Thanx, Matey.

I woke up from a dream state this morning with this simple image in my head. I then drew it on a piece of cardboard and sent it off in the mail as a thank you postcard for a friend who sent me a proof-of-purchase... I needed an extra one to get a free t-shirt and I was tired of buying Cap'n Cruch cereal.

Postcard Puppet

We have a family friend who will be spending a few months at school in England. She had to leave her pet conure in the care of her parents while she is away. Knowing she will be missing the little fella, I painted this postcard and dropped it in the mail today:

I cut out the finger holes first. She'll have to trim the rest. I suppose I could've cut the whole thing out and put it in an envelope, but I thought it would be more fun to get a postcard with holes in it. I still think it's cool that I can sent this 3,000 miles for less than a dollar.

Now she can make him sit on her finger any time she wants.

I wonder if the postal carriers will play with it on its journey.

Funding Arts Education

Every so often when budgetary cuts come before national and state lawmakers, it seems that one of the first things to get the ax is funding for the arts in education. Obviously, as someone who makes my living in the commercial art arena, I am against this, and continually shocked at the shortsightedness of our lawmakers who think that funding the arts is unnecessary.

One only has to look at the history of the world to see that all culture is remembered by its art. From cave paintings and petroglyphs to the pyramids to pop art, all civilizations are remembered by what they created. Art is the lasting impression, not only of the individual artists, but of the society that nurtures them.

Although art belongs to the world, each piece is indelibly linked to the society that birthed it, a reflection of its values, its beliefs, its greatness. The frescoes of Pompeii, the sonatas of Mozart, the Eiffel Tower, dramas by Shakespeare, Aristophanes and Ibsen, Kabuki, Vaudeville, Machu Picchu, John Phillip Sousa, Pablo Picasso and Pablo Naruda, the Sphinx, the Acropolis, the Colosseum in Rome, the Forbidden City, the Taj Majal, Easter Island, the Venus de Milo, tribal masks and totem carvings...the list is endless. But this we know, that every civilization is measured and revered by its artistic creations.

Art and craftsmanship touch everything we do. From the furniture you sit on while you read this, to the design of the car you drive, to the brochure your bank sends you, to your iPod and every song it contains.

So how can we put paintings behind glass, demand music 24 hours a day, pay top dollar for a Broadway show, wear the latest fashions, and at the same time deny the fundamentals of art education to our youth?

I know my timing is way off writing this. But when the next subcommittee pops up trying to cut arts education funding, I'll be ready.

©2011 Tim Hodge

Cubs

Paint & marker postcard for a friend....

Even More Mail Art

It was late in the evening.... there was a pile of outgoing mail on the kitchen table...

An almost recognizable Donald Duck: