Community. 2023. Unique.
Submissions are open until the drawer is full. If you would like to add a card to the book, go to www.poetrayprints.com/makeart.
Community is a collaborative artist book project made up of individual catalog cards contributed by a multitude of artists from around the world. Each artist was asked to respond to the prompt: "What does community mean to you?" The result is a collection of artwork and typewritten responses in an index card catalog drawer. Compiler Ray Zill, a librarian and book artist, sought to better understand how to build community by building one herself. The resounding conclusion is that we need community now more than ever.
Use the SoundCloud audio player below to listen to the introduction for this book.
A selection of cards from the book can be viewed below, alongside the artists’ response to the question: What does community mean to you? There are more than 50 cards at this point, and I am only one person — more photos and text will be added to this page over time.
Blocker, Mare
Seattle, WA, US
My family was my first community.
On back of card: Siblings in memory of Mark Blocker. September 1960 - May 2023
Currie, Robert
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Community to me is both a location and the individuals who are a part of that place either permanent or temporary. Be their commonality be by blood, friendship, race, identity and/or belief.
A ceilidh is a word descended from the Gaelic word for 'gathering' or 'party', is a common occurrence throughout Cape Breton and the East Coast of Canada. The tourist site for Cape Breton Island states that your heart will never leave, "Feel the rhythm of the Island through the pulse of music and the warmth of our communities. Where everyone is welcome and participation becomes mandatory through dance, song, laughter, and of course food and drink.
The image I have created is a Cyanotype based on a photograph I took from a recent trip entitled "The Aftermath of the ceilidh or One Wall standing". An artist, (unknown), set up vignettes throughout the downtown of a rural Cape Breton Town depicting a wall and a grouping of chairs in various configurations. As soon as I saw the vignettes, I thought of the energy and healing power of music and building community through a ceilidh.
Caddy, Elise
Olympia, WA, US
Community to me is the people you can be your weird self with, and they can be their weird selves with you. I recently found a community in woodworking, and it's so strange and wonderful to me that even though we're all really different people, we are united by our love of working with wood, and that we all understand that odd part of each other that's obsessed with grain direction. I'm really grateful to have found it, and my contribution to this community and project hopefully reflects that- my card is different woods, puzzled apart and glued together, to create a unique and beautiful whole.
D'Alessandro, Laurie D.
St. Joachim, Ontario, Canada
Community:
The desire to build a beautiful nation from often dark and faulty foundations.
Enticknap, Jane
Dublin, Ireland
The community of Artists means we can exchange and grow as a community by experiencing each other's work, this has opened up a whole new world to me as an artist.
Frank, Mikel
Charlotte, NC, US
Community means collaboration — interchange — exchange and communication. Sometimes community leads to connection. This is the best result and can be achieved through listening.
Froelich, Diane
Olympia, WA, US
Community: in addition to the definition of this word, the communities I've enjoyed best are those where individuals are valued, loved, and cared for -- flaws and all. I am grateful to various disability communities where I feel seen and validated like nowhere else. I love the curious, lifelong learners who are so interesting and spread wonder
-- these are the communities I gravitate towards.
Gilmore, Angela
Tacoma, WA, US
Community has lost its meaning. Ideally your community provides a feeling of fellowship, of acceptance and ownership. The words used now are often so broad or vague that there is no sense of inclusion left. Only the wonder remains of where you belong.
Greeley, Bruce
Seattle, WA, US
I am most recently (re)discovering the importance of community as my favorite local bookstore, The Couth Buzzard, just threatened to close -- they have since received LOTS of money to stay open. It's not just a bookstore but a gathering place for many and a place for many types of musical performances from irish fiddle to free jazz jams as well as other artistic endeavors.
These so-called "third places" (outside home and work) are vital for the physical and mental health of residents -- it's great to have such places to connect with others and perhaps the dearth of such places is one reason for why there is such conflict in this once-noble country...(!)
