Cheryl penn's Blog (159)

A Blog for Heike Sackmann - "Mail Art Babes"

The second of Heike's Mail Art Babes arrived from Germany on 11th November 2010.

Soon after joining IUOMA I received Heike's first Mail Art Babe

Erni Barr commented a while back that Heike's work was similar in style to Hannah Hoch's. I agree - these collages are quite edgy. I asked Heike about her work - she wrote this in reply -

"The mail-art Babes represent all mail-art… Continue

Added by cheryl penn on November 16, 2010 at 7:48am — 2 Comments

A Blog Post for Brent Leopold. There's a Pig on My Head!

Mail Art Received 10th November 2010.

Brent's work arrived in a flourish - Prem the postman was eager to deliver this one! He always sits on my 'stoep' to drink orange juice because its such a long way up the hill. He's old and the walk exhausts him - but this time he could see what was INSIDE one of my exciting envelopes.

"Whats that on his head?" he…

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Added by cheryl penn on November 11, 2010 at 1:01pm — 6 Comments

A Blog post for Karen Champlin "ARt so Bad it's smelling up the joint"

Mail Art Received 8th November 2010

I opened my envelope with great excitement - my bad art had arrived!

And if I got in on time, its sitting just above her other piece of bad art.

Karen a piece of bad poetry for you:

Bad Or Not

I Just Glad I… Continue

Added by cheryl penn on November 10, 2010 at 12:09pm — No Comments

A Blog Post for Snooky and Angie

I confess I was despairing at never having received a corgi in my post!

But here Snooky is - Snooky plus feet. Thank you Angie.

I have never been to Ayers Rock - would love to - been as far a Oodnadata (what a wonderful word) which was 8/9 hours drive from Adelaide - and we were just more than a third of a way to The Rock. Oodnadata is near where the Mad Max movies were filmed -… Continue

Added by cheryl penn on November 9, 2010 at 9:51am — 2 Comments

A Blog Post for Franscoises Cheyne by Cheryl Penn "I spied with my little eye a bug maybe!"

Mail Art received 29th October 2010.

What a delight greeted me early last Friday morning - this beautifully wrapped artwork from Francoises. The card on the font read: "After cutting up a canvas of an orchid in a pot, I spied with my little eye a bug maybe!! Hope you can see him, Love Fransoises."

Of course I saw him - he was trapped under a piece of glass added by Franscoises.…

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Added by cheryl penn on November 7, 2010 at 8:40pm — 1 Comment

A suggested means of Binding Mail Art Books

Sending chapters of a book through the mail means that recipients have to work out how to keep the jolly things together! Here's a suggestion. It involves adding a hinge to received pages that will enable you to glue the hinges together, thereby binding the pages together - let me show you what I mean: (Sorry De Villo - but yours is the one I'm busy with - hope you dont mind!

: Cut a hinge the same length as the gutter of the book

: Fold and nest into pages…

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Added by cheryl penn on October 31, 2010 at 3:23pm — 1 Comment

A Blog Post for Herr Erni - his Contribution to The Crimson Giant.

I received Erni's contribution to The Crimson Giant in my surprise package on Friday. It is really stunning Choctea. I know you do all sorts of other stuff, but the work you send me is, well, its my own personal aesthetic satisfied. A while ago when you first posted this SECOND contribution to the Crimson Giant on IUOMA - because your first was too big for the book - you uploaded photos of this work AND you said "Ok? No words. Everybody thinks what she or he likes" So does that mean one gets… Continue

Added by cheryl penn on October 31, 2010 at 2:28pm — 1 Comment

Blog Post for Dearest Art Tower by Cheryl Penn "Stamped!"

Mail Art Received 22ng October 2010.

Great excitement - this is the first time I have received a card from Artflower.

It was a fully stamped card - literally and figuratively! Its great receiving something from an IUOMA legend! Thanks Artflower - one in the post to you soon - just so I can get another one from you!!!

Its raining… Continue

Added by cheryl penn on October 29, 2010 at 5:52pm — 2 Comments

A good lesson learnt from Bifidus and the Crimson Giant

Bifidus wrote and asked if I had looked in the envelope?

Confession time! I had not. For some obscure reason I had read into his work that the envelope should remain closed, that there was nothing inside, that symbols had no opening/business being interpreted ("Any symbol caught not being identical to itself is subject to automatic ejection, a $10000 fine and 12 hours community service"). I had read his work a certain way, but his… Continue

Added by cheryl penn on October 17, 2010 at 2:53pm — 18 Comments

From Bifidus The Crimson Giant Part 2

With great elation I received the first return mail for the collaborative mail art book The Crimson Giant from Bifidus Jones.

