What's Cookin?

It's always fun to get mail from someone new and Kathy qualifies with this particulalry fun mailing. My 86 year old mum was alone this Christmas and she told me she was getting tv dinner. what I imagined was something like this! Kathy's wonderful business card, that looks a bit like a matchbox, took me back to my childhood, or perhaps from the files of Madmen. We ate a few tv dinners and as I recall, my favourite was turkey.

Fluxus bucks come in all sorts of shapes and tenders.  My favourite was the Fluxus Covid Bucks.  One day it will be a collector's item, surely.

Who is in the chicken suit, oct 2020.  (with moving body parts!)

In England, on top of Covid, we have bird flu.  Luckily the chickens at the chicken farm are now under cover.

You can never have too much input on colour mixing. Fab!

Thanks so much for getting in touch and I will try to send you something very soon!

 

Yikes! Gangu Ginko

You send to some people because you have a conversation going on.  You send to some people because you know they 'get' you or your work.  And you send to some people because you want something back.  Jon foster is one of my transactional mail art correspondents. This isn't something good to admit, I know, but what can I say? Jon has not disappointed me with this beguiling tape transfer! It's asemic quality makes me think of islamic grafitti.  It's so unique, so other, so cool! And the colours are GREAT. Huh, this will never be sent to a charity shop! 

Jon is also a great writer and, I imagine, a great teacher.  Who wouldn't listen to this guy?

In these covid times, fluxus bucks must be worth more than usual. To be honest, I'm all for bartering. I have a punnet of sungold tomatoes.  What do you want to trade?

Life is like a walk in the woods with a zebra, or something. It certainly is different these days.

Thank you Jon, You make me smile.

Fluxus Bucks and Coffee Clutch

Cascadia Artpost has his finger on the pulse of the mail art network. I've been trading in fluxus bucks for the past ten years but I was obviously a latecomer! Nevertheless, Cascadia included me in this wonderful tribute. 

Mail art hides in unusual place.  Take last week… while at Frieze Art Fair (Figgy gave me some comp tickets) I saw an original ANNA BANANA and discovered Keith A Smith https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_A._Smith who I think sends mail art but also makes these fabulous books and sews on his collages! I wish he'd trade with me, but that would be greedy! The Latin Americans had some great fluxus exhibits too. Who knew!

Meanwhile, Cascadia not only makes dioramas, sends me beautiful seeds that make plants that go on and on… (last year's seeds bloomed again all summer and now I have some sweet williamas waiting to bloom again early spring!)… he sends amazing postcards, updates on mail art meetups and he also has a newsletter. Not only do I get gardening tips, I can also bend my mind with trivia.  Don't forget to opt in for coffee clutch refill.  I'll need it.  the mornings are already dark and the news is so nuts I find it difficult to sleep well.

Thank YOU Cascadia!

Hair we go, comments of culture from Sticker Dude

This card is about the size of a board game card - they are wonderfully robust. It gets me thinking about the sort of game Joel could concoct to teach us something about how culture is heading in a direction, well, a direction.

Carrying on the idea of a game, Joel's fake monoploy money has some wonderful additions that get me thinking. Who needs a 100 dollar bill - a pile of dosh? Is Joel saying that we are all sheep buying into this capitalist trap? Wealth built on international money? 

 Hair we go!

 It's time to play musical statues, dodge the nuke, maybe, well hopefully not.

And lucky me, I can add and pass this couch potato stuck in tv land on to the next mail artist, probably too busy licking stamps to slump on the sofa.  Thanks as ever Joel.