What's With the Postcards?

Shout
© Natalie Schorr 2021

By any chance, have you been receiving some art postcards? Lucky you!

I decided to try something new. After all, I can’t expect anyone to just jump up and find me, so I need to be proactive and put myself - and my work - out there. This thought used to terrify me, but I’m 60 now, my children are grown, and my husband has left me, so I really have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Besides, I believe in my work.

I spent some time with Google, being the researcher I was in my earlier life, looking for museums and galleries and curators and advisors I liked, and I compiled a big spread sheet of names and addresses. I love a good spread sheet; it’s oddly comforting.

Then I decided to go old school, and hand wrote a postcard to each person on the list. And then I wrote another. And another. Not asking for anything yet, just sharing my work at this point.

My intention is to find a champion; someone who believes in my work enough to represent me. Someone who is interested in the stories my work tells. But along the way, I’d also really like to have some conversations about art, and feedback. As Tyler Perry says, a hunter only shoots a deer he can see, and I really want to be seen. So… postcards.

My work is different, as my mother frequently points out in that special way only she has. Whether you love it or hate it or don’t understand it, write to me. Let’s have a conversation.

A Day of Inspiration at Atlanta Vintage Books

Great vintage finds from 1959 and 1962

Having recently turned to a new, and seemingly significant age [60], I decided to take a day for inspiration, which usually means a book sale. So I went to booksalefinder.com, but of course there was nothing because, you know, Covid and all. I did a search for used book stores and came up with Atlanta Vintage Books, which was about a 45 minute drive away, so I decided to make a day of it, assuming their clientele were smart enough to wear masks, which not surprisingly, they were.

Atlanta Vintage Books is exactly what a used book store should be. There was a maze of small rooms with quirky overstuffed chairs and books organized by genre, but the best part was the basement, which held a glorious collection of old magazines, “dangerous” publications, and fabulous ephemera.

I was there for 4 hours, and could reasonably have stayed much longer if I’d had the foresight to pack a lunch. Among the treasures I bought were some old science magazines, personal correspondence, and some books.

I am particularly taken by these two magazines and their delightful depictions of what my life was supposed to be here in 2020; a far cry from the reality of Covid and almost a year of “hunkering down” which is doing terrible things to my posture. I should be tooling around the moon in that charming tractor ball or lounging in the gray and red space station where every room has a view. Alas, it is not to be.

However, a day spent recharging the creative batteries has done me good, and I’m ready to get back at it.

Inspiration Trip: Day 8

Embracing the Industrial Landscape

Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark

The landscape of Pittsburgh has changed dramatically since I left there in 1992, but there are still wonderful places to get the flavor of how it used to be. I was thrilled to find the Rivers of Steel: Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark. They have tours, which meant that I didn’t have to break in and surreptitiously walk about taking pictures pretending to be ignorant that I was trespassing the way I used to do years ago. I only took a little over 700 pictures there.

Every day I am grateful for digital cameras.

Inspiration Trip: Day 7

The intersection of diverse ideas

The intersection of Doherty Hall and Wean Hall on the Carnegie Mellon campus

I received my Masters Degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 1986, so of course I wanted to revisit the campus. There were a few students out enjoying the bizarrely warm weather, but not many. That’s the sad part of the Covid crisis. Everywhere I go, it’s like a Sunday and a holiday combined. Ghostly quiet. It’s hard for all of us, but I think that for young people it must be incredibly frustrating.

Despite the crisis, there is inspiration to be had, like this wonderful moment. One of the most interesting places on the Carnegie Mellon campus, in my opinion, is the spot where Doherty Hall, a Beaux Arts masterpiece conjoins with Wean Hall, a wonderful example of Brutalism. How can you not be excited?

Inspiration Trip: Day 6

On a clear day you can see Braddock

Poles and towers at the Edgar Thompson Works, Braddock PA

It was, at last, a clear day, so I headed down to Braddock to grab some shots [ a few hundred of them ] of the Edgar Thompson Works for US Steel. The vast majority of the steel industry has closed down, but this plant still seems to be in some part operational.

