My lovely friend Abbie recently sent me a message; she and a few other art friends are having an art postcard exchange. I always love to hear from Abbie. I miss art-related conversation and the work-in-progress insight of my former classmates.
The idea of an art exchange sounded wonderful. A delightful chance to reconnect with a some art friends from college. With ten of us participating, we each make ten postcards, which we need to mail by the end of the month. The chosen theme for this project was Inside/Outside. I started mine earlier than I needed to, but I was excited–so my postcards were mailed out last Tuesday. They are now on their happy ways throughout the world–Minnesota, Colorado, Montana, and South Korea.
I chose mixed media collage for my postcards. To incorporate the Inside/Outside theme, I wanted to play with the concept of in and out of natural scenery. I also combined the sense of land, sky, and water with the illusion of walls in rooms to make them feel slightly surreal or dreamlike.
Inside/Outside IV, art postcard, 2011Inside/Outside VII, art postcard, 2011Inside/Outside VIII, art postcard, 2011Inside/Outside I, art postcard, 2011
Carly Swenson is an intuitive painter originally from northern Montana. She spent more than a decade working primarily as a mixed media artist before shifting to acrylics. Swenson received a BFA in Visual Arts with an Art History Minor from Bemidji State University. During and after university, she traveled and lived abroad, this included studying in China, traveling throughout Europe and living both in England and the Azores.Swenson’s work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions throughout the US and internationally. Her freelance writing and mixed media journals have been published in nationally distributed art magazines. She has facilitated art workshops for various age groups. Swenson’s work is also included in the permanent art collections of Angra do Heroismo Museum and Bemidji State University (Bemidji, MN). Currently, she lives in St. Paul, MN with a smart little dog and a weird little cat. They’re nice.
Copyright Notice:
All images (artwork and photography) protected by copyright and belong to Carly Swenson, unless otherwise noted. Any images not owned by Carly Swenson have been used with the consent of the copyright holder. Please do not reuse/publish/edit/copy/etc. any images from this blog without consent of the copyright holder. Thank you for your understanding and respect of artistic integrity.
View all posts by Carly Swenson, Visual Artist
14 Replies to “via air mail”
So, are your collages collaborations of your own drawings and those of others? Where do the images you use come from? I’ve made basic magazine image collages, but they are nothing like your wonderful art.
My collages have some of my own art drawings, sketches and photography, as well as found imagery. I really recommend Dover clip art books of copyright free images–you can find them online at Amazon or Barnes and Noble. They have many different categories to choose from and it helps to avoid any copyright complication issues that you may run into using images from magazines (although I do that at times as well.)
I really like your last postcard, the woman holding water is pretty neat! … all in all I half expected you to do something where its inside/outside the body or soul…. maybe more literal in a sense? but pleasantly surprised either way!
We would love you to join our swaparoo, these are awesome postcards. Flicker is a photo hosting site which has a social group section. We post photos of our cards when they are received.
Carly Swenson • Intuitive Artist 
So, are your collages collaborations of your own drawings and those of others? Where do the images you use come from? I’ve made basic magazine image collages, but they are nothing like your wonderful art.
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My collages have some of my own art drawings, sketches and photography, as well as found imagery. I really recommend Dover clip art books of copyright free images–you can find them online at Amazon or Barnes and Noble. They have many different categories to choose from and it helps to avoid any copyright complication issues that you may run into using images from magazines (although I do that at times as well.)
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I really like your last postcard, the woman holding water is pretty neat! … all in all I half expected you to do something where its inside/outside the body or soul…. maybe more literal in a sense? but pleasantly surprised either way!
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Oh I love your mail art!!! These are outstanding!
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Thank you so very much!
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Wow, your mail art is lovely. Why not join us for our next swaperoo? You’ll only have to make one!
Thanks for stopping by. Hope you’ll join us, the more the merrier.
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Thanks so much. That one with with some of my friends from college. I saw that one you linked, but I didn’t get the flickr part?
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We would love you to join our swaparoo, these are awesome postcards. Flicker is a photo hosting site which has a social group section. We post photos of our cards when they are received.
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I have a crazy month coming up, but please let me know if another one gets scheduled, hopefully I could participate then.:)
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PS thanks for the reminder about copy-write issues.
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