University of Idaho’s Art and Design lecture series invited Mary Welcome to speak on her career as an independent artist and her work in rural communities.
Welcome is a self-described cultural worker, which she defined as “someone who cultivates and nurtures and discerns and encourages the existing culture of a place.”
Most notably, she works all across the nation, specifically in small towns.
“I think it’s really important that artists don’t just live in cities,” Welcome said. “I think that artists deserve to live everywhere and I feel very honored to have found a home out there (in Palouse).”
Her work includes several different art mediums, including quilting, photography, illustrating and more. Her broad definition of art also includes things like activism, organizing, grant writing and research. All of these are strategies which Welcome has used to accomplish community-based goals.
“I believe in collaborating with the spirit of a place,” Welcome said. “That goes back to being able to map existing assets and use what’s available and connect with people.”
Welcome detailed three projects that exemplify how she has used art to connect with and build communities.
In Corwen, Wales, Welcome and three other artists joined community organizers to find a use for a field between a soon-to-be train platform and the town square. Over several months, the artists conducted unconventional research that included hosting community parties, cataloging plants and stones, and establishing an open studio near the public restrooms.
After a year of collecting feedback and proposing a plan, the team of artists and community organizations built a new path that incorporated art, accessibility and history.
More recently, Welcome has worked as an artist-in-residence for the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Her role is the first of its kind across the U.S. She and another artist have worked to find how artists can be useful to a government agency through ride-alongs and interviews.
Welcome has helped establish sticker campaigns, social clubs, conversation starter cards and limited production local newspapers to keep the public informed about transport options and keep the department on the same page.
The final project Welcome highlighted is entitled “God Bless the USPS.” It is a photographic survey of every post office in the U.S. that Welcome has been working on for 10 years.
This research project focuses on post offices in small towns that Welcome comes across naturally through chance encounters.
“I really think that our privacy is just as endangered as our water and our climate and our commons and our economics … This project is about the tragedy in the commons of America,” Welcome said. “The USPS works to guarantee everyone communication that is private, affordable and accessible.”
By sharing photos of post offices across the nation, Welcome aims to bring attention to the intimate and institutional aspects of the USPS, advocating for its protection.
“We understand geography as cultural diversity, sometimes a choice and sometimes a privilege. We learn to be neighbors, no matter the miles,” Welcome said.
Welcome reaffirmed her belief that cities and small towns are for all kinds of people, artists included. She said she found it easier to track down jobs like grant writing in small communities than gallery openings in larger cities that would still provide enough money to pay her rent.
Funding for Welcome’s work has come from various sources and levels of government, and it is a goal of hers to inject art into development and expansion projects as a pillar of community life.
“If we do our job, home can be an action and neighbor will be a verb,” Welcome said.
Katie Hettinga can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @katie_hettinga