POSTCARD ART & ELLEN CLAPSADDLE

A postcard is defined as a rectangular piece of thick paper, cardstock, or cardboard, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. In most instances they can be sent for less than the cost of a letter. Standard postcards measure no less than 3 x 5 inches and no more than 4 x 6 inches. The typical postcard is single-faced, displaying a photo or other artistic image on one side and space for writing and delivery information on the reverse. Postcards have been part of American culture since the inception of the U.S. Postal Service. Their popularity has dwindled but they can still be found at many tourist destinations, drugstores, and in private collections.

Postcard art is varied and ranges from simple greetings and drawings to designs featuring beautiful landscapes and festive holiday motifs. Many artists, illustrators, and photographers have contributed their talents to decorating these now very collectible cards.

One fo the most prolific souvenir/postcard and greeting card artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was Ellen Clapsaddle, (1865 - 1934). She was born in New York. As a child she was encouraged to pursue an artistic career. After her elementary education she attended Cooper Union Institute for the Advancement of Science and Art. When she finished college, she moved back with her parents and advertised private painting lessons, starting her career teaching art. In addition, she began creating her own art and soon landed commissions doing portraiture of families in nearby towns.

Clapsaddle gained recognition as a commercial artist after submitting her work to some New York publishers. Many of the illustrations she created as a free-lance artist were used in advertising, on porcelain goods, calendars, paper fans, and trade and greeting cards.

Her greatest accomplishment was seeing her artwork adorn single-faced postcards. She specialized in illustrations specifically for this purpose. Her designs encompassed every holiday and special occasion that we honor today.

During the period of 1898 - 1915, called the "golden age of souvenir postcards", artistic designs were highly coveted because of their marketing potential. Clapsaddle's contributions totalled more than 3000 designs.

Today, postcards are more of a collectors item. My personal collection numbers at 40, post marked between 1908 and 1920, many with original stamps intact. In addition to their collectible value, they are also a window to our history, a tangible still-life of another time.

For some interesting reading on the subject of postcards check out the books below.

1) The Encyclopedia of Antique Postcards by Susan Brown NIcholson

2) Postcard Collector by Barbara Andrews

Image at top left Christmas postcard design by Ellen Clapsaddle.

Image at top right New Years postcard from collection of Parker Kaufman

FROM THE ARTIST'S MOUTH

"Everything has it's beauty, but not everyone sees it."   --Andy Warhol

"A painting is never finished, it simply stops in interesting places."  --Paul Garnder

"The emotions are sometimes so strong I work without knowing it.  The strokes come like speech."  --Vincent Van Gogh

"One must from time to time, attempt things that are beyond one's capacity." 
--Auguste Renoir

"I believe it is impossible to make sense of life in this world except through art."
--Daniel Pinkwater

"No amount of skillful invention can replace the essential element of imagination."
--Edward Hopper

"Art teaches nothing except the significance of life."  --Henry Miller

"As music is the poetry of sound, so is painting the poetry of sight and it's subject matter has nothing to do with harmony of sound or of color."  --James McNeil Whistler

"Art should reveal the unknown to those who lack the experience of seeing it." 
--Unknown

"Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art."  --Leonardo da Vinci

"Art is everywhere, except it has to pass through a creative mind."  --Louise Nevelson

"Art is the child of imagination and gives life."   --Mirka Mora

Image above, one of a series of 10 titled "HANDYWORK" by Parker Kaufman.  Cardstock composition and computer enhanced images, approx 6 x 9 inces.

Announcing Our Three Month Anniversary Giveaway

Announcing Our

 Three Month Anniversary Giveaway

Guess what, Happy Readers?

     July 15th will be the Three Month Anniversary of Vision and Verse.  Began on April 15, 2013, Vision and Verse is a blog about art, making work, art history, writing, contemporary artists and authors, and what inspires them to create.

