Mail art – collaboration project. Subject: How we connect.
Artists:
Erato (Foteini) Tsouvala (Greece)
Magdalena, Brzezińska (Poland)
Margot, Teusner (Australia)
Lydia Leticia Lemke (Germany)
Sharon, Lemay (Canada)
First piece of art with title “Passport” by Erato is already on the way to Poland. What will happen next?
Front size of Passport
and how it will change?
Backside of Passport
14/10/2013 Bon voyage Passport!
21/10/2013 The passport arrived in Poland!
and Magdalena is the next artist who will change it and then give it wings to fly to the new destination.
and it will change more.
24/10/2013: The Passport is ready to travel again, this time will travel far away from Europe. New destination: Australia. In Poland a piece of map I added to the collage is the place where Magndalena grew up, in the city of Olsztyn, in the north-east of Poland.
and
now the Passport is ready to travel and come to you Margot always ready
for new adventures and ready to connect us and connect the world.
11/11/2013 – The Passport arrived in Australia and Margot is the next to change it.
15/11/2013 A new and unexpected Destination for the passport is Germany and Lydia Leticia Lemke will contribute and connect.
19th November 2013 Margot said:
25/11/2013 Margot posted the Passport to Lydia and we stay tuned.
3/12/2013 Passport arrived in Germany and Lydia is the next artist who will add her ideas. We are all looking forward to see what will happen!
Good luck Passport!
6/12/2013 Lydia said: Will prepare the passport and send it to Sharon next week. Lydia sent us photos:
and we are waiting what will happen to the passport next. In the meantime passport changed again and now we have two passports. It has been an unexpected development to the project but very creative and welcomed. Lydia used a piece of my forest watercolor and created a new piece of art matching to the passport.
Lidia wrote a very moving letter and prepared a very beautiful decoration for the envelope. A part of
Lidia’s letter:
“Family, my family.
Magdalena shared with us the place where she grew up. She said the place is really meaningful for me and brings lots of memories.
Memories.
Me being with my Parents and siblings. I could not help but remember how far away we are and how many things we have been through. I have a bigger family now, but my roots, values and who I am are also there. ..in Mexico.
Next to my mom who day after day works really hard to keep my Dad, little sister, grandpa and herself going on. Next to my dad who due to his actual condition is unable to remember many things but still gives us a huge smile every time we talk on the Internet (Positive side of technology!). Next to my grandpa who recently lost my grandma, to my brother and sister-in-law who also migrated to Europe to search for a better future and next to my little sister, my baby who had to grow and become responsible faster than she should.
Cannot avoid tearing a bit while reflecting on this.
Erato added a compass.
A compass is an artifact that lets you know in which direction you are going. That allows you to know where you are standing at the moment. North, South, East, West?
These 4 points represent five Artists in different places, represents us all, represents the world. The Compass guides us in the wrong or right direction. Is up to us to decide where we want to go and how far.
Family is like a compass. We grow due to it- or due to the lack of it. We made our decisions based on what we have learned from this. Families are composed by generations and generations of people trying to find its way to and quoting Margot to “Life’s longing for itself”
We five are connected deeply. We are connected to each other and to millions of Women out there, trying to express and share a piece of who we are and where we came from. We five are connected deeply. We are connected to each other and to millions of Women out there, trying to express and share a piece of who we are and where we came from. Though far away we share common themes: Roots, family and the legacy that we can leave to our own….Last but not least I cut off a piece of the passport. This way there will always be an empty space that anyone can fill with its own story. Lidia Lemke Dec. 2013″
7/12/2013 and the passport is ready to travel again to the final destination in Canada. Sharon will display in her gallery and we are all very proud of it.
Lidia shared with us her thoughts:
represent tears of either of joy or sadness. I added seeds from “cilantro” a herb used to cook
different Mexican dishes (because I’m Mexican- married to a German). I added some tools that women from my country use to clean their houses as well.
