Fluxus High School

Tofu's has an inimitable collage style and his concepts always bring me delight.  I am thrilled to have receieved some pieces from this new series even though I am a pathetic correspondent these days. 

I love the idea of Fluxus High School. It speaks of the self-conciousness we shared. I hated opening the Stanford Froshbook all those years ago to find I hadn't dressed and didn't look like any of the other people in my freshman dorm, in most of the class of 82.  I was from NY and there were alot of Californians and I had definitely missed the memo that LL Bean flannel shirts, no make up and long dark hair were not a good look for a young woman. I didn't get a single invite to a fraternity party, not that that mattered, but I wonder what they made of me. Tofu's collages, in this case, evoke that and I marvel at how he has created so many characters that you look at and 'read' as this kind of person or that...

I am a sucker for an envelope that is semi transparent and the scale is perfect. The stamps and collages fit neatly inside.

Thanks Tofu, I will try harder.

 

Wear a mask / see you at day of the dead

As far as I'm concerned, Tofu is the cut up king. I have a library of beautiful painted cut up and refashioned collages that Tofu has sent me over the years.  

In this mailing, Tofu diverges to make something recogniseable, but far away, from a time I recollect. What he has made with his cut up vintage postcards is an imagined world, or perhaps a map that winds through time and space. As ever, Tofu's sense of colour makes this piece.

If you want one of your own (mine is a postcard) Tofu makes it easy to find one, with his handy QR code.

As we move further on the Covid journey, perhaps commemorating and coinciding with Day of the Dead, Tofu masks his mask.

What a beautiful mailing!

Thank you.

 

backlog blog

 I am posting this image so those of you who sent me mail will know I have received it and am waiting to open it, to spend some quality time with it and hopefully be inspired to reply fulsomely! The thing is, my mum is visiting from America from Saturday and I have some work to do to get this place ship-shape before she arrives so even though I WANT to open your mailart I am holding off until I can do it justice.  My mum hasn't been to England in two Covid years.

Stay tuned.  Once she arrives I should have some more time. AND thank you. Cascadia Artpost, David Stafford, Mailart Martha, Amalgamated Confusion, Mikel Untzilla, Herman Kamphuis, Sticker Dude, Tofu, (I'm wearing a mask) and The Sticker Dude!

Stamping Fields of Brown

Tofu likes to cut and assemble.  I make trash quilts out of plastic.  Tofu makes fields of colour, pattern and shape in a similar way to those gorgeous black american vernacular quilts. Tofu's pieces go all directions and may feel random at first look but as you look, you can tell they are actually crafted in a way that they are still, balanced symphonies, not easy to accomplish.

Tofu tells me he has used up old postage stamps. Lucky me.

Thanks you, Tofu.  This is a beautiful mailing!

 

Rats!

Tofu has been carving rat mug shots.  They look pretty cute… Not like the vermin that dug a hole through our roof tiles.  Not cute. I am a rat and at 59 I am happy to report I haven't sprouted whiskers yet!

Meanwhile, David and Patti have been paying homage to the rat too. It's funny to consider whether some rats might avoid cheese. We put chocolate or peanut butter in our traps. 

Thank you Tofu and David!

Tofu's ICD - Soy Mundo

The haptic quality of Tofu's beautiful Interdimensional Communication Device  is really special.  I have been meaning to photograph it during the day (so that you can feel the depth) but it gets to be that 'after-dinner-time' and I still haven't managed, so today I gave in a scanned it.  You can't really FEEL the braille of the piece, but I can and it's fabulous!

Tofu, as well as making art and mail art, you should be making earrings with your cutouts! 

This piece is very 1980s, for me.  I think it's because I used to wear primary colours, jeans and striped shirts before I became a punk. It works, too! I am travelling between time. Many thanks, Tofu.  Exquisite.

Tofu's Orange Track of Memory

I have no idea if Tofu was thinking about those orange tracks we used to assemble when we played hot wheels but I was delighted to find that I remembered them when I looked at his beautiful painted postcard!

What I found on the 'google machine' when I in put orange matchbox track 

I discovered in this mailing two truths… Tofu loved matchbox too and he is an Anglophile and I guess I am too. Many thanks Tofu. 

Meximail from Tofu

Well it looks like TOFU has been on the road! Or maybe he has just been armchair travelling… As I open Tofu's mail I am transported.  I have been to the Baja Peninsula and speak a little Spanish and with the images, money and icons I feel a period of wanderlust  coming on.   The only thing missing from this mailing is Chilaquiles.

This stuff is also getting me thinking about ideas for a school project.  Thank you TOFU.  haptic, beautiful, fun and inspiring.  

Calendar cut up fields of colour

One of the things that I admire about Tofu is the way he refuses to get overwhelmed with his prolific output. This card, his recycled calendar from 201,  is number 20/21.  I imagine that he was moving last year's calendar around his studio in the course of early January and on one occasion he seized on the idea to use it as mail art, cleared the decks, cut and glued and got them out and in the mail before the end of the month!  What a feat!

The result has a recognizeably vintage feel.  I love it's haptic quality and the tessolations of colour. 

I will try to emmulate Tofu and use all the stuff I move around my studio to make mail art in the future!

Make the world in 3D, it may be better…

When I finish tonight's blogging I am going to make a copy of Tofu's postcard and cut it out to see what great shape it makes and whether he has the secret to a better world!

We certainly need one.

But having said that Tofu's card already makes the world look desirable and funky.

Am chuffed that Tofu liked my little night light boekie.  I still have more to send out.  They got waylayed in my box of unfinished projects (those just a case of making something else to put in the envelope or even putting stamp on…) 

and speaking of stamps… Il ove the composition of Tofu's stamps.  Happy 2018. 

Tofu recalls colour

 Oh TOFU, I feel so badly that I misplaced your mail art and it has been languishing (incidentally) unloved for these months, especially when it is a subject so close to my heart!  I have been making journals in schools with children this week and one of their topics was all about me. I always try and respond with a journal to their topic in some 'meaningful and honest way' before I go in, to get thinking like them.  One of my mini-books was about colours I love. They would have loved your paint chips!

As I look up at your 70s colour recall, I get it, but I would certainly need an orangey brown leather sofa colour with some acrylic paint that I accidently painted on it.  I have blocked what the paint colour was, but I can see the colour of leather.  It is chilling! I'll bet my mother knows.

In the 90s we lived in Rome and I did all that sponging of walls.  It really was a 90s thing. The first thing I'm doing when I finish this post is to photocopy lots of your color recall sheets.  I am gonna love doing this!  Thank you.