Swapping books with Cheryl Penn - I got the long straw, again.

In a previous blog I celebrated Cheryl Penn's ability to curate.  She pairs imagery and words so deftly and through symmetry, or dissonance guides her viewer in understanding so they come to see differently and more widely.  This aesthetic and knowing is only one of Cheryl's qualities. She is also sure-footed, technically gifted and draws on a wide understanding of, well, maybe, everything!  

This book is a version, part of an edition of 10, one of which is going towards her hundreds of volumes of The Encyclopedia of Everything.  I am in awe at this piece.  It is truly beautiful and I will treasure it.  Read the Book! 

Cheryl Penn's curatorial genius

Cheryl Penn's cover: Mail Art Makes the World a Town Edition IX

John Bennett, Rosa Gravino

Andrew Maximillian Niss,  C. Mehrl Bennett, John Bennett

Rebecca Guyver, Lesley Magwood Fraser

Torill Elisabeth Larsen, Uli Grohmann

This zine has been a long time coming for me… I sent images to Cheryl more than a year ago and they must have circled the globe for a long time before returning to me and then being reposted to Cheryl.  I didn't even dare open the package as I suspected the imagery would be stale and I would bin the lot.

One of the things about Cheryl is that she makes you feel as if you belong.  I suspect she is a very good teacher, empowering her students to believe.  And belonging in this group, in this zine, in this network, matters. 

I've pulled out a few spreads for your delight so we can smile and nod approvingly at the way Cheryl has paired work, adding to the story.

Cheryl's note said 'send again'.  Of course I will. 

outgoing for The Encyclopaedia of Everything

Using Cheryl's technique for creating a cover, I have very loosely responded to Cheryl's book call with Tree Time, an altered book poem.

Posters from Cheryl and RCBz arrive!

Last summer when I returned from Cranberry Island I had a request from RCBz to participate in an international poster collaboration for Cheryl's Mail Art Makes The World a Town exhibit in Durban.  Wow.  I was so exited to be part of THAT. 

The posters I was altering had been arranged by RCBz and featured a Marie Wintzer image! I sent two altered posters back to Cheryl (top) and then I got one back that TICTAC had altered.  I have never had a TICTAC stamp before, and love them.  Cheryl's folded note had more words but to be honest I was so tired from scanning that I decided that the two I've included would do!

In case you haven't seen Marie's latest MinXus publication you can find more of her work here: http://minxuslynxus2.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/minxus-lynxus-publishes-empress-maries-marie-wintzers-a-linea-circle-visual-poetry-collection

Cheryl Penn's Elegy to the Tree

Cheryl's beautiful book arrived yesterday.  Although nothing beats handling something so lovely, I thought you might like to see it for yourself!

It took me a chunk of the day to download it and order it into a PDF. Please enjoy Cheryl's book by clicking on this link to download a PDF.  I reduced the size of this this morning, so you can have easy access now! ENJOY.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3g5q7Qjx55QcVlieTZud0Jtd2M/edit

You can learn more about this amazing book by visiting Cheryl's 
Website http://cherylpenn.com/wpb/

Visual Poetry Fragment from Cheryl Penn

 Delicious to see a Cheryl letter in my post box. Stamps all different and on right this time.

The look and sound of Cheryl's words...

The scan does not do this justice. Mysterious, like the sound of the word libretto, haptic, intricate and spontaneous at once. 

More versions, I think.

I know I like!

Thank you Cheryl, it's great to hear from you.