Folio now complete with No.13…
The lucky last folio in the Fuck Covid project, No.13, was posted out on New Year’s Eve 2022.
The end of 2022 - and folio No.13 - was the perfect wrap to a strange 3 years.
(Because we’re done with Covid now, right? 🙈)
Details soon as to where you can see the complete series of prints in an IRL exhibition in 2023.
Stand by for more soon…
I’ll leave the project information up (under the gallery of images) so you can see how the folio was organised. It’s a great model, if you are thinking you’d like to organise a folio of your own one day…
Fuck Covid Postcard Gallery
This is the folio that keeps on giving.
As we grow accustomed to our new normals, whatever those are, let’s keep making postcard prints about what living through/with/after Covid has done to us, sending them to our friends… Although this particular project has ended, let’s keep the conversation alive, because the world has changed irrevocably.
Dreaming of gallery walls papered with postcard prints…
Feeling a little unsettled? Life turned upside down? Afraid of the future… Or secretly (guiltily) wanting an excuse to stay at home?
Need a project?
Want a hug?
This is the folio for you.
A few of us have been corresponding about the various Fuck Covid moments we’ve had since early 2020... Here’s the idea:
Something active and cheering to lift you out of any slumps you might be having… (Or celebrate the parts you are secretly enjoying, but feeling a bit guilty about.)
You are invited to join our postcard folio :)
Folio theme: Fuck Covid
Open edition original prints:
Which means you can print as many or as few as you wish…
(Provided you provide 12 good ones to me for the folio, and a dud for archival testing, of course.)
Medium:
Any medium, provided it has a significant handmade and print-related aspect.
For example, you could screenprint over water coloured backgrounds, trace monotype onto pages of the Woman’s Weekly, sew stuff, lino print over tapestries* woven from sterilised recycled face masks, etc, etc… Or - my personal favourite - a lovely old fashioned drypoint from an empty Cheezel packet. The bar is high people!
Size:
Paper size 11.5 x 17 cm. Portrait or landscape fine.
I’ve chosen this size within the Australian postcard parameters because Fabriano makes beautiful intaglio 11.5 x 17 cm cards with matching envelopes. (If you need some, please email Simone. More here www.unionstprintmakers.com/shop-materials.)
Paper:
Whatever you fancy.
Archival and sturdy is always good.
(If yours is non-archival, or very flimsy, it will be placed in a protective archival sleeve in the folio.)
Australian postcard protocols are long edge paper grain, paper weight 140-500gsm and thickness 0.18-1.5mm.
How many prints?
12 signed originals + 1 A/P (artist proof) or A/D (artist dud) for archival testing + as many extras for yourself that you might like to post to friends, give away, swap etc.
You could edition your prints (1/12, 2/12, 3/12, 4/12, etc) or make them an open edition… whatever best suits you :)
Can I use rude words?
Yes.
(But if you later mail it, you might want to use an envelope.)
Must I use rude words?
No.
(In fact, you don’t have to use any words at all.)
Can I be in the folio even if I’m secretly enjoying working from home?
Yes!
There are always silver linings - heck, this folio is one of them!
(So, if you are more of a Love Covid person, then make a print about that.)
Was this a 2020 online SALA exhibition?
Yes! See here for more… www.salafestival.com.
Will this be exhibited again?
Yes! The online exhibition is ongoing - see below. And one day - hopefully in 2023 - we’ll exhibit all the prints in real life, in person, in a gallery.
Is there a fee?
The exorbitant fee of $11 per entry to cover postage & basic materials.
Can I enter more than once?
Yes. Many times.
(We’re pretty sure we’ll each have more than one Fuck Covid moment over the next couple of years.)
Can anyone enter?
Yes.
We’re all in this together, worldwide.
(How do you spell Fuck Covid in Spanish? American? Mandarin? Teenager?)
Is there a due date?
No.
It’s a rolling project, for as long as Covid affects our world… which it will continue to, for years to come, in so many ways. Racial tensions, sneaky new environmental laws, the erosions of liberties, job losses, lonely old folks with dementia in nursing homes, hot flushes wearing masks, arguing about vaccinations, fear of blood clots, conflicting information, conspiracy theories, planting veggie gardens, helping your neighbours, writing old-fashioned letters to friends, wanting a cat, getting a puppy, yoga at home, drinking too much, swimming in the sea, making baskets… the list is long!
Does size matter?
Yes!
The only important criteria is paper size - 11.5 x 17 cm.
Why?