The shapes that make up industrial landscapes are so inspiring. Towers, tanks, warehouses. Walls of windows, towering smokestacks, and webs of wires. There are a lot of projects to come with this.

Inspiration Trip: Day 5

Now this is inspiring

The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh PA

Tuesday, The Warhol Museum. What a treasure, and really inspiring! I spent nearly four hours there; so much to see! And a wealth of inspiration. Yes, it was dreary outside, and somewhere during the day I took some pictures, but this was definitely the highlight.

Inspiration Trip: Day 4

What’s a little rain?

Rear view of apartment buildings in Pittsburgh

Monday was a bust in terms of photography, but it mattered not as I got to spend much of the day with a friend I had not seen in decades and her wife. It was a socially distant lunch date on her porch on a cold rainy day, but who cares? I have spent very little time with friends over the past several months, even the past many years. I was overdue. And getting to catch up with a friend is priceless, especially these days.

So no photographic inspiration, but friendship inspiration, which is much better for the soul.

Inspiration Trip: Day 3

A quintessential Pittsburgh photo

Big box houses stepping down the side of a hill beneath slate grey skies.

I took this shot from the top of a wall I shouldn’t have climbed because, as you might guess, a fall ensued. But I got the shot, and I saved the camera, so yay me. My shoulder is bruised, and my glasses have taken on an undesirable shape, but I am OK. At about the same time, a friend of mine, also out taking pictures, fell and broke her foot. She asked if I thought we were too old to be doing this. Indeed not! We should go forth boldly!

Inspiration Trip: Day 2

What could go wrong?

Corn field in Ohio on a beautiful clear day.

When you finally get the heck out of town, you want to think everything will go right. It usually does. But not this time.

Thank goodness I have a newer model car that tells me when a tire is going down, which allowed me to get off the highway before it went entirely flat. That’s the good news. The bad news was that it was a Saturday in Zanesville, Ohio. Apparently, no one in Zanesville can fix a tire on a Saturday.

I got off the highway and stopped at a gas station. They had no air. No worries, there is a tire store across the street. I head over there, but it was closed.

So I Googled tire places, and thankfully, there was a National Tire and Battery just a few miles away. They took my car in immediately. Yes, the front passenger tire was low, they gave it some air. I asked if I could get it patched. Oh no. we don’t have time to do that. Really? They suggested I go down the street to the Toyota dealership. So I drove over there. They were so nice, but no, no one could patch a tire on a Saturday. I should try WalMart down the street.

So I headed down to the WalMart. They were very nice. They might be able to patch it in, maybe, three hours. Maybe. I was not really interested in waiting for a maybe. So I Googled again, and found a company that did road service. So I called them. They could come out. Yay! But then I find out that they only do big rigs, not passenger cars.

Finally, in desperation, I called AAA. Yes they could send someone out to patch the tire. So after a very lengthy time on the phone with them and a 45 minute wait, a service truck finally showed up. No, they couldn’t patch a tire either. So I had them put the donut on the car and I hit the road and left Zanesville in the dust.

Inspiration Trip: Day 1

Traveling during a pandemic?!

Really, I couldn’t take much more of home sweet home. While I enjoy solitude and being in my studio, eventually I have to leave the bubble for the sake of my sanity, not to mention the sake of my creativity.

I have been to the grocery store. I have been to the post office. One day I went out to get a large eyed blunt point needle. All fully masked. And that’s about it since mid March. I desperately need to do something different. So I planned a trip.

Here I am in Cincinnati. Urban landscapes. Wonderful architecture. Spending the night at an AirBnB before proceeding to Pittsburgh for a week of photography and a couple of socially distant meetings with old friends. I have dozens of masks, jars of vitamins, and bottles of hand sanitizer. I can do this.

I’ve gone to look for America. And inspiration.