Handwritten: The Writing Project

I’d like to invite you to collaborate with me in a handwriting project.

As you know by now, I collect, create and use handwritten ephemera from a variety of sources in my work.

Each person’s handwriting is unique- and incorporating them onto my layered surfaces has depths of meaning for me as an artist that are slowly beginning to reveal themselves.

If you are willing to lend a pen and a few minutes of your time to assist me, just follow these simple directions.

Preparations: Tear several sheets of copy paper in half so they look about the size of a paperback book page. Choose a favorite pen with black ink (bold or fine line, your choice). Write in whatever is your native language.

Warm up a bit by writing on a piece of scrap paper. As you write, leave a margin around the outsides of the page. Please just write on one side.

Let go of any and all worries or concerns about content, grammar, spelling or anything but letting your hand move and the ideas flow. Write with feeling and sincerity. Ignore any mistakes, just keep writing. Try to fill the page.

Want to keep writing? Grab a new piece of paper and keep going.

Ready to try this?  Start with the phrase,

“ Wouldn’t it be wonderful if….” and write for two minutes without stopping. Write anything and everything that pops into your head. It isn’t important where that first phrase leads you or what you write about as long as your hand keeps moving.

Then please mail the originals in a handwritten envelope to 2480 Cooley Road, Canandaigua, NY 14424.

Please share this invitation with everyone you know – I’d love to be flooded with handwritten mail from all over the globe.