Color comes to my blog for a day...
Here are some of the postcards I made alongside Chandra Garsson in Santa Cruz throughout the summer of 1982. (This will be mentioned in my interview with her tomorrow). We had hoped to have them reproduced, to sell as artsy postcards, but back then color xerox was $1/page and we couldn't figure out how to make a profit on the endeavor.
I spent most of 1982 writing, taking photographs and doing collages, nearly unemployed and broke, supposedly writing my undergraduate thesis on The Aeneid (which I ended up writing and typing up one week in June 1983, just before it was due). It was a hard year. I was sick a lot, partner-less and didn't know what I was going to do once I had my B.A., which was one reason I kept putting off writing my thesis—as long as the thesis wasn't finished, I was still a "student," not just another Santa Cruz hanger-on.
And yet, seeing these postcards again, and remembering the many nights that Chandra and I stayed up together, working to make art for money but ending up with odd and sometimes beautiful collages as well as a lifelong friendship, I don't see that summer or even that year as a waste.
(This postcard is a pic I took of Chandra that summer, painted and mounted on pasteled paper)
That summer of frenzied art also helped me realize I don't have enough guts or talent to be a visual artist. That's why I admire Chandra so much. She kept at it while I retreated to the quieter craft of words.
Oh, Beth, the postcards are absolutely beautiful, what a joy to see them again, and to read you story of our mutual creative summer. You are a visual artist, as surely as you are a writer, just less practiced. Do more of them!!!This story and the interview have been a joyous heartfelt journey for me. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteOh Beth, I had to write again, if only to correct the spelling error of my previous post, in which I wrote 'you' instead of 'your.' Just kidding! It is obvious who is the writer here :-).
ReplyDeleteThis is more than touching to me. It is a gorgeous piece you have created, and it is a testament that the latest buzz-word I keep hearing---'connectivity'--- can indeed be a reality, not just a cliche.