RECEIVED: Grocery List & Authentic Male-Art from Diane Keys (Elgin, Illinois, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Diane Keys (Elgin, Illinois, USA)

 

June 29, 2011 - Diane Keys (DK) sent me a nice mail-art package covering the current grocery list craze, gender roles, and (above) a pic of some very appealing shoes, a touch that always wins my heart.

 

The post-card size collage above features a receipt from an animal hospital (just begging the recipient to fill in a narrative) and a fairly not dangerous envelope clasp - classic DK, as always refreshingly non-linear, non-metaphorical, yet nevertheless packed with meaning for friends of the reigning Elgin Empress of Trashpo.

 

Next is the morphed shopping list and an explanatory note from the desk of DK:

 

The grocery list craze was inadvertently started by poet John Bennett (Ohio, USA) and the fake lists were inspired by Oh Boy's (California, USA) fake collage project, at least that's my take on it. I've noted before DK coats her mail-art with glue (?) and, yes, this one is particularly lumpy. DK chops a lot of text, and she has a real knack for creating interesting little poems, as you can by looking at that aspect of the work above.

 

Somehow DK was involved in shopping lists, maybe because her cooking disasters are sometimes ingeniously turned into art, which provides a vague segue to the gender material she sent me. Diane tore pages out of a book that give instructions about how to use tools to cut wood. Here's a representative example:

 

I'm certain these were sent in response to Dark wall's ongoing mail-art epic "Life of DK." It's a kind of documentary chronicling DK's life and mail-art career - with incidents real and imagined.

 

One piece used material from an old Girl Scout Handbook, which sparked a discussion about gender role depictions for boys and girls. I complained I couldn't find a lot about boys, so I think the pages are to be used in collages but might be best used if I pass them along to Dark wall. Here's the section from Dark wall's "Life of DK":

 

 

All this for the sake of gender balance. DK's envelopes never fail to impress. She puts together a great package of interesting materials:

 

And the usual suspect:

 

 

Many thanks as ever, DK!

[DKeys]

it's an amazing tattoo isn't it?

[De Villo Sloan]

Go back a few frames - what is that picture of words coming out of the skin on a woman's back? That's arresting. What is that?

[DKeys]

The DK brand adheres to a strict non-violence policy, so grenades are a great option, although I really don't see why you'd need to decode them. The message would seem pretty clear to me.

[1cgqtuoblpeqc]

there is always an end, as the universe consists of a finite amount of matter.

but she can at the very least conquer all of that. carry on, dk.

[De Villo Sloan]

DK is a brand! No end to merchandising possibilities.

[1cgqtuoblpeqc]

or for those of you who want something a little girlier,

there is also an option for grenade earrings.

but of course, because barbie thinks math is hard,

these are for decoration only:

 

[1cgqtuoblpeqc]

(strelnikov approved)

[1cgqtuoblpeqc]

rings are so passé,

 

get a dkoder grenade instead

 

[DKeys]

Oops, Decoder Ring malfunction, the bugs are still being worked out. You've intercepted someone else's future husband. Your was supposed to say this

[De Villo Sloan]

DK's relationship advice is amazing. She showed me my future husband through my DKoder ring