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Mary Kane’s envelope art is focused on the act of giving. She is interested in how mailed envelopes go from hand to hand, making everyone who touches or sees them—including postal workers and mail carriers—a recipient of the gift. Her art is a kind of contemplative practice: she puts something out into the world that is designed to bless others. The painted envelopes may include rough copies of masterworks or images of women reading. “I like the idea of little pieces of art traveling through many different hands,” she writes.

Artemisia Gentileschi is the most famous female artist of the Italian Baroque period. Her Conversion of the Magdalene was likely executed in Florence in 1615–16. In post-Tridentine theology, Mary Magdalene was an exemplar of the penitent sinner. Artemisia captures a delicate balance between the Magdalene’s sensuality and her faith through both her attire and the gesture of clutching her breast.