NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U S POSTAGE
Sun Valley Center for the Arts P O Box 656 Sun Valley, ID 83353
PAID BOISE ID PERMIT NO. 679
I need to tell you something: The Lost Art of Letter Writing and Communication Today
Fe b r uary 26 – May 6, 2016
Center hours & location in Ketchum: Mon–Fri 9am–5pm, Sats in Feb & Mar 11am–5pm 191 Fifth Street East, Ketchum, Idaho Sun Valley Center for the Arts P.O. Box 656, Sun Valley, ID 83353 208.726.9491 sunvalleycenter.org
Cover: Tucker Nichols, postcard, collection of Griff Williams, courtesy the artist and Gallery 16, San Francisco Mailer: Andrew Bush, Envelopes (installation view), 1994–2006, chromogenic prints, courtesy the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York Introduction Panels: Gail Tarantino, From Dim to Bright–Henrietta, 2015, acrylic ink on linen, courtesy the artist and Fouladi Projects, San Francisco Inside, counterclockwise from top right: Charles Gute, @ouchytime, 2015, letterpress and mixed media on vintage paper, courtesy the artist and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco Elena del Rivero, Letter from Home in Cobalt, 2014, oil and dirt on primed canvas, courtesy the artist and Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York
110 N. Main Street, Hailey, Idaho 208.578.9122
Marc Dombrosky, ARE YOU MISSING A BLUE PLASTIC BOX, 2014, embroidery on found paper with blue painter’s tape, courtesy the artist and Platform Gallery, Seattle Joe Thurston, Nothing Leading Anywhere Any More Except to Nothing (installation view), 2012–present, chalk, bone char, graphite, wood filler, nails, cork, glue, wood, contents, courtesy the artist
I need to tell you something: The Lost Art of Letter Writing and Communication Today
Fe b r uary 26 – May 6, 2016 Sun Valley Center for the Arts When was the last time you received a handwritten letter? Or sent one? In this era of instantaneous communication, a letter is a rare and treasured item. Letters connect us, bringing us together through their p hysical presence and providing a material link between sender and recipient. We tend to view letter writing today with a longing for a time when life was slower or simpler. This nostalgia for the art of letter writing has given rise to numerous websites (goodletterwriting.com or justwriteletters.com, for example) that encourage us to write personal, physical letters—many offering tips and templates to guide those who are inexperienced in letter writing. These websites exist, though, because letter writing is in fact something of a dying art form. Social media—from Facebook to Twitter—has, in theory, made us more connected than ever. We take it for granted that we can
send emails or text messages to our loved ones with just a few keystrokes or taps of the thumbs. The ease with which we’re able to communicate offers tremendous convenience. But it also means that our communications lack the care and thought that handwritten letters require, much less the precision the telegram once entailed. Despite all this connectivity, research suggests that we have never been lonelier and that this loneliness is making us ill. (For instance, a 2013 University of M ichigan study published in the journal PLOS ONE concluded that Facebook usage was tied to a decline in mental well-being among young adults.) The Center offers this BIG IDEA project exploring the handwritten letter as the backdrop for a larger conversation about how we communicate today. Without letters, what will happen to our personal histories? Will social media make us less… social?
A BIG IDEA project of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts