Postal Entomology - 30 Days of Art and Letters

Click on the thumbnails below to see the full paintings

Find the Postal Entomology Art Book here.

In the midst of a global pandemic, we have been asked to shelter in place. For many of us, COVID-19 has introduced an unprecedented experience of isolation. Unable to gather with friends and family members, to meet with colleagues, or to shake hands with neighbors, we find ourselves stranded in our own private spaces, nervous about the health and safety of those we love, uncertain about when or whether our communities will return to the vibrant web of connections we used to take for granted.

Faced with my own solitude, I found myself struck by a desire to reach out—to find some way to connect with others. As an artist, creativity has always fostered my sense of internal cohesion and inspiration, but how could I draw on my own resources in a way that would extend beyond myself?

A perfect opportunity came in April, a month devoted to “National Card and Letter Writing.” It seemed to me that this annual celebration of handwritten correspondence offered a chance to resurrect a mode of communication that has become all but extinct since the arrival of the Internet. Not so long ago, most people connected with distant loved ones via the post—letters and postcards that traveled across states and countries, slowly conveying news and sharing thoughts to those who awaited the arrival of paper missives. Writing letters and postcards required patience and care—the time they took to craft and send made them treasured tokens—physical emblems of a living relationship.

And so I embarked on a 30-day challenge: for each day in April, I created a piece of art and mailed it off along with handwritten notes of encouragement. My goal was to nurture connections the old-fashioned way, so I decided to upcycle vintage postcards and envelopes; this ephemera, dated from the 1890s to the 1960s, often features beautiful handwriting (another lost art), and they have traveled through many hands and across vast spaces.

I transformed these old documents using encaustic paint, mica, and other natural materials. Each piece features a different insect, a subject matter that is often found in my art. Insects are endlessly fascinating to me, and I have long worked to bring attention to the devastating decline of pollinators and other insects due to the triggers of climate change.

But it also strikes me that insects provide a valuable metaphor for my project on the art of communication. Bees, butterflies, and other insects travel through gardens, fields, and forests, gathering and transferring pollen across an intricate floral network. Just as ecosystems depend on these creatures for survival, we rely on our connections with one another for our own vitality. At a time when our social systems have become strangely fragile, we need to find ways to support one another. My art provides a means of cross-pollination—a transmission of love and beauty from one private space to another.

While I began this 30-day art challenge as a means of connecting and offering support to others, the process of creating and sending a new encaustic painting each day has also enriched my own isolation. A daily creative practice has kept me grounded, while also allowing me to reach out. Writing by hand has forced me to slow down and be present in each moment. Art and creativity are always crucial to individual and cultural survival, but in such uncertain times as these, they can provide essential meaning and comfort—a way to unite each disparate person in their own isolated chambers into a single, connected hive. I hope you enjoy these pieces; they were crafted with care and sent with love.