    As of this morning, we've published 112 posts, conducted 6          interviews with contemporary authors and artists, had 2,588 page views, and have gained a worldwide audience.  We've featured outstanding museums, famous artists and art works, and many styles of art.  We've included the first three chapters of a serialized novel in one-page episodes, and excerpts from all of my novels.  And you've even listened to me rant over my latest rejection letter.

     We gave away one of my ebooks at our one month anniversary, and one of Parker's beautiful art cards for our two month anniversary.  On July 15th, we will be giving away a $10 Amazon gift card.  To be eligible, just leave a comment to any one of our posts before July 15th.
     Stay happy, stay inspired!
     Hugs,
     Carol   

INSPIRED BY A MOVIE

Movies have been a source of inspiration for many of my art works.  Science-fiction films, namely those dealing with space and the universe, are particularly appealing because they delve into what may be possible as opposed to what is real.  One such movie that I found innensely inspiring is the 1997 cult film, EVENT HORIZON. 

The science-fiction horror movie takes place in 2047, when the Lewis & Clark, a rescue vessel, is sent to answer a distress signal from the starship Event Horizon, which disappeared on it's maiden voyage to Proxima Centauri seven years before.  The Event Horizon was built to test an experimental gravity drive which generates a black hole to use the immense gravitational power to bridge two points in spacetime, greatly reducing the time to travel astronomical distances.

Upon arriving at the ship's decaying orbit around Neptune, a crew boards the Event Horizon in search of survivors only to find evidence of a horrific massacre.  While searching the ship, it's gravity drive automatically activates and one of the rescue party is pulled into the resulting portal, only to be returned in a catatonic state.  What he had witnessed in that crossover later haunts him and he attempts suicide and is then put into stasis. The activation of the gravity drive causes a massive shockwave which critically damages the Lewis & Clark forcing the rest of its crew to board the Event Horizon.

The rescue crew deciphers a video log showing the EH's crew going insane and mutilating each other.  They then come to the conclusion that the gravity drive did successfully open a gateway in spacetime, but it leapt outside the known universe into another dimension that could only be described as pure chaos and pure evil.  By this time, the Event Horizon has taken on an evil sentience and telepathic abilities, tormenting the crew with the aim of forcing them to return to that chaos and evil hell.

The evil presence takes control of one of the crew, who systematically kills off almost all of them.  The remaining three fight to stay alive and resolve to return the Event Horizon back to it's original dimension.  Explosives installed on the EH are detonated splitting the ship in two, sucking the rear half into a wormhole.  72 days later another rescue ship locates them, finding the remaining crew in stasis.

The composition featured above is aptly titled "EVENT" by Parker Kaufman.  It is 8.5 x 11.0 inhces, composed of layered cardstock, computer enhanced images, and Prisma-color pencil.

NOW AT THE BUTLER INSTITUTE

Youngstown, Ohio's Butler Institute is the first museum of American Art.  Designed by McKim, Mead, and White, this architectural masterpiece was dedicated in 1919 and is listed on the National Register of Historical Places.   The Institute strives to preserve and collect art created by people nationwide in all ranges of media.  The Butler collection has grown to exceed 20,000 individual works and the Institute is known globally as "America's Museum".

I am especially fond of the Butler Institute having toured its galleries numeraous times on elementary school field trips and later as a student at Youngstown State University.  There is also a sentimental connection, for Butler is where numerous works by my great-uncle, Harold Staley hung for years in the rotating collection.

Currentlly there are two notable exhibitions featured at Butler, ones that will surely fascinate and delight all who visit them.

1)  REVEALING SHADOWS, by Larry Kagan, now through August 25, 2013.  The exhibit is showcased in the Beecher Center wing.   The eight amazing works of master scuptor Kagan, are wall constructions that create art that can only be seen in the shadows that are cast by the welded metal pieces on the gallery walls.  In this dieplay, the metal forms are beautiful in themselves, but it is the light and shadow-play that is so stunning.

