Quirky stamp art you can make for $1, or my adventure in joy scrolling
Wherein I find the real deal amid the algorithm and the digital feeds the analog.
We’ve all done it. Let our thumbs get into that dip-slide rhythm and our eyes glaze as square after square of images or reels (most of which we didn’t sign up to follow, thank you very much, Instagram) blur endlessly by until we snap out of it and realize we’ve wasted another precious chunk of the day.
This week has been full of conversations (and reads and listens) about the reign of algorithms and their snowplow push toward sameness, or their corralling of us all into narrow little dead-end pens. It’s a depressing state of affairs. I was listening to this episode of The Ezra Klein Show last weekend in which Klein talks with writer Kyle Chayka, who has a new book out titled Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture, about developing personal taste in the age of algorithms, and one of the things they get into is the loss of the internet as a place of curation:
“I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why the internet isn’t fun anymore. And one of the hypotheses I’ve come to believe is that we moved, at some point, from this period where the internet was about curation, it was about finding these individuals who would welcome you into these worlds they had created and found and put together for you, to this internet of algorithms.”
—Ezra Klein
Klein talks about how much harder it can be now to find interesting things that feel like they come from a particular human with particular taste. We have to work to focus our attention and ferret that stuff out.
But we also have this amazing access to an unbelievably large amount of inspiration, and occasionally even the doom-scroll hypnosis is interrupted by something altogether wonderful: real discovery.
There’s a satisfaction in discovering your own taste and the things you like and the things that connect. I mean, it’s fun. It’s one of the few adventures left on the internet. —Ezra Klein
I agree with most of what Klein and Chayka say in this conversation, and it really made me think about how important it is to be mindful or intentional about how we interact with the algorithmic digital spaces. How we can be (really must be?) curators of our intake, filtering out the noise and trying to net the quality catches.
I’d be interested in hearing what you all have to say about this. Since we’re in this together, trying to figure out what makes us human in the face of AI, feeling our way back to the analog, and keeping the best of the digital, for our use.
So, for this week’s postcard, here’s the story of one of those moments when I pulled something that resonated out of the algorithmic stream…
Late one Thursday afternoon last May, I picked up my phone after work and hit that little magenta-to-tangerine ombré app icon, ready to let my thumb do the walking.* There would be no eye-glazing today, however. Because into my feed popped something that stopped the scroll: a Tucson-based artist named Serena Rios McRae, @cactuscloudsart, carving little scenes into Paper Mate Pink Pearl erasers, cleverly turning them into rubber stamps.
Dear reader, I was hooked.
These printmaking blocks are adorably tiny! (Who can resist the allure of the miniature?) They relate to pencils!! (Are all of my obsessions tied to my OG analog love? Maybe.) They require skills I have not yet developed! (More on the joys of doing things you’re not good at in some other post.) Their size and aspect ratio constraints greatly increase the creative challenge!
I shared the reel with my daughter:
And when the chaos of May, with its graduations and parties and visitors, gave way to the relative calm of summer, I fell down a pearly-pink rabbit hole. I carved my first eraser stamp at the end of June:
By early August, I’d made more than 30 of these things. The pace has slowed considerably since then, but I’m still at it and I’ve got to tell you, none of the giddy thrill of doing this has subsided. It’s just so freaking fun.
And I’m happy to report that this IRL dopamine is of a higher grade, my friends.
So, this is my gentle little shoulder bump to encourage you to maybe scroll a little slower the next time you pick up your phone.
To tell your thumb to hit the pause button when something catches your eye.
To sit with it for a while. To take that something out of the digital realm and see what it looks like, what it feels like in the physical world.
To put the digital into service of your analog pursuits once in a while. What we’re talking about here is a mix, an analog mix.
Who knows, maybe you, like me, will end up buying erasers by the dozen.
IT’S A GIVEAWAY!!
We’re giving away three tiny eraser prints. Leave a comment on this post between now and Sunday at 4 p.m. CST, and we’ll draw three names to receive a print of your choice from the 38 designs shown above. Digital inspiration, made physical, and sent to you, IRL!
PS: McRae’s project to carve 100 eraser stamps started with a Printober challenge and material inspiration from another artist, @naptimepress. McRae has since turned the project into a whole community sharing eraser art on Instagram @pinkeraserart. If you do catch this bug, you can also find her carving tips videos archived on her page.
PPS: My daughter did also get into the act …
And we have winners for the giveaway — Holli, Stacy, and Kristen! We’ll email to get the relevant details for your print.
I have one of these sweet prints on my office wall! Made during the height of our hatching this whole plan together.