Thom Courcelle's Blog (230)

Well, first off, I am one lucky turkey-butt for all the wonderful postal friends I have and for the mail art I receive regularly.  I could sit here and make plaintive excuses for why it is that at this time of year I seem less and less able to come visit my favorite web community, but nobody really wants to hear sob stories about ugly work schedules and keeping one's circadian rhythms as normal as possible during these dark, dark, colder calendar days. Ugh... one gets up when it is dark.…

I sometimes get in the habit of blogging multiple pieces of mail art due to time constraints and volume, even though many of the works of art deserve their own independent posting. One of those amazing pieces, that I didn't want folks to miss, was a recent gift from Svenja Wahl that REALLY MADE MY DAY!!

 If you are looking at the photo of Svenja's envelope art…

If mail art came in a candy sack, I would be dragging my haul along the ground back to my lair so I could roll around in all my sweets!  As it is, I got some really SWEET mail art in celebration of All Hallow's Eve--the day that marks the thinnest veil between this world and the other where our forebears ethereally mingle. Just look at this stash:

This is truly some…

But wait… There’s more.  Domestic mail artists have been prolific with their artwork, too, proving that Americans produce garbage just as colorful as their overseas brethren.

From Marcia Cirillo, in Texas, a treasure map to where some fantastic Trash might be located for our next trash treasure hunt…

From Michael Orr in Cornpone land (that’s…

Mmm, Mmmmm, Mmm! We’ve been having fun with Lady Ga-Garbajo’s Group of Trashpo enthusiasts. And I have recently received some spectacular examples from abroad (..a WHAT??!!) I mean some friends from international locales:

From the Haptic Werewolf, Erni Bär, some vegetarian bratwurst et frites. I love how the card says “UHU,” which I’m sure is text phone lingo…

I have been reveling in the most wonderful stuff from Nadine Wendell. Most recently she sent me a piece of Trashpo that I just LOVED!  Simply a piece of corrugated cardboard that has been altered with the most diverse of materials: print illustrations, ad cards, rafia wrapping, a safe sex brochure, paint, rubber stamping, Nadine's personal doodle-drawings, and a [found?] junior prom picture that Nadine craftily attached so that I could lift it up and see on the reverse what the young lady in…

Another "Trashpo" book--self defined by the artists--though I would have been loath to define it that way myself. Theresa Williams's handmade Trashpo rubber stamp has found it's place inside on a few pages, though that has to be the biggest clue!  Maybe a melding of genres... The book itself is a handsome collection of art papers and perfectly chosen found/torn black and white illustrations.. the whole thing bound with gold chord.  Theresa has been working hard on the New Tombstone Group and…

This is one of the most exotic Trashpo pieces that I have received so far... and is it any wonder that it's from the Master of ceremonies, herself? Though I usually am overly verbose in my blog descriptions, I will let pictures of some of my favorite pages say all that is necessary about the creativeness of Diane Keys's piece:…

I must say that I am humbled by the enthusiasm behind LIAM TRA—whoever thought that one’s mistakes and folly could ever be celebrated and embraced to such an extent?  I am not sorry for it, because it has inspired some folks to send me their own LIAM TRA in solidarity and mirth!!!  Long live LIAM TRA!

Svenja Wahl sent this GREAT, AWESOME, FABULOUS mail to me…

Always GLOWING in her enthusiasm, profluent creativity, and supportiveness of fellow IUOMA friends, AMY IRWEN sent a touching piece that was not only great art to admire, but made a connection with me that she couldn't have known about.  This piece is collage, but incorporating fiber and textiles, and very succinct references to globally-personal experiences pertaining…

BIFIDUS JONES has also been extremely GENEROUS to me.  Bifidus has got the art of collage DOWN!  What elements make Bifidus’s art so appealing?  The COLORS, definitely… The vintage-style images, curious images.  Interesting images paired against vintage typeface and handwriting.  This particular beauty has stamp images and characters, INCREDIBLE old U.S. postage stamps…

David Stafford (I think) reminisces about the loss of childhood and the Sears store…

Diane Keys sends me one supa-dupa TRASHPO Art Fortune!  Well,…actually it’s just half of a fortune, but anyone who gets a Trashpo piece from Diane is FORTUNARTE!!!…

This blog features newer IUOMA members and new friends who have recently sent me amazing samples of their artwork:

Abigail LaLonde sent me one of her zentangle envelopes that I had admired.  Seeing it live, face-to-face was no less impressive than seeing its picture on IUOMA. Thinking about the time involved in this repetitive style is a little intimidating to my mind. …

 The book form has featured prevalently it seems among our artwork.  I’ve tried writing to a few of you about the appeal of the book form… why it attracts us so much.  Most recently in the Trashpo Group, there have been several of us who have explored that medium.  I’m still a little hard pressed to explain fully the draw, but I am an admitted bibliophile… something about the familiarity of books, of how knowledge is contained in them… and even in that phrase—“contained knowledge”—there is…

I recently showed a new co-worker of mine some of my outgoing mail art before placing it in the mailbox, and she was quite impressed--we might have a new convert! She was so impressed that she decided to make me a present and brought it in the very next day! It was a hand-made linocut print stamp designed specifically for me--what a hoot! The stamp is supposed to be a representation of a meteor-shower of "fabulousness" that includes a meteor-meatball down in the corner, but tumbling down…

Received this terrific print portrait from Frieder... I am assuming that it is a woodblock print, because there were still wood chip flakes clinging onto the print! I LOVE the rawness of that--it makes me feel like the artwork is "hot" off the press... as though I could sniff the piece and be able to smell the cut wood in Frieder's studio!...

The envelope, too,…

Roberto's envelopes always seem to have multiple "goodies" included with them. And his envelope's are not the least of his treasures!...

Envelope back: Toros en Sevilla 2011 (gorgeous!)…

LIAM TRA, anyone????

Everyone who gets mail art from me must hereforthwith hold up to the mirror whatever you get from me.  HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!!!!

Nadine and I are both members of the Fiber Artists & Mail Art Group, and I had sent her one of the knit card series on which I've been working. At first she couldn't find me or my page on this site to discover who it was that had sent the piece. Regardless, she sent some mail art in response, but inventively, her artwork was informed by this perplexity:

I am happy to…

Lesley sent me some mail art that incorporated some native phrases I shared with her from the Algonquian language--the native tribes that my family is affiliated with back east (New England, United States). WOW...I can't tell you how touching this is to me paired up with your AMAZING portrait studies, Lesley!  THANK YOU!!…