RECEIVED: Vis-Text(ual) Mail-Art from Catherine Petre (Sint-Truiden, Belgium)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Catherine Petre (Sint-Truiden, Belgium)

 

September 3, 2011 - Catherine Petre is a talented visual artist from Belgium who recently joined the network. I have greatly enjoyed seeing her explore different forms, styles, and concepts that are unique to mail-art. The work she sent me is completely impressive starting with the envelope (above) and its beautiful asemics as well as, it appears, a stamp Catherine created. The contents is a piece exploring layering:

 

 

Many at the IUOMA working in the areas of visual poetry and asemics have been experimenting with ways to achieve layering effects, ranging from stamping to photoshop. Note the complex field of textual and visual images created above. In this piece, Catherine furthered layering through the use a transparency sheet, which creates two distinct works:

 

 

This interested me because Cheryl Penn (South Africa) used a similar technique in one of her breakthrough chapters in the Asemics 16 collaborative book project. Asemics by Cheryl Penn:

 

 

Covering a wide range of mail-art possibilities, Catherine included some whimsical correspondence:

 

 

The note is much appreciated. I hope when I recover from the shock of doing five chapters and intros for Asemics 16, I can resume a more regular correspondence with friends. Here is the reverse side of Catherine's stunning envelope:

 

Many thanks, Catherine! You are on my list to receive a pair of authentic Attitude Girl Asemic Eyeglasses! Check out her blog to see more of Catherine's art: http://www.catherinepetre.com/

[cheryl penn]

o yes - sorry - I did note that - seeing through to beneath images, being able to take multiple readings just with a slight movement - FAB :-) Isn't overstriking used on the typewriter font? I saw some of your earlier work with that - and found it quite compelling. Layers denote time and rewriting, the sight of them gives a physicality to history - I love it - they are part of our condition X

[cheryl penn]

Initial Twisters for sure :-)

[De Villo Sloan]

Thanks, Cheryl. I hope you noted I compared your Asemics 16 work to Catherine's work here. I think abbreviations still work. You're CP-SA and she's CP-B, not to be confused with CB.... oh my....

[cheryl penn]

Great blog DVS - I am a big fan of CP's work (Catherine noted we share the same initials :-) - her work holds wonderful aesthetic integrity :-) X

[DKeys]

Awesome--I hope you are color coordinating with her home decor. Home environment is everything to the attitude girl==particularly the kitchen where she bakes pies. The world thinks she's an underachiever and that all her advanced degrees were for nothing. They do not see the value in pie making. But it makes her happy and that's good enough for her. She throws the invalidation out with the bath water. And that's my attitude girl tirade for the day. please post the glasses I can't wait to see how your assembly line workers are doing.

[De Villo Sloan]

Glad you checked in, DK. I am sending Catherine her own pair of Authentic Attitude Girl Asemic Eyeglasses. She's definitely D-KULT Belgium.

[DKeys]

This is fantastic! The transparency sheet almost looks like Mica which I have seen used with gorgeous effects. Thanks for blogging this DVS--Catherine is so talented and everything she sends is very personal and warm. She sent me a MA envelope that arrived with uncancelled stamps. In this same week I received a MA envelope from Nancy with uncancelled stamps. I consider it a gift from the MA Gods when this happens and immediately sent both envelopes back with art the next day. Both arrived with no problem and Nancy's stamps were not cancelled for the second time! Nancy; I know you wanted an update on the situation

[De Villo Sloan]

Thanks Nancy, you said better what I was trying to convey. Catherine is a gifted artist. Rather than just use her more conventional work in mail-art, she is exploring the possibilities and probably entering new territory. Your work seems like that to me too. Many mail-artists evolve rapidly through many different phases. I don't think you see that in art school so much, for instance; and I'm not sure how you account for it.

 

The use of layering in vispo is interesting indeed. If you go back to the earlier concrete poetry that gave birth to much of this, some of the people working in that area were against layering or what was called "overstriking." Karl Kempton, a concrete poet from California, once wrote to me that layering is a "dis-ease." The chaotic appearance of the work is merely a manifestation of a sick civilization. I think the layering is widely accepted now, but everything has a history, as I'm sure I too often remind folks.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Very nice blog, DeVillo, and educational, which I always appreciate. As usual, it's a real treat to see Catherine's work, ever-changing--the envelopes as much as the art inside. And Catherine, this is yet another envelope of yours that I covet! Interesting, your layering; I''ve been experimenting with waxpaper and parchment translucent layering, but your transparency sheet looks nicer.