FAFAFA (Free Art For an Amnesia-Free America): City Postcard Project was a two-part project in which Kristen Ramirez printed and distributed 500 postcards to the Seattle arts community which stated the question "What do you know about Seattle?” People who took the postcard were urged to anonymously submit their response, a stamp, and post their postcard back to the artist. Ramirez collected over 50 postcards at her PO Box, then exhibited the responses as part of a group show titled Personally Public at Crawl Space Gallery in April of 2006.
Free Art For an Amnesia-Free America: City Postcard Project (left)
letterpressed and photo-lithograph 4” x 6” postcards
distributed January 2006, Gallery4Culture, Seattle WA
Free Art For an Amnesia-Free America: City Postcard Project (middle)
letterpressed and photo-litho 4” x 6” postcards returned to artist via USPS
exhibited at Crawlspace Gallery, April 2006, Seattle WA
Free Art For an Amnesia-Free America: City Postcard Project (detail, right)
letterpressed and photo-litho 4” x 6" postcards returned to artist via USPS
exhibited at Crawlspace Gallery, April 2006, Seattle WA
Utility Pole Historical Posters
For her inaugural FAFAFA (Free Art For an Amnesia-Free America) project entitled Utility Pole Historical Posters, Ramirez researched the history of Seattle, investigating seven neighborhoods and events that had taken place at particular sites within those neighborhoods. Using this research as a starting point, Ramirez screen-printed seven unique posters and hung them on utility poles in each neighborhood. Her hope was that passers-by might learn some of their history and elevate their sense of place.
Free Art For an Amnesia-Free America: Utility Pole Historical Posters (left)
screenprinted 9”w x 20”h posters
exhibited at Crawlspace Gallery, January 2005, Seattle WA
Free Art For an Amnesia-Free America: Utility Pole Historical Posters (Ballard) (right)
screenprinted 9”w x 20”h poster
exhibited at Crawlspace Gallery, January 2005, Seattle WA
Tag This!
FAFAFA (Free Art For an Amnesia-Free America): Tag This! was another project in which the artist encouraged her viewers to take free letter-pressed sales tags that had been printed with questions about three places: the workplace, the grocery store, and the restaurant. Participants were encouraged to "tag” each of these places with the appropriate sales tag, in an effort to ignite curiosity and perhaps even dialogue.
Free Art For an Amnesia-Free America: Tag This! (left)
letterpressed shipping tags exhibited at Crawlspace allery, January 2005, Seattle WA
Free Art For an Amnesia-Free America: Tag This! (middle)
letterpressed shipping tags documented on site at Denny's Restaurant
Free Art For an Amnesia-Free America: Tag This! (right)
letterpressed shipping tags documented on site at QFC
Peddling Art
What is Peddling Art? Peddling Art promotes free art for the free exchange of ideas. Kristen Ramirez and Laura Wright launched Peddling Art in the summer of 2006 with appearances at four Seattle community events. Ramirez and Wright are both artists who enjoy working in community collaborations while also creating fine art with political content. They came together with the goal of distributing free art to people outside of the gallery setting via bicycles. For the summer of 2007, Ramirez and Wright were invited to participate in Seattle's Bumbershoot Music and Art Festival. They also appeared in October as part of Pioneer Square's First Thursday festivities. Look for them again in the summer of 2008.