I began this project in May of 2020. At the time (and still) United States Postal Service had been hit hard by the pandemic. Controlling elements of the Federal Government (the now former president and Republican Senate) did not want to provide aid to the service. The USPS does not depend on the federal government (it is 0% funded by taxpayer dollars) but it suffers financially because of rules the government has imposed on it.
It may seem insignificant, but if we all sent just a few letters a week, we could help ensure that our daily, free mail delivery service continues.
I wrote the sentence above in May 2020. Since then, I’ve learned that there are loads of people who depend on the USPS for low cost prescription medication delivery, for cashiers checks and money orders to pay rent, for deliveries to locations that commercial couriers won’t visit, even for their very lives (some shut-ins see no one but their letter carrier daily and the carriers often notice when something is wrong).
So write your grandma, d…arnit! Or your friend or cousin or your worst enemy. Just send a letter already.
Despite Peggy Strong's very short life, there is a bit more information about her available on the web than many of the female muralists who lived twice as long. She seems to have been fairly well known in and around Tacoma, Washington and just a few years ago,...
Margaret Dobson. Yet another in the seemingly endless line of women artists about whom the web can tell us little. I would have been much less surprised by this ten years ago -- and much more embarrassed that the web is my primary source of research on the post office...
I'm afraid that there is not much I can tell you about Thelma Martin. Assuming that we can believe the www, she existed; she identified as an artist for at least part of her life; and she made one post office mural: Wild Boar Hunt (Sweetwater, Tennessee).
Minna Citron. Let's start with that name. There's something really fabulous about it. Then there's the woman herself. Student, artist, mother -- and someone who approached controversial topics fearlessly. I think she was probably my kind of girl (as in Girl Power, not...
Marion Greenwood was part of a family of artists, so it is no surprise that her career choice was supported by her family. The influence of Mexican muralists on her work is quite apparent. You can hear part of an interview with Greenwood via the Smithsonian's Archive...
Bernadine Custer Sharp was an artist and educator whose career spanned most of the 20th century. You can see examples of her work at the websites for the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Londonderry Art and Historical Society, and Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco....
Ethel V. Ashton is another delightful surprise amongst female post office muralists. You can see many examples of her work online at the Woodmere Art Museum, the National Gallery, and the Met. She made one post office mural: Defenders of the Wyoming Country-1778...
A little more information about Theresa Bernstein is available online than most of the female post office muralists. City University of New York devotes a subdomain to the artist. You can see some examples of her work at the websites for the Smithsonian American Art...
Grace Lysinger Hamilton was, at least at some point in her life, a drawing instructor in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. You can see some of her work in this, seemingly abandoned, Wordpress blog. Hamilton made one post office mural: Early Days in Payne County (Stillwater,...
Olive Harriette Nuhfer is among the ranks of dead artists who are little more, as far as the world wide web is concerned, than names on lists and family trees in paywalled obituaries. She painted a portrait of Eisenhower, but if you can find an image of it online,...
Isabel Bishop painted a lot of ladies -- and why not? Styles were pretty cool when she was young. She was quite good at rendering people (in two dimensions on canvas and paper -- don't get creepy). Some of her paintings are like candid photographs -- not exactly what...
I'm a little excited to have stumbled across Sally Haley. Not only do I appreciate her art, I am grateful for her contribution to the arts, particularly in my adopted home town of Portland, Oregon. You can see some of her work at the Russo Lee Gallery website (I...
There is frustratingly little on the web about Alicia Wiencek (often shown as Weincek). One would think that her identity was "wife." Searches on her name turn up many articles about her husband (also a post office muralist), Ernest Fiene. Thanks to an auction site,...
There isn't much biographical information about Alice Dinneen on the web. A fair amount of her work can be seen on auction sites. The Smithsonian American Art Museum holds a Dinneen piece that may be familiar to you. It has been reproduced on cards, puzzles, and other...
Agnes Tait had a fairly long and varied career as an artist, but the web, perhaps not surprisingly, seems to favor her cat lithographs. Tait made one post office mural: Fruits of the Land (Laurinburg, North Carolina).
Musa McKim's career seems to have been overshadowed by her rather famous husband, Philip Guston. As far as the world wide web goes, she seems to be better known for her writing than her painting. You can read much of Musa's musings, as collected by her daughter Musa,...
Amy Jones (aka Amy Jones Frisbie Blair)was an artist and illustrator and the reason I know a bit more about tuberculosis than I did two minutes ago. Yeah. I know. Of all the things to catch my attention about this artist, what sticks in my mind is that she had a child...
