Art After Hours at The Celebration of Sapphire

September 28, 2026 Your Creative Connection, Inc.

We had such a lovely evening hosting Art After Hours at The Arts Council of Fayetteville and Cumberland County this past Friday. Our Hands-On Mail Art event, part of the kick-off to the 48th International Folk Festival, welcomed more than 50 guests who created 44 postcards! In the words of the small town weekly where I spent my formative years “…a good time was had by all.”

We arrived early to get all of our materials organized and set up for the creatively curious. And not unlike the oft quoted line from the movie Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.” Come they did. From a few minutes before our ‘official’ start time until just before 9 o’clock, our tables were full as artists young, old, and in-between (families and expressive teens) filled the tables to create their own Mail Art.

All the while, folks continue to enjoy the exhibit: The Celebration of Sapphire – Mail Art from Around the World in the main gallery at The Arts Center. Michelle was able to capture these shots on a rare trip outside our Creativity Zone. If you haven’t seen it yet, the show is up through October 25th. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite while you are there. We will send you a photo of your favorite submission on an Official Celebration of Sapphire Thank You postcard at the close of the exhibit. Winners of the Viewer’s Choice voting will be posted here as well as on Facebook and Instagram.

Throughout the evening, we displayed the finished postcards from our visitors on the rail around the room; it was dubbed our Mini Gallery for the night. Apologies for not getting a photo of that display. It brought color and inspiration to the work area and several folks came through to enjoy looking at them all. Below, you can see all 44 Mail Art creations from our stint at Art After Hours. Didn’t they make incredible works of miniature, mail-able art?

All of these beauties will be released into the wilds of the USPS on Thursday, October 1st in celebration of World Postcard Day (the commemoration of the day on which the first postcard was mailed in 1869).

That’s all for now. We are extremely grateful to The Arts Council of Fayetteville and Cumberland County, all of our visitors last Friday evening, and YOU for reading this blog. Keep your eyes peeled – more news incoming from our little corner of the internet. We’ll see you again soon!

Keep making art. Share art, share joy!
~ Penny & Michelle

The Opening of the Exhibit: The Celebration of Sapphire - Mail Art from Around the World

September 15, 2026 Your Creative Connection, Inc.

In the ultra-abridged version, the story would look like this: we had a neat idea, we did the cool thing, we asked if someone else would like to be a part of the cool thing as way to make the existing cool thing even bigger/better/seen by more people, and the answer was “yes.” And like magic, this sequence of events created a WHOLE new COOL THING!

***The ultimate collaboration: the world, The Arts Council of Fayetteville and Cumberland County, and us - Your Creative Connection - bringing the world of Mail Art to Fayetteville, NC.***

Of course, however, there were many more steps in the story than that! Once the Call was issued, there was the waiting: would people participate? …would there be mail from the world? …would we get “enough”? Well….
…yes, Yes, and YES! While the submissions came in fits and starts, people (from near and far, known and unknown) did participate. We did indeed get mail from all over the globe! By the end of all the waiting, we had more than 100 pieces of Mail Art (definitely “enough”).

***Every submission received was charted on a World Map that greeted visitors at the end of the “journey.”***

The next challenge? To assemble the works entrusted to us in a way that both told the story behind the Celebration as well as highlighting the unique creativity that is Mail Art. Based on our observations of folks engaging with the works that make up this blue-hued exhibit, we would say we managed to do exactly what we set out to.

In addition to the incredible array of artwork that made up the exhibit, we also provided information on the history of Mail Art, a look at the life of the humble (and storied) Postcard, and the various things that Mail Art is/does.

While greeting visitors and enjoying introductions from the leadership at The Arts Council, we were also treated throughout the evening to the musical contributions of T.L. Weaver (the wonderfully talented husband of Penny) who debuted a new song entitled “We” that deftly expressed the human connection embodied by the exhibit.

***Sarah Busman (VP Arts Council Fayetteville and Cumberland County), TL Weaver, and Visitors Applaud***

It was a magical evening, to be sure. We are eternally grateful to: each of the artists who submitted work to this effort, to The Arts Council of Fayetteville and Cumberland County for partnering with us to bring the show to the public in conjunction with The International Folk Festival, to TL Weaver for sharing his music throughout the opening reception, and to everyone who came out to kick off the exhibit. Finally, our thanks to Raul Rubiera Photography (Photographer Extraordinaire) and Sylvia (GBaby) Cohen who so beautifully captured the images featured in this post.

Finally, for anyone who would like to virtually experience the wonderment that is The Celebration of Sapphire - Mail Art from Around the World, we have included a video walk-through of the whole exhibit…as if you had just entered the gallery from the Hay Street entrance to the Arts Center. Here is a look at what all of the still photos cannot capture: