Mae & You Art Swap - May 2022

Mae & You Art Swap, coordinated by Rachel Robbins, connects artists internationally to build community and share our work. Once artists sign up, we are matched with another artist to trade one small piece of art via snail mail and wait in anticipation for the mystery art that will grace our doorstep. That’s it! Art Swap!

This Art Swap edition I created Spring Focus and Strawberry Spring Patch for @crystalleedraws all the way over in Vancouver, BC. My art has never travelled so far outside Ontario before and I was super excited about snail mail. It reminded me about the times in Elementary school when I had a pen pal in Japan and we would trade stationary, photos, and little notes about what is happening at school. Such a fun time although I lost contact due to me always losing things from lack of memory.

When I sent this Art Swap, I was excited because @crystalleedraws is such an amazing artist who captures found objects, natural elements, and wit in their work. When Rachel matched us, we both were given links to each other's Instagram pages and we got to connect and see a sneak peek of each other's styles~ When the snail mail finally arrived in May, I was graced with a gouache painting on wood of a hand holding a pink lily. It seems like spring was still on the brain and I fell in love!

This was such a wonderful experience and I am hoping to have future art swaps where the excitement of traditional snail mail connects me with artists across the world. :)