Wednesday, June 19, 2013

My love of wax paper in a Claire Dinsmore envelope knows no bounds!


The first thing I notice is the crinkle, then a translucency. It says 'I come from another era where lady botanists wore bustles and had well appointed writing desks.' It says 'get out your envelope opener if you dare.'  I notice how perfectly Claire does taupe, beige, light brown and accents of nature.  Even the stamps are exactly right.


Inside more evocations of a bygone era.  When exactly is it?  I'm sure Claire knows.  She conjures with such precision. Claire doesn't know what I am reading but it is set in Egypt, in the past.  Perhaps it's her. 


 Par, parler! corset, parlage, and some asemics.  Inside more neutral goodies.



Thank you Claire! You've spurred me on to tidy my disgusting studio so I can place your haptic, beautiful envelope and its contents somewhere special.



Mark Greenfield Newcastle, UK

Mark found my address on Braincell 859.  He tells me that he has been in the mailart world for many years.  He has sent me a few add and pass A4 sheets.  I'm never very good with add and pass unless I know the person and it's clear what I'm doing it for, but that's the thing about mailart.  It exercises muscles that would never be exercised otherwise. If my eyes don't deceive me I spy Cat Stevens. 


What with the US and the snoopers charter I think I can imagine what I might add to this one...

Great Brian Eno stam etc!  Thank you Mrk.  I'll send you something soon.

Simon sends SIX ink dances






These beautiful SIX arrived today! They are the usual size but I have photographed them, and added a border to print off a postcard-sized Simon compilation.  

I see figures and asemics - shadowy figures in pools of ink, fingerprinted heads hazy presence and some sort of chaotic dance.

I'm sending this Fusepo back to Simon in response.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Summer is here and the arty slides are too!

Harry's slides arrived the other day.  I'm using his slide cover sheet as my banner for this year's Summer arty slides.  Love the lettering! I have never exchanged anything with Harry before and I see from his profile that he considers himself mainly a photographer.  I love the crisp feel of Harry's slides, the way he uses text and design!
Harry Lock

Harry Lock

This slide has eyebrows on the brain.  When I took 35 mm SLR photos and did all that stuff with the baths of chemicals we filed our negative carriers so there'd be a wonderful black lines around each photo, eyebrows of sorts - proof that you had composed with intent.  I guess slides can have eyebrows too. Love the way Harry's car goes downhill while his text goes uphill too.  Thank you Harry. 
Sarah Churchill


Sarah Churchill

Not surprisingly, many of the members of the arty slide group turned outdoors to get inspiration for our summer slides. Sarah seems to have captured the good and the bad of summer with her slides and envelope... flowers, decorative watering cans, snakes and lip balm! I love the way Sarah asks questions in her arty slides as well as in her mailart. and she's used plenty of one of my favourite colours- CHARTREUSE!





Christine sent me bejeweled and pressed flower stamps! Anyone who would share her fridge magnets with me is awesome.  And yes, blue does give me joy. Love the washi tape and all the sparkly bits too! I flattened Christine's packaging here... she sent her slides in a first class mini parcel box.  Love the attention to detail, the bouquets and the April calendar with its tulips.   Thank you so much Christine!
Stripygoose

Stripygoose

Stripygoose

My first slides arrived from Stripygoose.  I love the way she captured the emergence of summer with her joyful raindrop washi tape and her flower slides.  The colours delight me and Stripygoose has made a padded slide holder.  On the grey days of early summer, Stripygoose's slides sat on my computer table shelf and gave me hope and reminded me of summer's eventual arrival! Many thanks Stripygoose and Sarah!

Stripygoose and I were thinking alike! I take tons of photos and when I was thinking about the summer arty slides I thought to use some of my closeup flower pictures.  I trawled through my hard drive and made stamp-size images that I matched with my fused plastic frames. I made sets for the summer artty slide group and then had such fun pairing them and thinking colour that I sent off another 8 to other friends. all 14 sets are quite bespoke. 

