Time is running out for Adi Parker.
The Maillardville artist has until Friday at 10:19 p.m. to collect about $100 to get backing for her Kickstarter project, Physically Linked.
Parker and her boyfriend, Justin Slade, came up with the idea of creating 120 small abstract paintings based on six subjects: health, happiness, peace, prosperity, love and beauty. Parker produces them in watercolour, acrylics, oil pastels and ink in a short time frame - sometimes 10 in a weekend - and titles each one.
The concept is nothing new but here's the twist Parker and Slade have devised: Later this month, if her Kickstarter fundraising total is met, Parker will send out three letters for every painting to randomly selected mail addresses in Canada and the United States to generate feedback about her artwork.
In the letter, she will introduce herself and her project and invite participants to click onto a link to view their piece.
For example, participants who are asked to view a painting under the beauty category, Parker will pose a simple question such as: "What is something you do to make yourself feel beautiful?" Or, on the topic of health: "What's something in your environment that you equate to health?"
Parker doesn't know what - or if any - responses she'll get but she believes the experiment will be revealing.
"I'll be sending out 360 handwritten letters to strangers," said Parker, a Maryland native. "I don't know how they'll react when they open the letter, or if they will at all. Will they feel like their privacy is invaded? Will they go to the computer, view the picture and type in a sentence or maybe just a word?
"I don't feel that this is necessarily an art program but more about society and culture, and how we react," she said.
Should Physically Linked be successful, Parker said she hopes to exhibit the series - as well as the replies.
To donate to Adi Parker's project, visit www.kickstarter.com/projects/690579657/physically-linked?ref=email. For more information on her series, see www.actualpaint.com.
