MCLA Professor Begins 'The 50 Card Project'
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Every week since Inauguration Day and continuing through the end of 2017, Melanie Mowinski, an associate professor of visual arts at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts will print a new letterpress card in a limited edition of 100, using vintage letterpress type, cuts and other printing matrixes.
After making a card of FDR's Four Freedoms on Inauguration day, Mowinski decided to make a card every week for the entire 2017 year. She calls this mission "The 50 Card Project." In total, she will create 50 different cards or 5,000 individual cards. As they are completed each week, she will send 15 to 20 to key players in Washington, D.C.
"The meaning of the cards is mirrored in the process of their creation; they invite the receiver to reflect on the small efforts, the small actions that when linked together, create something bigger," Mowinski said. "The cards are about being positive, yet at the same time a little subversive."
As part of her project, Mowinski will send cards to President Donald Trump, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and other key figures in the Trump Administration. She hopes to remind them of what is important.
To make this project possible, Mowinski launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund it, and to expand the reach of the project and the cards. This project requires help to fund raw materials including postage, paper, and other materials for housing and showcasing the collection of prints.
The rewards range from receiving five to 10 randomly selected cards, all 50 cards, make your own mantra card workshops, or a retreat like day in her garden. The campaign is a short one, ending on March 7.
Mowinski is an artist, educator and letterpress printer, for five years she ran PRESS: Letterpress as a Public Art Project on Main Street in North Adams. This new project expands on the mission of PRESS, sharing the magic of letterpress with as many people as possible. She describes letterpress as "a slow and mindful relief printing process, where led and wood type are inked and pressed into paper leaving an impression behind."
Mowinski can be reached at melanie.mowinski@mcla.edu.
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