With its first alumni exhibition in 10 years—Letters to Our Former Selves—the Handwerker Gallery will give alumni a chance to reflect on the past. It bookends the senior show last May, titled Letters to Our Future Selves. 

Taking place during Alumni Weekend in October, the exhibit will feature a selection of alumni artists working in a number of mediums. One actually uses postcards in her work.

Pilar Nadal ’99 created a bicycle-powered postcard print machine, combining all the things she enjoys: printmaking, riding bicycles, and sending and receiving mail. She calls it the Tired Press, and she debuted it in Portland, Maine, in 2012. Watch the press in action.

“Using antiquated technology to talk about modern communication remains the base of many of my projects,” she says. “I marry the ideas of play and communication because I need to stay interested and engaged throughout the process of making something.”

Elise Nicol ’83 created a series of images she called “radiation drawings,” postcard-sized images she made while she was in treatment for breast cancer. They combine drawing, painting, and printmaking with photography.

Artists in the show include Michael Sirianni ’05 and Tamsen Wojtanowski ’03, among others.