Thom Courcelle's Blog (217)

 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!!…

I have kept this amazing piece of art from Nancy Bell Scott to myself for too long now, and it's time to share it with the world...

the front

the back…

Yesterday My mailbox contained my first blessed gift from Cathérine Petré.  Oh!  You know how, sometimes you receive an article in the mailbox, and you just know it's going to contain something amazing, and you open the envelope with a reverence as though it were a thousand-year-old document archived at the Smithsonian, and you pull things out of the envelope without breathing…

***SPOILER ALERT: Don't read if you wish to discover the secret of the "Most Valuable Stamp Mystery" on your own!  

I get home from a workday I'd like to forget, and what's waiting for me in my mailbox?  Hmmm... a non-descript envelope, no return address.  I crack open a bottle of Big Sky Summer Honey Ale -- 'cause it's been that kinda day -- open the envelope, which is full of cut-up pieces of paper... unfold them and the enclosed "anonymous" note, and literally BLOW BEER SUDS OUT MY…

I am so glad to have one of Guido's pieces in my own hands.  My poor photo doesn't do justice to his work, but his technique has much more contrast and intricacies than I ever imagined.  The thing about angels is you never know what image or form they will transpire in one's life.  I have a special affinity for those forms of essence that can only be defined in art or in…

Adamandia Kapsalis sent me a REALLY great miniature crocheted and needlepoint masterpiece!

Great and amazing things about this piece:  I thought I had been working on a small scale with my postcard-size knit pieces... But Adamandia has taken this work…

Another piece that arrived – first time receiving – from Theresa. 

I am full of admiration for new members like Theresa and like Nancy [Bell Scott]—two who immediately come to mind—who jump with both feet and are able to let loose with such artistic…

My home internet connectivity was having troubles of late.  The service technician came this morning to fix the problem (hurray!) so I am posting here several recent wonderful mail pieces that have arrived in my mailbox.

The magnificent Eduardo Cardosa sent some “Mind Bending” Paranormal Poste.  Enclosed: TWO great pieces! And I loved them both… one a minimalist deconstruction of Roman letter character(s).  Several serif appendages line up to create a new re-assembled…

‘I’m a Superhero’ included a set of his digital work that impressed to the point of inspiring me to share…

This set was theme related to the Encyclopedia pages he forwarded to me.  They were titled “Zombiesemics—Oscar Wao Remix.”  And, while there is enough visual content for each to stand on their own, they work together as a triptych just divinely.  I probably…

Say that a bunch of times fast and you begin to wonder if there's a subliminal message in there somewhere!

This piece is the first work that has come to me from newish IUOMA member Nancy Bell Scott. It kind of shocked me in its wonderfulness -- not that I wasn't expecting great art!  Unfortunately you can't tell in my poorly taken photograph, but the streaks of paint are…

This is my first ever blog posting, so—please—I beg of thee, forgive me any foibles or gaffes that may reveal themselves in the prosaic ramblings that follow…

Multiple works of artifice have recently found themselves lodged in my mailbox and this post-ing is a celebration of the DIVERSITY of talent that exudes from all corners of the planet—truly!—represented by a small, but ever growing, microcosm of creatives burrowing within the electronic village called IUOMA.  Though the…