Laura and Tina creating art together and why we think collaboration is the bomb!
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Dear Tina, I loved reading your last letter. Yes, I agree, drawing is a really good way to slow down and “see”. Creating little flower posies and viewing them through the lens of my camera is one of the ways I “see”. It’s become a large part of my creative process and a meditative… Read More
Hello Friends! We have recently come back from a refreshing trip to Asheville, North Carolina. We made a short video for you to see how we spent our days. This time away in the woods gave us an opportunity to look at the last two years of work of our mail art collaborative project “The… Read More
Dear Laura, It was exciting to read the poetry you sent in the last mailed Collective package. I chose to create this new piece from the poem you wrote about the maple tree seed. I have been thinking about observation drawing and its place in an artist’s practice. It can be confusing because to the… Read More
“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct”. ~Carl Jung Dear Tina, How are you my friend? I have to say that the last package you sent me lit me up! I love how you included my collage and painting from all those years back. It was… Read More
Dear Laura, These most recent artworks back and forth through the mail have been in an insightful conversation. I feel like we are hitting a stride! Your most recent addition to The Collective brought up a powerful symbol- the circle. It is one that you are often drawn to (even suggested in your square formats). … Read More
Dear Tina, How are you? I too am enjoying the handwritten letters we are writing to each other in our journal. Seeing your handwriting makes me feel closer to you when I read it, like you are keeping me company in my studio. The wild turkey feather you drew for your last piece in The… Read More
Dear Friends, Seemed like 2017 flew by, but when we stopped to write down all that we have experienced and accomplished it seemed the year was actually long. We traveled together to Baltimore MD and Washington DC, created 12 new pieces of art for our mail art project “The Collective”, wrote letters to one another… Read More
Dear Laura, I am enjoying our handwritten letters to one another in the book we send along with the art for The Collective. In your last letter to me about this project, you were exploring new paths in the woods and witnessing wild turkeys come across your path. I have had a few wild turkey sightings… Read More
Hello Sweet T~ How are you? Fall is happening here in New England and bringing with it all it’s glorious color! Although I am sad to see summer go there is a beauty and crispness in the air that I savor. Fall has a scent that I cannot clearly describe. It is embedded in my… Read More
Dear Laura, When I received your new piece of art for The Collective I had to squint:) Those colors are certainly energetic and loud. It’s like a party on paper! I know how much the warmth and color of summer inspire you so it’s good to see you go all out. Flipping through all the… Read More
Dear Tina, It was a bit of a bummer to see our work damaged from the postal service. I wonder what happened there! WOW! You did a really nice job flattening everything and packing it up for me. Thank you. I am happy to say it arrived safe and sound. Summer sure is slipping by… Read More
Dear Laura, After receiving your newest piece of the collective in the mail (scroll down to see the damage of the package received in the mail- yikes!), I took a walk in my garden seeking what is blue. Of course, I found the blueberries. We have been picking them the last few weeks and adding… Read More
Dear Tina, How are you my friend? My garden is starting to come to life and I am the happiest girl, flooded with inspiration from all the lush color. Winter is WAY too long here in CT! I have been going to a lot of going to plant sales and gardens centers, filling my pots with fresh new… Read More
More work is accumulating in the correspondence project we have developed called “The Collective”. Currently, we have about 20 pieces completed. Each piece is in conversation with all the other pieces in the collection. See the collection in its entirety HERE. Enjoy!
Dear Friends, Laura and I make the commitment to talk on the phone weekly. We catch up on one another’s lives, studio practice, and our work together. A few times a year we review what we are doing well and what we are ready to change. This past year we have been writing posts about… Read More
Dear Tina, I SO loved that gold shimmer you added to your last drawing for The Collective! It reminded me of the sun sparkling on the water here in CT. I also appreciated what you shared about the Great Blue Heron. What a graceful bird! Their long legs made me think of flamingos, a bird I have been intrigued by… Read More
Here are our newest additions to The Collective this month! ABOUT THIS PROJECT: We are mailing a box back and forth between the two of us. In this box, we are adding works of art on paper of various sizes twice a month. We are thrilled to experiment with this continuously building body of work that… Read More
Dear Laura, For our newest addition to our mail art project “The Collective”, I created this drawing in response to your latest piece of art. While sometimes I respond to pieces in the box from weeks ago or a combination of them together, this piece is a direct link to this one: I have… Read More
Dear Tina, Thank you so much for the little brass Ganesh you put in The Collective box. I put him on my desk as a reminder to remove obstacles in my life. I continue to recognize that my obstacles are mainly thoughts that do not serve me. When I let them go and focus on… Read More
Notes by Laura: I was inspired by the color in Tina’s last drawing of the birds. This zinnia was one of the last flowers in my garden and I wanted to carry over the essence of it with this loose, contour line drawing. Tina had added some old sheet music to the Collective box so I stamped in some… Read More
This is simply a quick update on how our Collective is growing. Laura currently has the box of collected art and is responding visually this week while in her studio. We will post another update in December as this box is mailed back and forth a few more times! Tina’s most recent addition is a… Read More
Dear Laura, I have the honor to exhibit my artwork at Redux Contemporary Art Center in the Conolly Gallery this month through November 19th. Above is the outside of the facility dedicated to the lovely Clementa C. Pinckney, who died in the shootings at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston. Our city still hasn’t fully… Read More
Hello! These are our latest additions to The Collective Project. These are sent through the mail to one another with little prompting. It is a pure visual response. Often we send other things as well. Laura sent some birch tree bark that reminded her of Tina’s recent sculptural work and Tina sent a newspaper article… Read More
Dear Friends, Our mail art project is growing! Below is a picture of the works we have created this summer. We will be updating the progress of this project monthly. You can view all the work under COLLECTIVE on our website at any time. HOW IT WORKS: When we get the package of artworks we… Read More
Dear Friends, A few weeks ago, Tina visited Laura in Connecticut for a brief but fruitful time. One thing that came out of our time is the above manifesto. While we wrote this during our last visit, we revised some of the wording and made it more artful. What do you think? We hiked, created art,… Read More
Check it out! Tina is the featured artist this month in Charleston Magazine. There is also a shout out to our work here at Laura Two Tina. You can get your copy at local grocery stores in Charleston or Barnes & Noble. Yipeeeeee!!!
Dear Friends, We began our new collaborative project back in January and are now ready to show you what we have collected. We have decided to call this “Collective” since this is a group of art accumulated over time. As noted in our previous letter, we are mailing a box (well…for now it is an envelope until… Read More
Hello Friends, As we mentioned in a recent letter we have been a little quiet here on the blog. In addition to taking some time to focus on our individual art practices, we have spent the past few months re-reading this blog from the beginning. Good grief, there is a lot here! Reading the tentative beginnings… Read More
Dear Laura, I have finally finished the ReVision 120 in response to your Vision 120. I got sidetracked by summer travel and beginning a new teaching year. However….I have followed through and made a piece that is getting back to my assemblage and found object work. I started by photographing the magnolia tree in my… Read More
Tina Hirsig, Vision 120 Laura Gaffke, ReVision 120 Dear Tina, I could tell you about the wild adventure I have been on in… Read More
