Caycee Roth: Bad-Ass Greeting Cards

Artist Statement

This 15-piece greeting card collection is a colorful, youthful, light-hearted group of cards meant to help a loved one who is struggling with depression, anxiety, and stress. Each of the 15 cards are unique in that they each contain a psychological technique or coping mechanism for different stressors in the modern age, such as overstimulation, stress, anxiety, depression, fatigue, self-love, insecurities, etc. Although each card has contrasting purposes and elements, the commonality between them is the type, colors, and illustration of the character on the front. This character is meant to be a genderless, ageless, raceless “mascot” for the viewer to relate to.
Because the character is so ambiguous, they act as a metaphorical “voice” to express emotion or encouragement to the viewer. They are also meant to make dark topics such as mental health more easy to digest for the viewer.

This project was created when I was personally struggling with an abundance of anxiety and stress, mainly from a tumultuous personal relationship in my life. Around the time of starting this project, this relationship of mine had just ended, and I wanted to take the motivation and love I was receiving from my friends and family during this difficult time and project it into the universe. Greeting cards are not as common among young people nowadays; therefore, I wanted to make cards for a younger generation that would feel more comfortable communicating about mental health issues in a more personal, tactile way: greeting cards. The type is fun and dynamic in a way that is invigorating and still easy to read. The character on the front of every card really acts as a cheerleader to the viewer, allowing them to feel understood by even someone without a face, name, gender, race, etc.

2023 VADS - People's Choice Voting

About the Project 

• Title of Work: Bad-Ass Greeting Cards
• Medium: 15-piece greeting card collection
• Student's Name: Caycee Roth
• Major: Art
• Anticipated Graduation Date: May 2023
• Hometown: Lake of the Ozarks, MO, United States
• Student's Mentor: Jean Brueggenjohann
• Mentor's Department: Art