Hola, friend.
The first Hola Society packet shipped on July 29th, and I am eager to tell you about everything that went into it.
The packet included several fullsheet and halfsheet pieces (on sticker paper and cardstock), as well as ATCs, stickers, and a zine about color theory with journaling prompts. Across all the formats, we featured 27 pieces of art!
The curation process started with my calling upon several of my artist friends to share some art that would fit a general theme of “abstract and colorful.” They showed up and showed out! I had so many good images to choose from, and was finally able to narrow it down to a few from each person.
For the zine, I wanted to feature the art of women whose work is in the public domain. In my research, I happened upon a BBC article talking about two women who pioneered color theory before we even knew what color theory was -- Mary Gartside and Emily Noyes Vanderpoel. As I dug into their work, I started to think about color in a new way, and so it became a no-brainer to feature them in the zine.
Production of the overall packet was fun. Like preparing holiday presents! First we worked on the ATCs, printed and cut them down to size, one little wallet card at a time. Then we did the half sheets, and after that we did the full sheets. The zine came together next, printed and bound with a lovely gold string. Last came the letter, my note to you. Printed and signed by hand, because some things still need an actual hand. I also wrote thank you cards. To our new members, and to the people who have been quietly supporting this thing along the way.
Then we laid it all out on my dining table and I got to focus on one of the things I love most -- assembling each packet.
I took my time. Added a little flourish here and there, and had way too much fun doing it. The finishing touch was to take the pile of sticker print bloopers and cut them into stars and other shapes. They became surprise stickers, tucked into little envelopes, added at the very end.
And through all of it, I kept the artists close. I sent photos of proofs as they came off the printer, so they could watch their own work becoming a real, physical thing before it ever reached your mailbox. One of them saw hers mid-print and wrote back immediately: "These are looking 🔥."
Three women made this packet what it is. A.W. Holmes brought bold, saturated color, layered until it practically sings. Mona Mona tore and pushed pens, markers, paint, and crayons until something bright and a little wild showed up on the page. Rouba Abou Chabke sent images she found while traveling through Portugal, Spain, and the USA -- ordinary objects with secret lives.
Even though I knew the art was good, and the packet was cute af, the response caught me off guard. People who received the packet loved the large format stickers, the journal prompts in the zine, the stickers... And they encouraged me to keep going!
Packet two is already moving. The loose theme is “colorful, organic, geometric.” We’ve got three artists locked in, and more collaborations in the works. We will be shipping towards the end of August. Don’t miss out, sign up here today!
Lola
