Artist lost artwork worth thousands that took her 300 hours to make—an email from a stranger saved the day

Losing hours and hours of your work can be a very painful thing. An artist experienced just that when her sculptures, worth thousands of dollars, got lost in the mail. It took her over 300 hours of work and she was quite upset because of the loss. Little did she know that a woman in Ontario had found something in a bargain bin and the deal looked a little too good to her. Fortunately, the artist, Sydney Blum, was in for a happy surprise, per The Washington Post.

Blum lived in Nova Scotia and had sent her artwork 850 miles away to be displayed at an art fair in Montreal. She had mailed the sculptures in October, but sadly, they never made it to their destination. She contacted several people in Canada after that but came out empty-handed. The woman had written the address on the box, after carefully packing her artwork in it, but the pieces were not inside when the box finally reached its destination. The tracking service showed that the package was on its way for several days and Blum was losing her motivation to work as she was worried about her sculptures. "Unfortunately, nothing conclusive was found and we can only speculate at this point as to what may have happened," Valérie Chartrand, a Canada Post spokeswoman, explained.

Unbeknownst to all of it, Sonja Krawesky visited a bargain store called Krazy Binz in Ontario in November for some home decorations. She spotted the wave-like sculptures with orange and blue colors and immediately thought that they were stunning. The woman was on leave as an elementary school teacher because of mental health concerns and the artwork instantly made her feel better. She decided to take them home with her, but had a feeling that there was more to the story. She looked up the pieces online and came across Blum's Instagram page and a post about her lost artwork on @sydneyblum.art. She loved the sculptures, but decided that she had to return them to Blum and wrote an email to her about the lost pieces in December.

"I love them and have intensely connected with them … but they aren’t really mine to keep," Krawesky commented. Initially, Blum thought that it was a scam, but then the woman shared pictures of the sculpture with her and reassured her that they were safe and she wanted to return them. She was glad that Krawesky had felt comforted by her artwork, a major aim of her sculptures called "Icarus-Colour-Space." She wanted the viewer to feel like they were soaring in the sky and had planned to sell the work for $5,600 and $3,700, while Krawesky could get the work in perfect condition in a bargain bin for $3.5 each. The women were 17 hours away from each other and Blum didn't want her artwork to be mailed again.

Luckily, Blum’s friend, Robert Mietus, was returning to Nova Scotia after a trip to Ontario and could bring the sculptures back to her. The incident also led to a friendship between Blum and Krawesky, who continued to stay in touch even after the artist had received her work in good condition. They also hoped to meet in person and Blum thought she could sell her work in June. She also mailed a package of colorful graphics to Krawesky that looked quite similar to her carefully sewn sculptures. The woman also added a note that read, "Sonja, so many thank yous for all you’ve done and who you are."