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Postal Series by Carol Taylor The Postal Series came about while pondering how our mail system has changed since the advent of email and the internet. I was thinking about all of those letters I used to write home from college, or those secret love letters saved in a special box, or just postcards from a vacation. All of that seems rather old fashioned in 2004. I miss it though, and all of the memories that go with those posts. There is definite nostalgia for the regular posted letters we seldom see anymore showing in these pieces.
This series uses one palette derived mostly from an old blouse made of printed rayon fabric that has writing on it and reminded me of stamp collections. Working from that point, I abstracted the postmark circles and lines in many ways to make the fabric collages. Then the final layer of design came from my sewing machine in the form of free motion scripted letters, or the embroidered “Postmark” signs that look so much like a stamped version. The thread work uses spirals, concentric circles, and a grid format to complete the design. The result is a collection of five small quilts reminiscent of an old letter collection. |
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| Letters
from Home: 8.5 x 11.5 This piece features free motion stitching of a letter home, stamps and those postmark lines. |
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| Postage
Due: 8.5 x 11.5 Adding solid colored squares to the printed fabric takes away from some of the busyness created by the embroidered “Postmark” lettering and lines. To me, this creates the impression of a letter that took a long time getting to its destination because there was “Postage Due”. |
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| Postmarked:
8.5 x 11.5
The whirling chaos of a post office stamping and postmarking thousands of letters daily is the essence of this piece. |
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| Return to Sender: 8.5 x 11.5 This letter has the look of use and abuse as it tried to make its way to the proper address. Instead it was totally covered with stamps and postmarks, obliterating the original address, so it had to be “Returned to Sender”.
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 Stamped: 8.5 x 11.5 This simple format, using a different number of stamps on each letter, shows how our postal system communicates. The postmark lines mark the way letter went from one place to another, finally arriving in the appropriate mailbox.
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