Post for the Parks - a response!

So, I received my first response to one of my Post for the Parks pieces yesterday. And it wasn't exactly what I had been expecting.



Mount Rainier National Park sent their painting back to me - business card and all. An interesting development!



Along with the painting was this form letter:


(If this is too small to read, click here for a bigger version.)

I have to admit, I was a little sad since I don't think that this response matches with the intended nature of the project. BUT this is a good lesson in realizing that people interpret things differently. Who am I to expect anyone to want to keep an unsolicited item?

It hadn't even crossed my mind that a park would have a museum collection or that my little sketch would be seen as wanting a place in that collection. Now I feel like some kind of ego maniac. I actually had imagined that this would end up stuffed in a drawer in "staff offices" but hey, it's neat to have it back!



Receiving this return is making me think more about art and ego and assuming what someone's response to work will be. Because part of this project is about not seeing the pieces as precious and museum-worthy, I feel a little bad (and slightly embarrassed) that the package was opened and my project viewed in such a way. Who am I to assume that another person will accept the burden of caring for this painting (since generally people think paintings should be cared for)? I didn't intend for it to be treasured but how is anyone else supposed to know that?

I would be interested to know what other people think about unsolicited art - art itself being something that as a society is a loaded thing (Is it art? Is it good art? Is it worth something? Is it worth saving? Should it be precious? Should it be garbage?) and how its value might be interpreted in a way you didn't intend.

So now I pack all the pieces back into the very official Department of the Interior manilla envelope and stash it away. It's my responsibility once again.

Oh! My favorite thing about this returned package is that in the bottom right corner of my form letter is a red scribble, the loop-dee-loop kind made when trying to get a pen's ink flowing. I LOVE IT.

So, to make it official:

Mount Rainier National Park Parcel -
posted: January 22nd, 2015
returned: February 17th, 2015 (All items returned except mailer and backing board/cello sleeve painting was shipped with/in.)
received: February 26th, 2015

Thanks for following along!
xo
Sarah

And P.S. let me just say PARK CURATOR?! I had no idea there was such a thing. What a dream job that must be!

----------------

P.P.S. In case you are wondering, below is what MY form letter reads. This letter goes out with each piece...

Hello [whichever] National Park,

Greetings from Boston Massachusetts. I am working on a project that involves making a small painting inspired by each of our National Parks. I am researching each park, creating the paintings, and then mailing the paintings to the parks.

Each week of 2015 I will be mailing out a painting to one national park and also posting the painting online. I am completing the paintings and mailing them in the order in which the parks gained their National Park status. I am using the addresses listed as the official mailing addresses of the parks, some are not located within the actual parks – if you want to forward this on to someone within the borders of the park, please do!

This project is part examination of treasured wilderness protected by our government and part thank you love letter to those who work so tirelessly to preserve special places for the plants and animals that live there as well as human visitors.

No response is required or expected, I am simply sending my art on ahead of me to the parks I haven’t visited yet and back to the parks I have been to.

Sincerely,
Sarah Coyne

Some Press for Post for the Parks!

Eep!

I am so so honored that the ladies behind Letter Writers Alliance have chosen to feature my project on their blog!



If you're into snail mail and aren't familiar with LWA, you're missing out! They host letter writing socials, sell stationery & letter writing supplies, and talk about mail related things on their blog. And you can become a LIFETIME LWA member or only 5 dollars!

I see this project as having two components - the painting but also the SENDING. Even though the research, sketching and painting are the more time-consuming aspects of PftP, sending the originals out in to the world to the very parks that inspired them is just as important. It's tremendously flattering to have this element of the project catch the eye of some real professionals!

You can read their post about Post for the Parks here!

So thank you Kathy and Donovan! Happy posting!

xo
Sarah

Posting to the Parks - Parcel Parts

My new obsession project, Post for the Parks, is now officially underway. I have mailed paintings to three National Parks - Yellowstone, Sequoia and Yosemite.



Along with each painting are a few extra bits that make each package more substantial.


(click to see full-size on flickr)

To make this seem a little more official and to add a bit of 'paperwork' for myself (since the National Parks Service is a U.S. government branch), I am mailing out each painting with a business card (with the tumblr URL on the back), a form letter (customized for each park), and a certificate that accompanies the painting. The painting and certificate are packaged in a cello bag (I was going to skip the bag but someone mentioned a cup of coffee + an original watercolor = recipe for disaster on someone's ranger station desk) which goes into the wax paper/glassine bag with the business card. Everything is then stuffed in a chipboard mailer, sprinkled with postage stamps, and off it goes!



I'm enjoying the painting, documentation and the packing processes equally.

If you want to see more photos of my process, I started an album on Flickr and along with the main tumblr, I just started posting the finished pieces to a special instagram account as well.

Thanks for following along!
xo
Sarah

A video posted by Sarah Coyne (@eggagogo) on Jan 14, 2015 at 1:40pm PST

A New Project - Post for the Parks

Whoa. It's been a LONG time, blog friends. Apparently I took the summer and autumn off from posting. Good for me.

ANYWAY. HELLO!

Things have been great, I've been drawing things, painting things, printing things and I'm working on something new that I'm so excited about.

What it is... A personal project involving painting and mail. A project celebrating one of my favorite things about this country - the preservation of wild spaces.

How it came about... I was laying in bed a couple months ago, unable to sleep, trying to think of a new project that had a set number of pieces and a process that would put the pieces out into the world. I would document the process online as is done with things like this these days but I wanted it to go further - and farther.

I thought about an alphabet or something about the seasons but those numbers (26 or 4) seemed too small, I needed something a little more ambitious. The thing with a set number I came up with was the U.S. National Parks.


(Sketches)

Here's what I'm going to do... I am researching our 59 national parks, I am filling a small sketchbook with loose painty sketches for each of the parks, and I am making a little watercolor painting inspired by each of the parks.


(Painting for Yellowstone)

Each week of 2015 I will be mailing out a painting to one national park and also posting the painting online. I am completing the paintings and mailing them in the chronological order in which the parks gained their National Park status. I am using the addresses listed as the official mailing addresses of the parks, some are not located within the actual park but hopefully they'll get close.


(Sketches)

This project is part examination of treasured wilderness protected by our government and part thank you love letter to those who work so tirelessly to preserve special places for the plants and animals that live there as well as human visitors. It's also an exercise in routine and process for me. A way to create art I care deeply about but I don't consider so precious that I won't just send it off into the world.

I'm not expecting any response from the parks, but wouldn't that be fun! I am simply sending my art on ahead of me to the parks I haven’t visited yet and back to the parks I have been to.

And there it is, Post for the Parks.


I might document it here occasionally but mostly it will have its own internet space at: Post for the Parks on tumblr. And I'm sure there will glimpses of it on the ol' instagram as well.

It feels great to have a personal project with deadlines and a set schedule for creation. I hope you'll follow along on the journey.

And you know something is super official when you have a stamp for it. :)


If anyone is reading this, I would love to know about your thoughts/feelings/ideas about the National Parks. Do you have a favorite? Is there one you've visited more than once? I've only been to three of the 59 but I hope to add a few more to my list soon.

Thanks for reading!
xo
Sarah


(A photo from my recent trip to a state park - the White Mountains in my native NH.)