Sarah Weinert

A postcard from Sarah Weinert, sent from Falls City, Nebraska / USA

Sarah is an art teacher at a public high school. I met her at the ArtCadre, a meeting of art teachers from rural Nebraska. It took place at the KHN Center for the Arts on February 18, 2015. In this context I had the chance to do a presentation of my work followed by a workshop. I handed out blank cardboard cards, asking all teachers to create their very own interpretation of the "good life". Thank you, Sarah for this lovely drawing of your farm and the lines about your good life.

Tamara Arroyo

A postcard from TAMARA ARROYO sent from Madrid, Spain. Tamara is a multitalented visual artist -  she makes site specific installations, objects, animations, and she draws and edited several artist books and created various public art projects. "The work I’ve been doing involves actions in which I observe and interpret the space surrounding me and strike up a dialogue between the real and the imaginary. It is based on real spaces to which I add elements or act through drawings to make them a place for thinking and researching what happened before…–I make installations and on-site drawings and adapt myself to this permanent impermanence, and why the materials used are reflected through photographs."

Tamara joined a group show "Dibujando páginas" at Columpio Galería Madrid the - same exhibiton space where I had a so show 2010. She also took part at the Anonymous Drawings Project several times, this is how we got to know each other.

Heike Gallmeier

A postcard from HEIKE GALLMEIER, sent from Berlin, Germany. Born in Berlin in 1972, Heike studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Mainz and finished her studies in the master class of the sculpture department at the Art Academy Berlin-Weissensee. She lives and works in Berlin. "Heike's works are acts of self-portrayal and escapism, surrogate worlds and projections. She investigates these phenomena working on her spatial arrangements built from everyday materials and found objects (staged photography and installations), as well as by photographing and filming found examples of staged situations and existing sceneries. Painting and photography, set design and performance blend and complement each other. "

"Surrogate landscapes: the pure being as a condition. direct impression of
the unknown. Everything makes sense. the flow of action and thoughts the good life" 

Heike has her studio at Milchhof Berlin, same as Inken Reinert, Marc Haselbach and Elisabeth Sonneck ans many others "Milchof" is a former school in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg, now transformed into a studio building for more than 40 artists. Some of Heike's work and a text (in English) can be seen here: http://heikegallmeier.de/pdf/surrogate_landscapes.pdf

Duncan Coe

A postcard from DUNCAN COE, sent from Nebraska City, NE / USA.

Duncan is an Art Student at the Nebraska City High School. Thank you for this laid-back postcard, Duncan!

Frank Diersch

A postcard from FRANK DIERSCH, sent from Woltersdorf, Germany. (A small town close to Berlin) Frank is a visual artist. Yes, but this is not the right term to describe him. He is "The soldier of drawing" the master of ink drawing. One of these great guys from the former east, who really know how to draw, and to draw and to draw more, and more, obsessively and extremely skillful - in a good and wild way.

Frank was born 1965 in Berlin. His work has been widely exhibited. 1998 he received the Egmont-Schäfer-Award for Drawing. He teached at various art schools such as Kunsthochschule Berlin Weißensee, Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Hamburg. Frank is represented by the Gallery Franzkowiak, Berlin. http://www.frank-diersch.de/

Bill Witte

A postcard from BILL WITTE, Nebraska City, NE /USA. This the first very postcard in my life which was not only delivered by a mailman - it was actually written and sent by him! Bill is the Nebraska City mailman for quite some years now. And he made my days over here - with all the great postcards he dropped at the KHN Art Center, nearly every day - always round 11am. But only today I met him in person, finally.

What a nice encounter: Thank you Bill + Linda for driving me around Nebraska City in your car, along with the 3 cute dogs and music on the radio. I really enjoyed this great, unexpected midday break!  

Hannah Smith

A postcard from HANNAH SMITH, sent from Nebraska City, NE / USA.

Thank you Hannah, for your postcard & your thoughtful lines about your "good life"!

Michael Zander

 A postcard from MICHAEL ZANDER, sent from Berlin, Germany. Michael is a Berlin based illustrator: "I actually wanted to become a gardener, detective or a famous stuntman. However, being an illustrator is also thrilling." Among other things Michael is a master in using the felt-tip pen! His unique and (mostly) colorful work can be found on his homepage and his blog. Michael and I met in the context of the Anonymous Drawings Project a few years ago where I  sold one of his works and -  at this point - Michael lost his anonymity.

