Mail Art

When I was young my family spent a lot of time camping, biking, fishing, etc. Our family was big on mountain vacations and enjoyed many cliche activities in Colorado. My parents are both originally from Wyoming, a low density populated state with a lot of wilderness. My grandparents still live in the small town of Riverton, and my grandmother lived in Lander until she was about 80 years old. I have fond memories of these towns, and the adventures that came with our vacations. My mother and I still visit whenever we can, although the trips have become less and less frequent. However, when I visit in the summer I am flooded with nostalgia. Memories of blooming summer flowers in my mother and grandmothers garden. My grandparents have over 25 acres of land so they also have vast amounts of wildflowers. This feeling of happiness and connection inspired me to share my love of flowers. However, I didn't just want to draw flowers, I was more interested in conveying the actual sensation I feel towards flowers. As I wondered how to do this a pressed flower fell from a book my mother had sent me a couple weeks prior. Pressing flowers is a hobby my mother picked up in her late teenage years, in order to collect and preserve beauty and memories. I wanted to not only carry on this tradition, but understand more about my mother and her pre-child years. This lead me to the second part of my project, understanding how we are all pieces of other people, how we construct ourselves from parts of other people. The poem I wrote for this project has a lot to do with thic concept, and all the mail art together add up to make a whole poem and a larger piece of art.


https://stuartmatthewsphotography.wordpress.com/2013/04/09/mail-art/
http://nashvillearts.com/2015/06/letter-to-me-mail-art/