Well, imagine a perfect stack of prints all the same size, 1 metre high because 600 million people have sent them from all around the world - simply gorgeous!
And now imagine you are the only person who made yours too big. Or too small. So… yeah no.
Size matters.
When will I receive my folio in return?
Each new set of 10 postcards will go out immediately that each 10 new sets (with self addressed envelopes) are received.
So you’ll receive your folio within days or weeks, depending on the speed that prints come in.
Can I request extra copies someone else’s print?
Yes - direct from the artist who made it.
As prints arrive, an image of each will be uploaded to the UStP website with the artist’s socials linked in.
So send the artist a message, say hi, have a chat and make a new friend. We’re hoping this project gets people chatting and sharing around the world whilst they are stuck at home.
Why are the prints so small?
So you can print them at home without much gear. And so you can post them to friends all around the world.
So how does it work?
You post me 12 signed original prints, 1 artist dud (for archival testing), a self addressed A5 envelope and AUD $11. (My postal address is below.)
Please include your business card or a slip of paper with your contact details written clearly.
You sign/write your name and Insta/website/email in pencil on the top left corner of the front or back of each postcard. (The reverse should be otherwise blank, so the print can be used as a postcard, if so desired.)
Your A/D (artist dud) should be made on the same paper with the same inks. Doesn’t have to be a perfect print; any ole dud is fine. (This is a sacrificial print for testing papers and inks with a pH pen. If your prints turn out to be unarchival, they will go into the folio contained in neat little archival Mylar envelopes.)
In return, you’ll receive a pack of 10 random different postcards back, as soon as I’ve received a fresh lot of prints from another 10 artists. (The prints come in and go out straight away, on an ongoing basis. Some will be posted quickly, others will take longer, depending on how rapidly the prints are delivered to me.)
I keep one of your 12 as the organiser. And the remaining one of your 12 is kept to be exhibited post Covid at a big party (details TBA post Covid) with much merriment and relief.
You go on to print as many (or as few) additional postcards as you wish... post them, swap them, trade them, sell them, use them as paste ups... Even film an interpretive dance routine with a ritual print burning. Go crazy… (In self-isolation, with appropriate social distancing, of course!)
And repeat!
My address is PO Box 370, Brooklyn Park SA 5032, Australia.
And please feel free to forward this invitation to anyone you think might like to be a part of it. Anyone, anywhere in the world. No permission needed - just do it - everyone is welcome :)
Let’s all Fuck Covid together!
Hugs Simone/Mo xx
* Very exciting news: Ikea is making a children’s loom for $30, the Lustigt. So you really can weave old face masks into tapestries to print over!
** To folks in the International Print Run, don’t be alarmed, that project hasn’t stopped. But it has been slowed down due to social distancing, self-isolation and all of our public art programs being suspended. So, no pressure on your prints for the current set of International Print Run poster folios, nor on me for finishing the last set of International Print Run folio books until Covid-times are over.
This is a fun (easy) project to get you through Covid-times, which, let’s face it, will be 2022 and beyond…
Need more information? Questions? Please email me (Simone) here.
Acknowledgment of Support
This project has been made possible through ArtsSA supporting me with a COVID-19 Smarty Grant at the beginning of Covid in 2020. This generous grant allowed me to upgrade my website, replace my decrepit laptop, purchase IT and seek advice. Along the way, many wonderful friends have also supported me by buying art materials, shouting me cups of tea and volunteering huge amounts of their time to help out.
All of this support has enabled me to find ways to continue my art practice, in particular, supporting our local printmaking community by continuing my ongoing, long-term, labours of love - teaching printmaking, the annual Steamroller Community Print Event, many issues of the Printmaking Newsletter and (more recently) Weird Adelaide with Tracy Crisp and a bunch of fantastic local printmakers, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Barbara Hanrahan’s death. That support has also allowed to invent this new Fuck Covid postcard folio project and bring it to fruition.
13 folios, each involving 10 artists, have been sent out for Fuck Covid. This means 130 editioned art works have been received and over 1,560 prints (156 individual folios of prints) by 58 artists have been sent out into the world.
Fuck Covid is a project that has been accessible to all, chronicling our ups and down, with pathos, frustration, despair and humour. Some printmakers told me that their Fuck Covid postcards were the thing that got them back into their studios, in the early days of Covid, when they felt paralysed by the world. Knowing that this project has made a difference means more than I can ever say.
The online exhibition has been live through out and, when a venue becomes available, an in-person / IRL exhibition will be presented for all to enjoy.
I am so grateful.