To ride, a real Indian does not need a horse"

Jess Rice

A postcard from JESS RICE, sent from Nebraska City, Nebraska. Jess is an art instructor at the Nebraska City High School.

Kerstin Gottschalk

"the good life is when I am able ot leave everything like it is, then there this deep humming, the sound of th egood life." A postcard with a small, rectangular magnet. I arrived here in an envelope, sent by KERSTIN GOTTSCHALK, from Berlin, Germany. Kerstin is a visual artist. She creates the most surprising installations with common, easy to find materials. Such as veneers, concrete, wax, confetti, waste paper, stickers, wrapping film and many more. 2000-2007 Kerstin studied at Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee with Prof. Katharina Grosse. Kerstin was also one of the organizers of stedefreund berlin, an artist run project space located in 3 different places between the years 2006 - 2012. Stedefreund was a project by twelve Berlin artists who shared the idea of a collecting point for thematic and spatial interventions. I always liked the openings with intelligent, well done art and a good crowd. They definitely left a gap in the Berlin art scene when they had to close the door of their last location Berlin-Mitte. Kerstin's and my paths not only at crossed stedefreund but also at damensalon berlin. damensalon is a private, monthly salon with special guests. Kerstin was part of it for a couple of years and I still am. Kerstin and I also joined Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt in 2008, a postgraduate program for female artists. Besides the art world, Kerstin and I share the passion for the same coffee places in our neighbourhood, where we often meet, by accident.

Maria Andrade

A postcard from Maria Andrade, sent from Nebraska City, NE / US

Maria is an art student at the Nebraska City High School. Thank you for this postcard, Maria!

Lyndzie Mayer

A postcard from Lyndzie Mayer, sent from Nerbaska City, NE / USA

Lyndzie is an art student at the Nebraska City High School. Thanks for this postcard, Lyndzie!

Magali Martinez

A postcard from MAGALI MARTINEZ
sent from Nebraska City, NE/USA.

Magali is an Art Student at the Nebraska City High School.
Thank you for this thoughtful Fernweh-postcard,  MAGALI !
 

Corinne Laroche

A postcard from CORINNE LAROCHE, sent from Paris, France. Corinne is a french artist born in 1957. A graduate of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, she lives and works in Berlin and Paris. In 2008 she was awarded the city of Saint-Ouen prize for the arts. Her work was shown in 2009 by the galleries Jordan-Seydoux (Berlin-Paris-Zürich) and Fruehsorge contemporary drawings (Berlin). Recently her works have entered the collections of the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin, the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein Artotek and the Artothèque of Angers.

I met Corinne through the Anonymous Drawings Project, at several drawing related art openings in in Berlin, a the art fair Drawing Now in Paris, at private dinners, over coffee and cake, in our studios and elsewhere.

I admire Corinne's ability to create carefully drawn structures and systems without loosing visual lightness and ease.

Devlin Hall

A postcard from DEVLIN HALL, sent from Nebraska City. Devlin is an art student at the Nebraska City High School.

Thank you, Devlin!

Gabriella Disler

A postcard from GABRIELLA DISLER, sent from Zurich, Switzerland. Gabriella is a swiss visual artist based in Basel. She makes drawings, photos and side specific installations that deal with light, space, shadows and the interaction of it all.

 I met Gabriella in Basel and Zürich in the context of the Anonymous Drawings Project and the art fair Liste Basel.

"I'm interested in the fleeting glance, which touches the world and yet doesn't fix an image of it"

Pam Pfeiffer

A postcard from PAM PFEIFFER sent from Nebraska City. Pam is an art instructor at a public school. I met her at the ArtCadre, a meeting of art teachers from rural Nebraska. It took place at the KHN Center for the Arts on February 18, 2015. In this context I had the chance to do a presentation of my work followed by a workshop. I handed out blank cardboard cards, asking all teachers to create their very own interpretation of the "good life".

Thank you, Pam, for your nice "good life" postcard and your participation at the ArtCadre!

Tammy Partsch

A postcard from TAMMY PARTSCH, sent from Nebraska City. Tammy is an art teacher at a public school. I met her at the ArtCadre, a meeting of art teachers from rural Nebraska.  It took place at the KHN Center for the Arts on February 18, 2015. In this context I had the chance to do a presentation of my work followed by a workshop. I handed out blank cardboard cards, asking all teachers to create  their very own interpretation of the "good life". 

