being stirred up... wonderful people sending postcards.... And I so wish to thank everyone.... At the moment they are still in the mail...so when they start arriving I am going to be

 V E R Y  busy and elated Im sure!

A N D   N O W . . . 

From the marvellous Mlle Paradis, based over in LA, have a look here:

I so want to know what she has here...it looks absolutely splendid! Photographer, wonderful painter when time permits, and all round great tourer with camera in hand ... Mlle Paradis has posted at her blog on the postcard call out as well... ! She's one of those people with lots of great energy, shared liberally with many - and she always delights with her quick wit or insightful take on things.

Postcards from the blogosphere is bringing the best of spirit from near and far...

BIG THANK YOU ALL!