With its galleries closed due to the pandemic, the Garrison Art Center considered how else it might mount a show. Barbara Smith Gioia, the exhibitions coordinator, suggested they solicit postcards related to the quarantine, and the result has been Postcards from a Pandemic.
The call, which is ongoing, asks for submissions of a 4-by-6-inch postcard on paper or board, in any medium that can travel safely through the U.S. mail to the Garrison Art Center, P.O. Box 4, Garrison, NY 10524. The stamp and postmark are considered part of the art. The artist’s name and/or social media tag should be placed on the front or back, but not a return address.
When received by the center, each postcard is scanned and posted at instagram.com, where it can be claimed for a minimum $25 donation. Twenty percent of the proceeds are being given to Fred’s Pantry, in Peekskill.
“It has been both exciting and cathartic to watch the submissions pour in,” says Katie Schmidt Feder, the art center’s executive director. “Each postcard chronicles the different effect this pandemic has had on individuals as they struggle with isolation or frustration or fascination with this very unusual time.”