And this is Tammy's thoughtful definition of the good life. Thank you, Tammy for your contribution!

Katrin Ströbel

A postcard from KATRIN STRÖBEL sent from Stuttgart, Germany. Katrin lives and works in Stuttgart (D), Nice (F) and on travels. She studied visual art, intermedia arts and literature. She holds a PhD in art history and teaches since 2013 as professor for drawing at Villa Arson, école nationale supérieure d'art Nice, France.

Katrin's drawings, installations and videos deal with semiotics, the relation of words and images, (pictorial) languages and cultural codes. Through travel grants and longer stays in Europe but also Africa and America since 2004 (France, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, the U.S. and Peru among others), her work has included more and more intercultural and socio-political questions like impacts of urbanism and architecture, migration, borders, intercultural communication. Besides these rather political or cultural themes, an important subject has been the basic reflections of the meaning and function of contemporary art in so called "western" and "non-western" contexts. Above all Katrin is the founder of "lininenscharen", Stuttgart based platform and network for contemporary drawing. http://www.katrin-stroebel.de

Stefan Riebel

A postcard from STEFAN RIEBEL, sent from Berlin Germany. Stefan asked me to write the above dedication on the ground, somewhere in Nebraska City and then sending him the digital image of this writing. We would print a small edition of postcards. So this postcard is a collaborative work of the both of us, and part of Stefan's conceptual series dedication pieces. I wrote the dedication on the alley, right behind my studio in Nebraska City.

Stefan almost exclusivelyworks in series in the field of space-related performance and conceptual art. He focuses on a non-expressive way to deal with information, statements and descriptions and furthermore he to developes interactive and model-like open structures, processes and concepts. All of his works deal with very basic questions, for instance: what art could be, how something turns into art, what sort of significance art could have, how the relation between art and its audience might be..  He is also the co-founder of the "month of performance art - berlin”and the founder of the splendid „institut für alles mögliche (i-a-m) in Berlin - a highly recommend art&residency-space. "i-a-m" runs spaces, organizes events and openes up free space for experiments and tests of all kinds. It can be seen as an organism, an attitude, an idea, an offer on how artistic collaborations / gatherings / society could look like. Last but not least Stefan often collaborates with Ilse Ermen, among other things they created an ongoing postcard-project called "Abwesenheitsnotitzen" (out-of-office noticifications).

Larissa Moguel

A postcard from Larissa Moguel, from Nebraska City, NE.

Thank you so much, Larissa, for this definition of "the good life"

Doug & Fran Kreites

A postcard from Doug & Fran Kreites, sent from Nebraska City, NE / USA

The postcard is from the Kregel Windmill Factory Museum in Nebraska City.
Thank you, Doug and Fran!

Maggie Griepenstroh

A lovely letter along with 2 postcards from Maggie Griepenstroh, sent from Nebraska City, NE. I met Maggie in the flower shop where she works: First Class Flowers on central street.

Maggie and her collegues where very busy to prepare the flower arrangement for Valentine's. Nevertheless they spared some time for a friendly chat and shown me around their shop. We found out that there are some beautiful names for the same flower in Latin, English and German: gypsophila = baby's breath in English.  Schleierkraut in German. "Schleier" means "bridal vail.

Ilse Ermen

A second postacard from ILSE ERMEN, sent from Lampaul Plouarzel, France.  I made a rough translation form German: "fernweh is my very own motivation, i wanted to go away early in my life, only away from here, the lower rhine. someday, finally, around my 20th birthday, after I laying on a sack at home for one year, I packed my little suitcase and took the train to paris, to register for the entrance examination for the local art academy (which was not quite state of the art, already back then), beach the accepted me over there, i stayed for a while, approx. 6 years. during this entire time and the following period I travelled foam a to b  more frequently: across europe and the near east, south america. (although i never pounded the numbers of all the things one should have seen, i hate tourism) movement became my second nature, and if somebody suggests me to travel for recreation i can only laugh. 4 weeks at the very same place are a recreation already. returning to the village, like many people strive for their retirement, would be the equivalent of a death sentence to me."

Ilse i a conceptual artist with a very close realtionship to language, words and a postcards and many other things.  I always enjoy converstions with Ilse, not only because of her very subtle and intelligent sense of humor.  She really has an eye for the concealed, but nevertheless interesting oddities of life and language. I already recieved another Fernweh postcard from Ilse: here. 
http://www.ilse-ermen.com/