Date: Fri 08-Jan-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

postcards-Dutchick-stamps

Full Text:

An Unlikely Place To Address Some Fine Art

(with photos)

BY SHANNON HICKS

The local post office may not be the first place people think of when they

want to view fine art, but in Newtown it just happens to be the latest

location teachers and students in Newtown High School have found to utilize.

Currently on view in the main lobby of Newtown's United States Post Office, on

Commerce Road, is a selection of handmade postcards by high school students.

The postcards, including their stamps, were each designed and constructed by

students for an art class project.

Last marking period, the high school students were given the challenge of

creating a postcard that related one aspect of their 1998 summer experience.

That challenge also included the creation of a related stamp.

"This project really created an awareness for stamps," said Diane Dutchick,

one of the high school's art teachers.

The image, the students were told, was not to be an exact "photo of the entire

memory." In presenting this idea, the students had to brainstorm what they did

over their 1998 summer vacation, and what happened that really stuck in their

memory.

"If the memory is Kool-Aid, the picture is like the powdered concentrate,"

they were told. Each artist was given a handout with hints and directives. The

postcards were to be creative, but also had to fit within a given format. "If

the memory is like the sap from a maple tree, the picture is like maple syrup.

The picture is concentrated and enhanced," the directive told them.

The result is an extremely impressive exhibition of talent and creativity. The

curved wall of the main inner lobby of the Commerce Road post office are

currently brimming with color and words, as the students' postcards present

images of vacations, side trips, mountain climbing excursions, and visits with

people that became friends in a short time span.

While the student artists were told initially that they were to design their

own stamps for their postcards as a last resort, many chose to indeed create

their own mini-artwork to accompany their postcard-size piece of art. The

result is a collection of stamps on postcards even the postmaster general

would have to smile about.

The students' stamps are tied in to the students' experiences, and are as

creative as the postcards themselves and the sometimes cryptic messages

written on the cards.

Not only is the post office the ideal location for such postal-related artwork

to be put on view, but this season in particular offers the public a chance to

see the wonderful artwork without going out of their way. Most residents,

after all, had some additional mail whether in the form of holiday greeting

cards or gift packages going out to other locations, that needed to be mailed.

And just about the only place in town to ascertain the proper postage for

these items is the post office.

While waiting in line or dropping off mail in the post office's lobby last

month, Newtown and Sandy Hook residents had the opportunity to take an extra

moment out of their day to admire some of the burgeoning creativity from the

town's young artists. The artwork remains on view, and can be seen at any time

(for post office box holders, the lobby remains open around the clock).

Although much snow has yet to fall in our area, the weather has been chilly

and brisk on quite a few days, and so many of the postcards will help recall

for viewers the warmer days of the season opposite winter on our celestial

calendar.