I asked Bifidus to please explain some of his thoughts in the compilation of his work.

He wrote this:

"Gertrude Stein, an American writer, came up with the "Rose is a rose" line in a poem entitled “Sacred Emily”--written in the… Continue

Added by cheryl penn on October 16, 2010 at 9:00pm — 4 Comments

For the Project The World is a Town from Frank Odette and Stefano Fossiant Sini

I received the first mail for the Project "The World is a Town" from Australia and Italy - now I will HAVE to dismantle the book TODAY, and it will begin a new life in Mail Art. Frank sent a very interesting sort of hyper-palimpsest - a page that has been written on over and over so that previous traces of writing are visible. He did this on a glossy photographic paper, scoring the sheet and then rubbing in charcoal (Right Frank??). You did some research…

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Added by cheryl penn on October 15, 2010 at 10:00am — 1 Comment

From Marie At Last The Lonely Crimson Giant and The Hollow Men

A 'then' story: I had been waiting for so long for Marie's mail and then it arrived: the alone-ness of the man in the image was very striking: then Marie wrote the blog about the loneliness of the Crimson Giant walking away from the Tower of Babel: then I photographed an old work I had done which is in a head-office in Johannesburg, filled with Hollow Men (T.S.Elliot) inspired by a…

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Added by cheryl penn on October 15, 2010 at 9:30am — 1 Comment

Hugo! Reveal Yourself!

I received a card from Hugo - a gorgeous caricature drawn/painted onto cardboard. I am seeing blind Hugo - come out the cupboard! But from your signature you are a graphic designer?? Thank you - I will return the favor on Tuesday.

Added by cheryl penn on October 9, 2010 at 9:00pm — No Comments

An Envelope is Superior to Email so says Valentine Mark Herman

Thursday was a wonderful day. I understood Valentine's message on his page that "An envelope is superior to an email". How true. One can hold an envelope, runs ones fingers where the artist has made conscious decisions to paste, collage and draw visual images. I could own an envelope all the way from France. Words in cyberspace float in their own miasma, giving us no satisfaction of ownership - by his gift, I now own Valentines envelope, a piece of his art. AND MAN!! The curiosity of whether or… Continue

Added by cheryl penn on October 9, 2010 at 8:35pm — 1 Comment

Return of the Astronaut from herr ERNI

ERni's eagerly awaited mail FINALLY arrived on Thursday. It was very apposite to our discussions on the landing of mail art. Somehow his card make me think that under his suit, the astronaut had carefully chosen his underclothes so that should he be taken by moon residents, they would be overwhelmed by the colors of earth in comparison to the greyness of their planet. They would be so overwhelmed in fact they would let him go in exchange for his glittering undergarments. I looked up ERni's… Continue

Added by cheryl penn on October 9, 2010 at 8:21pm — 1 Comment

INSTRUCTIONS for The Crimson Giant and The Tower of Babel

The Crimson Giant and The Tower of Babel

Dear Fellow Collaborators,

This project we are embarking on is an organic process. Please do not stress about time limits, the use of a particular style etc. The greatness of this work is going to be the diversity of voices, the differing methodologies and artistic styles and the diverse interpretations of the

title. The broad idea behind the book is the…

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Added by cheryl penn on September 30, 2010 at 4:28pm — 6 Comments

A Blog Post for Bifidus Jones by Cheryl Penn The Backbone of the World

Mail Art received 22nd October 2010

I received one of Bifidus' beautifully quiet but intense collages as a contribution to The World is a Town Project. It is so well made it survived the journey to Africa with narry a scratch. Bifidus, it is beautifully integrated - anatomical text with mapping - the text and linear elements of the map and spine drawing are seamless.

I was going to call it - Is The World Spineless, but… Continue

Added by cheryl penn on September 27, 2010 at 4:00pm — No Comments

The World is a Town

The World is a Town is a unique artist's book I made in 2009. It is based on the Novgorod Codex which dates back to the 11th century. For further information on this book see my website www.cherylpennartistsbooks.com - it is Book 38.

ANYWAY!! I intend to disseminate this work as Mail Art. Everyone who sends me mail art interpreting the title "The World is a Town" will receive a mail art piece of this book. I will collate/bind the received… Continue

Added by cheryl penn on September 23, 2010 at 4:53pm — 5 Comments

http://cherylpenn.com/wpb/

Please note my external blog. http://cherylpenn.com/wpb/ 5 cards left Africa on Monday - I hope they reach their destinations - 2 to Italy, 1 to Germany and 2 to America.

Added by cheryl penn on August 14, 2010 at 3:07pm — No Comments

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