Cheryl penn's Blog (159)

I received an intricate collage from Theresa featuring asemics, iconic images and dancing skeletons. A clue to the contents was on the front of the envelope – “It’s a good week for lovers of old-school monster Reade, the godfather of stop-motion animation.” Reade (1927 – 1998) was of course the Australian who created the character Pepe – an animated propaganda cartoon character in Cuba.  Theresa and Stamped Theresa's :-) X…

Wonderful work from Theo -  as usual - bright days in Canadada :-) X

The World is a Town Project has had some really great contributions - I REALLY appreciate everyones participation - IUOMA friends make the world a small town :-). I have had various queries about this project so just to repeat: In 2009 I made a bridge book titled The World is a Town based on the Novgorod Codex - "the only whole medieval  object of its type from the entire Slavonic world (Dr Zalizniak).…

These pieces all came the same week. They said they wanted stick together – who am I to argue?? Especially as they’re Mail Art Greats – MAG’s for short. AND of course, I’m into the new blog trend – Composites – I think they’re FAB!

Rod Summers arrived on Monday.

He has been sending me a series of works featuring The Secret Writings of Dr Moss Mure. …

One of Guido’s beautiful envelopes arrived on a grey day.  It was relatively intact – I KNOW the tears and smears and missing bits are part of mail art, but MAN! I just HAVE to get used to that.  We’ve got things with teeth here in the mail boxes, that’s the problem… - The title - "Standing Out in A Crowd"

The colors, the composition, the gloss paint reflecting its…

I keep asking DVS for some sort of explanation about his work. He keeps avoiding  this .  I think this means I have to just get on with it?  The most important thing I can see? Painting and writing in De Villo’s work is a medium of unconscious self-awareness.

The continued use of Rorschach Blots also points to this.  These blots are ambiguous of course – but do you see a person in here? I certainly do. …

I know this is not strictly a Heart Matter, but thin skin IS a matter of the heart. And I'm with Marie here - living with Rhino's for real - the people AND the animal kind - MAN it can be bitter!!

Shredded skin, thats what happens in sensitive cases - so why cant people just treat as "Fragile Handle with Care" more often?   The note from Marie reads " A case sensitive…

I sat with this gift a long time last night.  I realized how much Heart Matters to Lisa  (Skybridge Studios). It matters a lot. How could I tell?  It was the nature of the heart that put together a book for a person she does not know - the care-filled making, the giving of mail art which she has received and now passed on to me, and the heart choices that accompany her work. A beautiful book in a box labelled "National Society of Daughters of the  American Revolution". And you've just…

John Bennett aka Onword John – a dab hand at words for sure!  The visuals of Johns language use are well known to us all – the way he takes these unwilling critters and bends and shapes and remakes them to suit his own vocabulary - and the amazing thing? They happily bend to his will :-)

John sent a note with his work - I hope he does not mind me quoting:

Hi…

I received more work from Lesley for the Heart Matters projects - FAB as usual :-).  Anyone who has seen another person through Bad Physical Heart Matters, known this sight. The staples that hold chest and heart together. 

When it happens to someone close to you, no elastoplasts  can fix a Heart Matter.

 …

Its been six months since I've heard from G.A.

I know now that his concern about our lack of soul food here in South Africa is real.  

What on EARTH are those??? DEF none here, nope, never seen any ever. Thats all about to change....

I think…

For sure, The World MAY be a Town, but in Bruno's world town its camouflaged. And thats Bruno - isn't it? Convolutions, crumpling and re-opening. Recycling.  Half hidden - or is that re-hidden? Half quiet, half loud, all sealed. …

Diane sent this very well made card - proof -  it journeyed  unscathed through the post. A feat in itself! Sandwiched between two cards is flimsy plastic - Diane's continual nod to TrashPo. Echoing the work of Marie Wintzer (I think Diane?) , the front is carefully stitched in color coded cotton. There is  slight mutilation to the black painted board where the stitches enter and leave. A memory mark.  Its a FAB for sure - thank you Diane :-) X …

Three’s Company???

Lets start at the end – it’s a very good place to start.  Why? Because its an answer to a question -  Marie, how do you work? 

That question began when Jen Staggs asked me to write to her and tell her how I make art - my art making processes. I then asked J F Chapelle.  He sent me a diagrammatic explanation of his working process. I…

The DreamTime.

Living in Africa means that rituals and scarring and body painting are part of our daily visuals. We see  beaded and painted Sangoma’s  nearly every day.  There are annual circumcision rituals here too.  So Guido’s work is not as strange to me as it may appear to some.

The title of Guido's envelope:

Walking Works of Art BOYS WEAR CLAN DESIGNS DURING A TEN DAY CIRCUMCISION…

I am very fortunate to have received these pieces from Bruno.  After REALLY pleading with the man for some WORDS, he describes his work as 'minimal' and 'emotionally detached'.  Those terms describe these artworks succinctly :-).  I have commented before on the sense of desolation/abandonment in Bruno's John pieces.  The clean lines and faint images leave much to the imagination - an integral part of Bruno's 'unsaids'.  Faint shadows skim the surface of the card, creating ghosts that once…

Sometimes life is just LIFE!!! With too many things to do in too little time - we ALL have days like that I imagine. Yesterday was one of THOSE days... BUT, obviously knowing that, the POTROLL (post office troll) delivered two wonderful surprise packages.  This was the first.  A package from Momkat that included a diary book from the Museum of Byzantine Culture titled - The Backstage of the Museum.  The foreword reads : "The existence of a museum is condensed in a four-fold concept:…

The Day had finally arrived. Project 26 was to be bound.  After nearly six months, all the chapters were to find a home - together, in once place. Lesley and Lauriana joined me and the first three copies of this limited edition book are now complete.

MANY thanks to all the artists involved in this project.  It was a long haul, not without its ups and downs, but the results - SO worth it!!  As described by De Villo in the introduction - we have "witnessed artists from around the globe…

Its Marie’s birthday today. Birthdays are wonderful – they’re the day we began.   The day we begin to be formed through cultural influences, family ties, history and genetics.  The beginning of the search for personal identity. Serendipitously today, through a booklet Marie sent me I googled Alsace in France, a place of meaning for Marie. And wow – to come from a land that is so ancient, that its current population has blood strains going back to 1500BC – that for me is amazing, coming from…

In the most FAB envelope made from an acetate map, Angie sent me the FIRST contribution to the Bones of Contention Project - Angie, its a FAB :-)

There are various debates happening on IUOMA about interpretation, meaning, the meaning of meaning - I think the discussions are wonderful :-).  Angie wrote:

A Bone of Contention...

Trust the Teller…