Thom Courcelle's Blog (204)

I have seen--it seems--some rather amazing poetry included on this site and inclusive of many mail art pieces recently.  It does my heart good.  Poetry has saved my soul many times over.  And though I shant wish to proselytize poetry upon any of the masses that define themselves as verbal art-agnostic, I would like to celebrate a recent mailing from Japan that might make you see the light.  You might find yourself verse-converted...…

Some of the mail art I've received in recent months has celebrated the endurance of Mail Art through the postal system...

I have been remiss in acknowledging this WINNING piece of mail art from Ursula Rodgers... I've been keeping it on top of the 'received' pile because I've been enjoying it so much.  Ursula is a similar-souled artist--she's a charity knitter,…

Sorry to have been absent for so long--the holiday season is one of the busiest times at my work place, plus I seem to be having some difficulties with my home computer not functioning very well on the IUOMA site lately. (I've tried using different browsers, but I think my computer is sufficiently old enough and been surpassed by so many system upgrades that the platform can't handle things anymore--which means having to buy a new computer soon...UGH.  Sometimes being on the technology slow…

A NICE, big package arrived from Germany with some fanciful art from Erni.  One could say it raised the Bär for repurposed cardboard collage medium...

Following the instructions, one will want to keep this artwork not too cold, and not too hot.  Ah...temperance is always wisest.

Other observations:  

• a crocheted monkey (2 count)...…

This might be the most trash-tastic, trash-poetic, horrific, scintilating piece of trashpo love ever received from the Trashpo Queen, Diane Keys,... ever.  Just sayin'...

First of all, Ms. Keys made sure that this envelope was going to be delivered hell-or-high-water.  The front of the envelope had a big BOLD--yet re-used--sticker that stated:…

I had a nice extended vacation abroad in October, and I love traveling.  But I'm not the only one taking cultural excursions around the world.  Some friends have sent mailart documenting their recent travels:

Dean Marks decided to spend "for daze" in Strasbourg , "just to see what it is all about...  Maps included!!...…

There was an Artistamp Exhibition and Symposium in Seattle several weekends ago, and boy was it stupendous!

Some other IUOMA-ians have posted some great documentation of this event already... Jennie Hinchcliff--who came all the way up from the Bay area--posted some great photos…

This wonderful card came from Debbie Dosanko in Japan.  Debbie notes, "This is an illustration and quote from my translation of an Ainu folktale published in the TOMO Anthology this spring."  Owls have somehow been prevalent this fall.  A barn owl swooped about an inch from my brother's head at our farm a couple weeks ago.  And a snowy owl was documented in the Capitol Hill…

Neil sent an exciting package to me recently. (When ISN'T it exciting to get a big package??!!  WHHHOoooOOHHooo!!) 

Upon opening it I found two nice balls of yarn--just PERFECT for creating some DK Oracle™ bags for the Trashpo folks!! AND... some original art boekies that Neil created that incorporate doodles, character sketches, rubber stamps, and scratch notes.  Several pages are like a bestiary of wormish-dragons.  They're…

Hi friends! I'm recently returned from travels abroad--a lovely holiday, thank you--and I received some great mail that collected while I was away! A great fun time to go through the loot upon my return, and I wanted to share some with you (it may take multiple blog postes to get through it all...)

Many pieces were Hallowe'en-themed, so it is appropriate that I'm documenting it on the hallowed day itself...

Amy Irwen's awesome little package was WAY more 'TREAT' than 'trick!'…

Katerina Nikoltsou might be the Greek version of America's Johnny Appleseed...  She has apparently been strewing blue grass seeds all over the Greek Isles!  

Now there is so much of it sprouting everywhere  around the ruins of Greece that the goddess Athena has returned from Mount Olymous with her magical WEED-WHACKER to trim the blue blades into a more…

Some of you might know that Halloween is one of my favorite mail-art-posting holidays.  This year, I got an early Halloween surprise from Vizma in Australia!  A whole, scarey, spooky art book!!  And since a picture is worth a thousand words, Here it is posted page-by-page, so that you can have as much fun perusing it as I did...

First the envelope:…

Galloping through many lands to reach my address, this piece depicting multiple eras of British Isle history from Bifidus Jones:

This multi-colored finger puppet with button eyes arrived attached to board from Suus in Mokam:

And, a new set of…

A souvenir of the World Stamp Championship in Jakarta, Indonesia (with added ephemera):

...even with an image close to my cobtastic heart!...…

Ohhh..a big red envelope arrived from Japan with delectibles that could only have come from the artisticly devious mind of Marie Wintzer...  MULITPLE interesting pieces, many of them in leaflet or booklet form.  First  to catch my eye was an instructional booklet on some altered sheet music...…

Many famous painters through history were so prolific in their practice that they used their canvases over and over so as not to waste their resources. Nadine, too, is always exercising her portraiture talent depicting the people she encounters, and she often paints on BOTH sides of her canvas-medium, doubling the usefulness of her materials.  It's like getting a bonus in the mail!  Take this paint on board piece she recently sent my way...…

Stripes can be slimming--if worn in the right direction. But Dean Marks sent me a BIG mail art piece with stripes in every which direction!  Hey wait... that's one of his famous bar code masterpieces!

I thought there might be a secret message hidden in the jumble, so I brought this piece to the grocery store and asked the check-out girl to scan it for me.…

Nancy Bell Scott's been at it again--turning ephemera, art-fragments, and clippings into mailart treasure. Several pages and views of this flip-book-style work are here presented for your viewing enjoyment (some commentary by the recipient included, as he was unable to restrain himself...)

Though the main artwork is diverse and enthralling, one of the…

Uh oh!...

UH OH!!!....

Oh... never mind.  It's fine...

It's just Trashpo from…

Creative genius from David Stafford...

The depicted sacred scroll (possibly inspired by School House Rock's "I'm just a bill, up on Capitol Hill..."???):

The envelope in it's complete view:…