And that's the thing about arty slides, and IUOMA in general.  All of you wonderful people inspire me and help me take my ideas in new directions!  Thank you all.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Marie's Guilty Skies and two of the six senses

Marie's envelope arrived and it was an uncharacteristically bought (robin's egg) blue with white writing! I thought I recognised the handwriting, but I didn't see a corner and know, like I usually do.So I inserted a knife and carefully (I thought) slit it open.  I have had to tape three edges as I must have caught them while slitting...
TRAGIC!

On the back of Marie's envelope was the real luggage tag.  The other side STOP and late check in caught my eye.

Although much of what I do is random, I can't help trying to piece together meaning from clues in work others send me: 

Mekane Selam Airport (MKS) is an airport serving Mekane Selam, a town in the Debub Wollo (or "South Wollo") zone of theAmhara region in central Ethiopia. Its single runway is approximately 1,500 metres (4,921 ft) in length. Pangkor Airport (PKG) is an airport on Pangkor Island (Pulau Pangkor), located off the coast of Perak in northwest peninsularMalaysiaDalian Zhoushuizi International Airport (DLC) is the airport serving the city of Dalian in Liaoning Province, China. It is located inGanjingzi District, about 10 km (6 mi) northwest of the city center. In 2010 the airport handled 10,703,640 passengers, making it the busiest airport inNortheast China and the 16th busiest nationwide. The airport is the hub for Dalian Airlines and a focus city for China Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines.  I can find no documentation for WRP

Inside the envelope were two beautiful, remarkable pieces I had seen on Marie's blog http://mariesmailbox.blogspot.co.uk and Tom Clark's blog http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com.  Much has been written about these on the blogs.  I love them both.  Marie has a way of making you believe and her work captivates me.






In addition to all that, Marie sent me an original, a poem, Guilty Skies, layers of photos pieced, assembled and added to, create meaning that only Marie can make. From a length of manila (7 1/2 x 4 inches) emerges a story of lives, entangled in nature. The fleshtone tape reminds me of a plaster (bandaid). Lines ruled on the surface evoke holiday postcards from the past.  I love this Marie!  Those men, digging in the sand in their old-fashioned hats intent on ''trivial deta', the stuff of life, 'wells enees and sky'. Thanks you SO much!


Sampling by TOFU


The mailart I receive is kept in a couple of big boxes.  I have no filing system.  Well I do have a ledger where I record incoming and outgoing, as best I can... But these boxes of carefully placed mailart  I think of as a box of inspiration.  I keep meaning to frame a few to get to know regularly and more deeply but that would be one more job and I am time-starved, for some reason. I don't think I have ever cut anyone's mailart up before and repurposed it, although Mim sent me scraps which I loved using.  One day I will drown in all this, but for the moment it works.

And then comes TOFU, asking me first to put his beautiful map fragment in a book and forget about it and now to use his samples in my own work. For now I see them as another kind of quilt.  I'm sure they will declare themselves in a piece one day soon, though. I just don't know how or when, yet. Thank you Tofu, and look out for our daughter; she's in your city at the moment!

Mailart: conversation or catalyst? Incoming and outgoing - SImon Warren





Simon is sending me imagery. 

I am sending simon imagery back.  

When we write are we hoping to shift, find our own understanding, connect or simply to see what happens?


Thursday, June 6, 2013

Ryusoke Braincell 859



Sent my first set of printed stamps (as opposed to carved stamps) to Ryusoke and received the first braincell in response to them.

Tiny MinXus Hair.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Listen to the birds, eat wheat and have a flashy free and easy time chill in



Love the colours of Janine's psychedelic, positivity infused trashpo! My transcription:
Avez ard free and easy fun fro friday to satur year ve o o chllin on sound ust enjoy yourself free & easy you make them FLASHY  y day chavin. 

I keep seeing creatures and a human form and presume the swiss stamps are sending sublimal messages about healthy eating and taking time to listen to the bird sing. 
Thank you Janine!