The Ocean Diaries: a year-long collaborative correspondence project begun in January, 2020. 

The Ocean Diaries is a collaboration between Joyce Majiski, a Canadian artist and Zea Morvitz, an American artist. Both artists have registered with ArtConnect individually. 

For this collaborative project each artist creates a monthly diary page of a pre-agreed upon size and mails it to the other. Each diary page is a mixed media artwork on a sheet folded in thirds for 6 panels (3 on each side) with some space for the other artist's work. The page is mailed to the other artist who will add artwork and commentary, so that each page contains work by both artists. At the end of this year the pages will be hand bound into a book.

Because the pages are mailed back and forth for completion, the final book will be the record of a year-long correspondence between the artists. Correspondence also means compatibility and agreement in ideas. Both artists are committed environmentalists and both feel a connection with the world's oceans.  Joyce is currently engaged in building a to-scale juvenile humpback whale out of ocean salvaged styrofoam which brought her to southern British Columbia for 9 months. It is the longest stretch she has ever lived by the ocean. Zea lives on the California coast, and has a lifetime relationship with the ocean, so the two artists decided to use the theme of All things Ocean for their 2020 Correspondence/Exchange. 

Zea Morvitz and Joyce Majiski have conducted a vibrant artistic correspondence since 2010.  During this first year, they sent a handmade postcard to one another every Friday. It was such an enriching project on so many levels that the two artists made a commitment to one another to continue this weekly practice, despite the other personal projects they were engaged in. Each year they agree on a theme and a format, (including postcards, book pages, a collaborative scroll and accordion books) and give one another total liberty with the media used. The works are a rich mixture: layers of visual media combined with scribblings about art projects, the environment, personal musings and philosophical thoughts on being.  The unique thing about their collaborative exchanges is that they leave space for one another to contribute on each page. The exchange is truly a shared experience. Over time they have integrated each other's imagery quite seamlessly and often mimic one another for fun. 

In summer, 2019, the two artists exhibited their correspondence and collaborative artwork at Sometimes Books, a gallery that recently closed. A visual record of the exhibition can be found at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/art-stay-in-touch.


Ocean Diaries / Correspondence Project

A series of drawings that begin with graphite frottage on paper placed on a rough stone surface. The action of frottage produces a field of random marks on the paper. I build up drawings line by line over and into the field of marks. Its a way of allowing the processes of the natural world into my artwork.

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Zea Morvitz