James, Raymond
Erskineville, NSW, Australia
As we now exist in the Anthropocene, we the carbon-based bipeds seek value in our machines but have the human inability to find any. It's an absurd fiction. Creatives have opportunities at every turn to jest and raise questions, especially about failure because from these doomed experiments come something unique.
Laird, Janet
Cadiz, KY, US
I have made over twenty-two hundred, non-traditional watercolor and ink mandalas which led me to creating an online Facebook community called Art for Insight. We gather on Zoom, in community to create art at no cost. While creating, we discuss self nurturing, Internal Family Systems, Wellness Recovery Action Planning, meaningful communication skills and sharing our personal lives. We have become a close knit community all starting from making my kind of mandalas and people showing an interest.
McKinley, Bethany
Olympia, WA, US
My community is a patchwork quilt made of abandoned scraps; each piece carefully chosen to complement another with “good for you bb” and “you deserve happiness”; stitched together with spun yarns of past lives. My community is a rag-tag collection of stitches and designs that dish chisme and ask for pronouns. My community is a rainbow in skin tone and identity; a mishmash of contradictory labels; a refusal to be perceived and a scream for attention. My community contains every facet of my being while making no demands.
Neumann, Christina (krisko1210)
Köln, Germany
community begins with one or several heroes who start an action. others join and follow, the community grows but we all would not be here for example without you as an initiator of this project. thank you for the idea and the realization! communities need their heroes and their leaders. my part of the project is about heroes who helped flood victims after a natural disaster that happened just in my neighborhood.
Rawnsley, Ju
Omaha, NE, US
Community is living in fear, but together.
Sandback, Alexandra
Jakobstad, Ostrobothnia, Finland
Community is
the fullfilment
I cannot give
myself.
Tebbutt, Daryl
Leicester, Leicestershire, UK
Community to me is the coming together of like-minded folk, sharing ideas, stories, knowledge and skills. I run a community darkroom where the newbies fully embrace these attitudes, helping and supporting each other to create a positive, safe and creative environment.
Teles, Paulo
Entroncamento, Portugal
Community is more than just an art exchange, is a group of people united by a common interest and passion for the creative potential of mail. The sense of belonging that is created by becoming part of the mail art community is invaluable, providing its members with a lifelong support network and friendship.
Theochari, Madeleine (mads)
Athens, Greece
A supportive system that allows each of its members to flourish & grow to their full potential for the benefit of the many. A force for change & progress, a safety net, a “hug” to fall back in times of need.
Perotti, Gina
Rieti, Lazio, Italia
Vivere la vita in comunità e in modo partecipativo — l'uno all'altro nella condivisione.
{English translation by Gina: “Living life in community and in a participatory way — one to the other in a sharing way.”}
My village was destroyed in the earthquake of 2016. The community was destroyed!
Powell, Judy
Leap, County Cork, Ireland
Being part of a small community is fundamental to my wellbeing.
"Ciss"
I'm a volunteer driver for 'Meals on Wheels' in a remote part of West Cork, Ireland. Many of the people I deliver to I've known for a long time. Vergie remembers me as a baby when she was a young girl working on her father's farm. I've known Sean since he was a boy and could barely reach the pedals on his bike. I met Ciss through delivering her meals which she shares with her cats and Sally the dog.
Wagnall, Amelia
Las Vegas, NV, US
Community is a place where you can be accepted as your most authentic self. It's a place that encourages you to grow at your own pace and never asks you to be something you're not.
I'm still looking for my community.
Willingham, Roy
London, UK
As someone who abhors large groups of people, my physical community of friends is small (and long lasting). I also belong to a more nebulous virtual community of those who are concerned about the lack of progress in countering global warming and diversity loss. Both communities are important to me for exchange of ideas, reassurance and support.
Zill, Ray
Olympia, WA, US
Community is longing for the singularity we once were.
{Braille on this card reads, “community is longing"“}