Hand Medal Project:
Postcard Project
Postcard Project
Above Images: At left: Paula Giménez; At right: Dorothea Heise
Hands have been powerfully present in our battle with coronavirus. They are not only symbols of how our bodies have become weapons to be washed, sanitized, and gloved but they also represent our innate capacity to heal and to connect with one another. Specially for Worn, collaborators Iris Eichenberg and Jimena Ríos, the artists behind the Hand Medal Project, created a project that highlights the mark of the hand. Inspired by the success of the Hand Medal Project as well as their ongoing efforts to give thanks to healthcare professionals during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Eichenberg and Ríos designed two postcards, each with different images of hands holding hands, on which participants can send notes of gratitude to someone who has provided them personally with care.
The Postcard Project debuted at Hobart and William Smith Colleges during the premier IRL edition of Worn. For NYCJW 2021, participants are invited to request a postcard to write and send a personal message of gratitude to someone who has been their caregiver. Fill out the form below and you will be mailed a blank postcard(s).
The act of writing by hand physically connects one person to another. We leave a human imprint through our handwriting and our individual words. It is this tactile connection that makes the postcard such an enduring artifact and a timely action during a global pandemic that has drastically impacted the way we physically interact.
Above Images: Maximiliano Ríos; Public Hospital, Mendoza, Argentina
Above Image: Hand medals from the Hand Metal Project
After graduating in 1994 from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, Iris Eichenberg worked as an independent artist, art educator, part-time curator, and organizer of art-related events. She began teaching at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in 1996, where she became Head of the Jewelry Department in 2000. Eichenberg held this position until 2007. Since 2006 Eichenberg has been the Artist in Residence and Head of the Metalsmithing Department at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan and has since been teaching there full-time. She regularly lectures, acts as visiting critic, and gives workshops around the world. Eichenberg’s work has been recognized by institutions such as the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts, and The European Ceramic Center in Den Bosch. She is also a Herbert Hofmann Prize and Gerrit Rietveld Academy Award recipient.
Jimena Ríos studied jewelry at the Escola Massana School in Barcelona and at Alchimia School in Florence. She furthered her education attending workshops and lectures on jewelry and art history. In 2013 she founded Taller Eloi the first jewelry school in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she works as a teacher and organizes exhibitions and workshops with guest teachers such as Manon van Kouswijk, Celio Braga, and Caroline Broadhead, offering South American students the possibility to learn from well-known artists. She has given lectures and seminars in Argentina and abroad. Ríos has curated exhibitions to promote Latin American jewelry and she has edited and published Por Gracias Recibidas, a book that features contemporary Argentinian makers working on ex votos and “True is what has been made,” featuring ex votos from contemporary makers from all over the world.