I added to Magdalena’s street map the stamp for Baden-Württemberg, the region of my new home and where a new family begins (The stag and griffon seem to be having quite the dance party on the streets of Olsztyn!). I also added to the bushes and tree some nice red fruits. So that the owl gets to have a bit of food .
Last but not least I cut off a piece of the passport. This way there will always be an empty space that anyone can fill with its own story.
22/12/2013 – The Passport arrived in final destination Canada. Sharon will update us soon with pictures from her gallery.
24/1/2014 News from Sharon!
I was so excited when I opened the package at my office @ My WW Gallery.
Thank you Erato for starting this amazing mail art project,
I added the camera to the passport because of my passion for photography.
I enjoy taking photo’s of nature at it’s best.
Added a penny for good luck also it makes me think of the Canadian Maple Leaf.
The sweet maple syrup that we make from the maple trees in Canada.
Stained the work of art with coffee grinds to give the passport a tint of color.
Added the sunset, we all see the same beautiful sunset
the same moon and stares in the sky.
We are all connected with nature and with a passion for art!
We all have something in common.
We all see the same moon at night.We don’t need a passport for that thank God.
God was the first creator of art.
Be good to each other.
Take a small step to build bridges.
Peace Sharon
“Passport” framed in Sharon’s Gallery. Is it the end or the beginning of a new journey??
Hello everyone
The passport is certainly taking me on a journey – into how we are all connected…
Being ‘fifth generation Australian’, means that I have descended from European roots. Your map Magdalena, got me thinking about my own roots and as it turns out, my ancestors derived from Prussia, Silesia, Poland – from the old area of Gross Wandris, Liegnitz, Silesia to be exact. I think it’s now called Legnica. It turns out that my paternal German ancestors have been in that area since the 1600′s and one branch of the family remains there, while other branches emigrated to Australia in the 1840′s (the branch I came from).
So I went on a journey…. using google maps… from Legnica to Wladyslawa Leonharda – the street that appears on your bit of street directory that you attached to the Passport. I took the street view and could see the scenery en route. It was fascinating… mostly very flat, some old buildings, farming land, corn crops, outcrops of Betula trees, firs and pines…strange and yet strangely familiar.
I realize it’s about place, time, yearning and generations. in the words of Kahlil Gibran …’Life’s longing for itself’…
And your news Erato, about our new mail art member sent me on even more of a journey…. as Lydia’s last name, Lemke, is the surname of my German great grandmother! I remember meeting her when I was very young.
How we are all connected! Margot
Margot Teusner (Australia)
Lidia Leticia Lemke (Germany)
Sharon Lemay – Canada
23/11/2013 Update from Margot.
“The journey from Poland to Australia and Magdalena’s map, caused me to retrace my paternal ancestral roots from Prussia, Silesia, Poland to Australia. My German ancestors traveled here in 1848 from Leignitz, from where they can be traced back to the 1600′s. I have included a piece of map from those times and also my family crest from that time. Surprisingly it turns out that another participant in this project and I, may share an ancestral link – so I have included that family shield as well. The red stitching represents bloodlines and the earth / place…. two ways we are all connected.The owl is a symbol of the goddess Athena, one of my favorite of the Ancient Greek ‘gods’. It also represents my interest in Greek history and art, and is another ways we are all connected – through ideas and learning. The white stitching represents the thread of knowledge that connects us.
Lastly I have included a ‘charm’ for the Passport necklace. It is an image of a Diatom, which is a microscopic plankton that lives in the oceans around Western Australia, where I live. It is a symbol of the oceans and life forms that connect us. I etched the image into silver and I have used these images in my work previously.
Bon Voyage Passport
Margot Teusner, Australia
P.S. Last afterthought. I attached two olive leaves from a tree in my backyard. The olive is also a symbol of the Goddess Athena. Olive trees were brought to Fremantle (where I live) by the Greek and Italian immigrants who settled here in the 1800′s and started out fishing industry.
Next destination is Lidia in Germany.