The Lost Art of Love Letters
Connection Through Correspondence
Tucked inside the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum at the Harbor off Shoreline Drive is a treasure trove of historical artifacts, displays and activities oceanic explorers of all ages can enjoy. This includes the original Fresnel glass of the lighthouse at Point Conception, a full-size tomol (plank canoe) like the Chumash used to paddle out towards the Channel Islands for fishing, and a functioning periscope to peek out of the building over to the breakwater.
Among the interactive displays is a nook labeled the Lost Art of Love Letters. Here, visitors can pick up a packet containing postcards they can color or write thoughts, and the Maritime Museum will mail them off. It’s part of a Public Art Engagement Project created by educator and artist Sondra Weiss. While her inspirational letter-writing is currently headquartered at the Maritime Museum, her message is meant to resonate with anyone looking to share and connect. In fact, her words provided the inspiration for this Winter issue of Edible Santa Barbara.
“Take a moment to creatively reflect on who or what touches your heart and send it off, so others can feel it too.”
When I first met Sondra Weiss, she was at Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens near downtown Santa Barbara. She had set up a little table overflowing with cards, paper, pens, crayons and assorted crafting material. No, wait, I take that back. I had met Sondra numerous times throughout the years, passing by in social circles and at art events. The thing about this town, and every small town, is that we aren’t just six degrees of separation from anyone else; it is closer to one degree. All it takes is a meaningful moment for these intersecting circles to align. This time at the Memorial Gardens was the first time we truly met. We sat with each other, worked on creating letters together with colored pencils and collage, then parted as friends.
Today we sit together outside the Maritime Museum, on the front patio of Dart Coffee Company. The view of the Santa Barbara Harbor is stunning, with bright blue calm waters and an equally dazzling blue winter sky and strikingly white clouds. We sip our coffee, watch people walk by, and observe a duo of upright paddleboarders slip through the water. She shows me her latest postcards, which are line drawings of waves and a whale—which beckons for an additional spark of creativity to bring it to life.
Sondra draws much of her inspiration from her love of the ocean, and the beauty and balance it provides. She is drawn to the Pacific, through surfing, diving and sailing. Citing the 1980s campaign to “Save the Whales,” she realized how important it was to create a lasting relationship between ourselves and the things around us. With connection and familiarity comes comfort and attachment. Those feelings can be used for good. In a pivotal moment, she decided to encourage people to write letters for education and awareness of our ocean resources.
“People protect what they love,” says Sondra as she guides me through the Museum. Her work has taken her to conferences around the world, photographed side by side with members of the Cousteau family or, closer to home, fundraising with Jack Johnson’s Ohana Charitable Foundation and Heal the Ocean.
Her work falls under the umbrella of the nonprofit Abundant Earth Foundation, and donations help buy her letter writing supplies, including postage stamps.
Any convenient spot where she can set up her table, a stack of postcards, crafting supplies and a friendly mailbox is an invitation to take a break, have a seat and write a letter to anyone you think could use one. During the height of the winter holidays, especially, she encourages others to send a kind word to people who might feel alone and could use extra words of comfort.
Back at the Maritime Museum, we head up to the fourth floor and step into the Outdoor Santa Barbara Visitor Center. For a local, there may appear to be little reason to make the trek up the elevator, but Sondra has divulged one of the Marina’s hidden gems: the balcony of the Visitor Center offers a dazzling bird’s eye view of the breakwater and far up the coastline, and any member of the public can access it. Don’t let this be a perk solely for tourists. Go there, take in the view, and remind yourself that this is one of the many spectacular reasons we love Santa Barbara. Then tell a friend.
Sondra and I send each other pictures of tacos and plants; it is one of our many love languages. We keep talking about the day we will sit down and write love letters to our favorite taquerias in town.
