During the Covid pandemic, when many people were isolating, the saying, “There’s no place like home,” took on a more complex meaning.
Artist Peggy Coulson Graceffa’s upcoming art show, Pushing the Envelope, delves into the significance of home during that difficult period. The exhibit will run through November at the Newton Free Library, and the opening reception will be held on November 2, 7PM-8:30PM, in the library’s first-floor gallery.
Remaining in her own house during Covid, Graceffa said the pandemic “just changed our relationship to our environment and ourselves.”
Using only liners from mailed envelopes and stamps — some of which came from her father and her husband’s childhood collections — the 80-year-old artist created hundreds of collages of the same house. After making the colorful, textured images — or “patches” — she arranged them in patterns, designing larger artworks.
“State of Montana,” 2019 (Courtesy photo: Peggy Coulson Graceffa) 
“State of Pennsylvania,” 2019 (Courtesy photo: Peggy Coulson Graceffa) 
“State of Maryland,” 2019 (Courtesy photo: Peggy Coulson Graceffa) 
“Afghanistan Postes,” 2020 (Courtesy photo: Peggy Coulson Graceffa) 
“Bison,” 2019 (Courtesy photo: Peggy Coulson Graceffa) 
“State of Massachusetts,” 2019 (Courtesy photo: Peggy Coulson Graceffa)
“There’s a lot of quilting energy and approach to this project,” said Graceffa, who comes from a quilting background. “I like to make things with my hands.”
Following a traditional quilter’s houseblock template, Graceffa said she felt the image “was a perfect symbol for the way I was living” during Covid: confined yet safe inside. A home kept you apart, yet it also offered “space and security,” she said.
Graceffa’s initial goal for the project was to create a house — or “patch” — each day. However, as time went on, some days she made more than one, and other days none. In total, she designed an impressive 572 individual house patches between 2019 and 2022.
In her artist’s statement, Graceffa said she hoped viewers would “enjoy these little houses with their precise and passionate eccentricities and tributes — I had great enjoyment creating them as they helped anchor the blur of days,” while at home during Covid.
For Pushing the Envelope, there will be 34 artworks with 15 patches each; one artwork with nine patches; and one with 53 to include all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., and an image of Betsy Ross sewing the American flag.
Graceffa will display the same artwork next year at the Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History at Regis College in Weston, at a date to be determined.
To contact Graceffa about her artwork or upcoming shows, email pcg.art@verizon.net.