Postcards from us x - online art class

Published on Thu Jul 8, 2021 by David J Colbran

Last year during lockdown I joined an online art class called Postcards from us x. It was a visual art project which reflected on our collective experience of 2020. We met up every week on a Friday and created postcards using weaving, printing and collage techniques. The facilitator Michelle demonstrated lots of different techniques and it was fun trying out new things and meeting new people via Zoom.

The result was a series of anonymous postcards, addressed to others and to the participants themselves, which capture the transitory essence of the year 2020. And they were displayed at the Open Eye Gallery here in Liverpool.

I have hesitated posting these before, as they are very personal to me. But now as we approach the end of official restrictions of the pandemic I am in a better place to reflect on the last 18 months and happy to publish and talk about them online.

"If lockdown has taught me anything, it is that I must be creative.

Being able to do and make things has got me through these times. I have been depressed, anxious, conflicted and hyper, sometimes cycling through this mix of emotions in just one day.

My daily routine has been upended, luxuries I took for granted taken away, but I feel a little bit of power in exercising my creativity.

Every day is a reminder of the power of creative thinking"

My second postcard is a collage of vintage postcards collected and found over the years. I love them as it gives a brief insight into random people's lives. Usually from happier times in the past, holidays and day trips out. I felt they contrasted with the time isolating and staying at home during 2020.

In the centre of the first image is a photograph of me as a young child - check my bobble hat lol - taken by my late Mother. I spent a lot of time digitising her archive of photo slides during the pandemic. And as the second image shows, it is a postcard from myself to myself - no postage required.

My final postcard was a collage of items made and found during the time of the project. Some headlines cut out from newspapers and some old photos pasted on to a cardboard delivery box. The box reflected the swift change to getting pretty much everything online and arriving at your door in the ubiquitous beige. I washed it in green like the park I spent a lot of time in with my son playing football. It was then scanned and more elements added. Including some text from my first postcard.

I really enjoyed this online art class and it has been nice checking back on the work I made.

@openeyegallery #openeyegallery #openeye #art #pandemicart #artproject #artprojects #liverpool

Author: David J Colbran