Winter Snow

For years now, I have been accumulating a specific collection of U.S. Olympic themed postage stamps. I never knew why, or for what reason they would eventually be used. But, I had an intuition that they might become something special one day. As I sorted through newly acquired lots of stamps, I would put these Olympics aside as they were discovered. Eventually, the specialized collection grew into the thousands. In addition, I have always used and collected older U.S. commemorative flag stamps. I am constantly utilizing them in pieces and have made several artworks using them exclusively, creating abstract red, white and blue pattern fields.

Recently, I received a message from a San Francisco based Art Consultant from Simon Breitbard Fine Arts that I work with regularly. She had a client interested in commissioning a piece from me for their Park City, Utah, home. She asked, to my great delight, if by chance I had stamps featuring Winter sports! And just like that, all those years of setting aside the U.S. Olympic stamps (many of which happened to be Winter Olympic stamps) had presented its purpose!

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Virtual Gallery View: "Winter Snow" used U.S. postage stamps and resin on canvas 48" x 48" 2018

"Winter Snow" detail and side view

"Winter Snow" in the studio waiting to be boxed and shipped. "Star Spangled" hanging above it on the wall.

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“Winter Snow” was made using approximately 2000 used U.S. postage stamps. The stamps all feature Winter Olympic sports or U.S. flag themes. The Winter Olympic sport stamps include: the 1972 sledding and skiing stamps; the 1976 skiing and figure skating stamps; 1984 figure skating, skiing, and hockey stamps; and the 1988 speed skating, downhill skiing, ski jumping and hockey stamps. The U.S. flag stamps include: the 1959 “44 Star” stamp (after Alaska became a state, but before Hawaii); the 1960 “50 Star” stamp (added after Hawaii also became a state); and the 1964 “Vote” stamp.

The design is a variation of my cross + vortex layout, but reinterpreting it as an X to make reference to snowflakes (a giant abstracted geometric snowflake) and wintertime, in general. "Winter Snow" used U.S. postage stamps and resin on canvas 48" x 48" 2018

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Some of the U.S. Winter Olympic stamps use in this piece.

"Winter Snow" installed in its new Park City, Utah, home.