Postcards

Our first assignment in my Sculpture I class is to make 50 sculptures. We can use any materials, they can be any size, and we can create intuitively or have a specific concept. We're also encouraged to be eco-friendly in our materials choice and our processes. We've been challenged not to buy anything for the project, rather use only found, borrowed, or already-owned objects in our work.

I decided to make 50 "sculptures" using my childhood postcard collection. I've collected postcards since about the 4th grade. Many of them I bought as souvenirs on various trips around the US and abroad; others were sent to me by friends and family over the years. Until now, my postcards have sat in a box in the closet, tucked safely away but essentially out of sight and subsequently out of mind.

I'm cutting up each postcard into a floral shape, pasting together the petals, then will string them together on fishing line. At the end of each strand I will create a small wire sculpture to act as a weight. The strands of postcard flowers will hang from a circular wire structure, sort of like a veil. From the outside the viewer will see all of the colors; from the inside of the mobile, they will see the white side of the postcards, some of which have writing and stamps, and a small center of color taken from the printed side of the card. I imagine this will be almost a floor-to-ceiling work once it's finished next week.

I've really enjoyed the process of making the postcard flower mobile. I like the idea of reducing clutter in my home, and it's been refreshing to "get over" the sentimental ties that lead us to cling to things from our past. Part of me didn't want to cut up the postcards, as they were these precious mementos from people and places I may never see again. However, the memories didn't fade with the cuts, and now I will have a beautiful object to display that will actually remind me more of what I want to hold on to than a hidden box of postcards ever could.