Bernarda Bryson Shahn was, perhaps, best known for the lithographs she made for FDR's Resettlement Administration (if you buy the book, may I borrow it? I promise I am not a book thief). The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art has one of Shahn's work on its...
Georgina Klitgaard was among the many post office muralists to be associated with the famed art colony in Woodstock, New York. You can see a couple of her pieces at the Smithsonian American Art Museum's website and at the Whitney's website. Georgina painted two post...
Mary Earley made two post office murals: Down-Rent War, Around 1845 (Delhi, New York) and Dance of the Hop Pickers (Middleburgh, New York). The Down-Rent War, also known as the Anti-Rent War, took place when tenant farmers were a little bit sick of being fleeced by...
If you are a post office muralist deep diver (I'm talking to you, Mary B), you'd better get comfy. Alison Mason Kingsbury is unusual among the post office muralists in that a ton (in virtual weight) of her work is viewable online. Cornell University's fabulous Digital...
Kady Faulkner. Sigh. She studied with Hans Hofmann. I'm pretty sure I mentioned this in a previous posting, but I love a good repeater -- ask my jazz musician partner. Hans Hofmann was brilliant. I photocopied his lectures about abstract expressionism and kept them in...
Thanks the gods for the Museum of Nebraska Art for providing bios for the last couple of female post office muralists, including today's artist: Eldora Lorenzini. Other states could step up a bit when it comes to recognizing the women artists of the WPA era. Most of...
Jenne Magafan (again with the unfortunate surname) was the twin sister of previously feature Ethel Magafan. The sisters were fortunate enough to be encouraged in their art making by their parents. Like many of the post office muralists (includes some of the women),...
Verona Burkhard comes from a family of artists. Her grandfather, Giovanni Turini, created sculptures for New York's Washington Square and Central Parks. She studied under Boardman Robinson, a post office muralist featured earlier. You can see a couple of her mural...
Oh, Beulah Bettersworth. What a world you lived in. So lucky you were to have your art in a show featuring the art of artists' wives. The art of artist's wives. < insert choice words here > Beulah and her husband lived on storied Christopher Street in New York's...
Eve Kottgen was part of an exhibit at the Whitney in 1945. Though it contains no images, you can view the full exhibit catalog at archive.org (aside: if you aren't familiar with archive.org, you should check it out -- it's amazing). Eve created one post office mural:...
While there is a little information about Elsa Jemne available on the web, there's not as much as one might expect from an artist who made five post office murals (Iron-Ore Mines and Wilderness, Ely, Minnesota; The Hutchinson Singers, Hutchinson, Minnesota;...
What can I say about Betty Jeanette Carney? Sadly. Very, very little. I believe she was born in Montana in 1910 and died in 1991. She created on post office mural Discovery of Ore (Chisholm, Minnesota).
In honor of women's history month, COVID Card 300 (yeah, this is card 300 big whooping deal -- kind of feels like that doesn't? I mean, when you've made 300 of something in 300 days, they sort of lose their wonder -- they become ho-hum, just another day at the office...
Henry Billings was a painter, illustrator, and educator. While he worked in a variety of styles/genres, I (unsurprisingly) am drawn most to his work with light/shadow and rippling forms. The largest collection of his work online (outside of auction sites -- speaking...
Ross Moffett is another post office muralist who teaches us that we shouldn't judge an artist by the first couple of works we see or by early work alone. If it weren't for the number of his pieces that can be seen at the website for the Smithsonian American Art...
Card 297 marks another COVID Card first. It was inspired a photograph of an upside down painting. If you look at it on a small monitor or tablet or phone, you might see what I first saw -- a kind of interesting abstract work. On closer inspection, even the thumbnail...
While Dunbar Beck biographical info is scarce on the web, if you are interested in learning more about him, you can attend a free Zoom lecture about his life on March 23, 2021. Anyway... Beck made some pretty cool (that is a very legit, professional, art critic...
Ernest Fiene was, perhaps, best known for his lithographs. Much of his work may seem, at first, sort of unremarkable, but it you look closely, you will often find something special -- whether it's the shape of a tree or the arc of a herd of cattle. As far as post...
Once again, I am surprised to have found inspiration in a post office muralist. Today's artist, Aiden Lassell Ripley, is the kind of artist my dad would have loved. The guy was a conversationist -- no, no he wasn't, he was a conservationist. Well, he may have been a...