2)  PASTELS by Rhonda Yanow, now through July 14, 2013.  This exhibit is presented in the Giffuni Gallery.  A New Jersey native, Yanow is an artist exhibited nationally and internationally.  She was educated at the Parsons School of Design and the National Academy of Design, NYC.  There are various subjects such as portraits, still-lifes, and landscapes included in this extraordinary pastel exhibition.

And while you're there, be sure to take time to browse the Butler permanent collection, as it rivals some of the most famous collections around the world.

AT THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

There is a spectacular new exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago.    Now through August 18, 2013,  Sharing Space: Creative Intersections in Architecture and Design, is the must-see show for all architecture, engineering, and design buffs.

"From the powerful effect of color to the rigor of geometry, this exhibition mimes the permanent collection of the Department of Architecture and Design to expose common creative concepts and formal strategies across the fields of architecture and design.  Including works from architects, urban planners, graphic designers, and industrial designers created from the 1940's to 2012, this broadly thematic organization highlights important acquisitions and gems of the collection presenting visitors with new and unexpected relationships among these various interwoven disciplines.  For example, architects Doug Garofalo and David Leary, used color in the conceptual strategy in the 1991 Camouflage House, to simultaneously to hide and define the contours of the building within the landscape.  Similarly,  a glass table designed by Johanna Grawunder in 2010, has radical supports in vivid translucent hues that blur the boundaries of the object when viewed from different angles.  While the theory and visual languages underpinning these two objects diverge, the juxtaposition creates a new argument for an underlying relationshop stemming from their shared use od color.

Groupings throughout the exhibition, based on similar approaches to geometry and structure among others, invoke fresh readings of well-known works and allow new connections to emerge across a large range of media and varying scales.  In this way, the presentation reveals nuanced relationships and deep structural connections that run through this selection of exceptional modern and contemporary works."  **

**From the Art Institute of Chicago review on the exhibition.

Excerpt from THE BASLICATO

THE BASLICATO

“Dr. Wilson, Police Chief Whitecliff is here to see to you.”

“Send him right in, Hillary.”

“Tommy!  Hi, honey.  How are you today?”  He came in and hugged her, kissing her forehead.

“Good, Brook.”

“And Brenda?  And the kids? “

“Yes, we’ll all fine.  We haven’t seen you for over a week.  You really busy?”

“Yes!  Swamped, in fact.   Did Violet get that package I sent over for her?  It was the science fair supplies.” 

“Yes, Violet was thrilled.  Thanks, Sweetie.  And even though you’re overworked, you’re looking particularly wonderful today.”  He paused for a moment, just looking at her.  “Brook, I need to know if the Maxwell kid is a patient in your hospital.”

“Tommy!  Have you ever heard of a confidentiality agreement?”

“May I take that as a yes?”

“NO!  You may take it as a ‘please don’t use our personal relationship to pry information out of me.’  Tommy, what do you want, honey, tell me.  Just blurt it out.”

“I want him out of here, Brook.  I NEED him out of here.  I don’t want a damn pack of crazed paparazzi descending upon my nice, quiet, little town like locusts, causing mayhem for my nice, quiet average little citizens.  I want that million dollar Italian celebrity race car-driving, hard-drinking, ass-pinching superstar out of my town!”

“Okay.  Done.  Now go away, Tommy.  I have tons of work to do 

and I’m really in a time crunch, honey.” 

“You mean it, Brook?” 

“Yes, Chief Whitecliff, I can’t be bothered keeping my stories straight, therefore I just don’t lie.  Remember?”

“I know you don’t.  Thanks, Baby.  You’re the best.”

“Oh, I bet you say that to all your ex-wives, Tommy Whitecliff.”

“No, I don’t!” he laughed.  “Only you.  Take care, honey.  Thanks.  Love you.”  

“Too.  Kiss your kids for me.  Tell them I’ll come over and see them soon.  Things are crazy busy around here right now.”

“Will do.”

THE BASLICATO is available on Amazon.com  Carol Ann Kauffman