Leslie Levinson Delights—a New Mailart Friend from an Old Neighborhood!

[Thom Courcelle]

How excited am I to be the lucky recipient of some mailart from Leslie Levinson? Well, LET ME TELL YOU...I'm super excited to hear from this artist in my former home of Washington State!!  Do I miss the Pacific Northwest? Hmmm....LET ME COUNT THE WAYS.  I am back on the [frigid and snowy] east coast for good reasons—family and such.  But I am always particularly happy to "meet" new mailart friends from my old stomping grounds around the Puget Sound area and Western Washington State. It's a beautiful place, full of creative and generous people, and it's a place that inspires some pretty astounding artwork.

And Leslie's mailart is definitely part of that group of greatly-inspired Northwest artists. The back envelope artwork (see above) is a wolf or coyote outline on a painted  (or printed?) background. IT HAS TEXTURE TO IT. Part of its fascination is the mystery of its medium. I truly do not know how she did it...which is saying something because I often think I'm a smarty-pants when it comes to art and art technique!!

The inside caché of the envelope might hold some clues... A cut panel (the back of which served as a surface for written correspondence) looks as if it was created by various layers of ink roller... it creates an interesting underlay color experiment or sample...or maybe it's just part of some excess paper surface she used to clean her rollers....EITHER WAY, IT'S STILL A WORK OF ART!

I've already put something back in the mail to you, Leslie!  It includes a *secret* in regards to a certain buffant-burdened beauty you asked about...  SSsssshhhhhh....!!!!  Thank you for introducing yourself through the mail and sending your great mailart!

[Thom Courcelle]

Oh my goodness…a GELLI PLATE!  I have seen those online in some demonstration videos, and I am always amazed by them, but I have never used one *or* seen first hand the result of that medium technique!  See?  You showed me something completely new!

Aye! New Jersey, eh?  We used to teasingly call yer folk “flat-landers,” because so many of yer fellow Jersey-ites come up yonder here to ski on our mountain ski slopes! …But in truth, it’s one of those Yankee-isms we jokingly (but fondly!) apply to virtually *ALL* out-of-staters. Say ‘hello’ to Washington for me! As you’ll read in my letter, I miss it something wicked.

[Leslie Levenson]

I’m so happy that you like what I sent. You are correct about the card with the note - it is a cut down piece of card stock that I used for rolling out my brayer during a letterpress session. I love the colors! The envelope is a print I made using a stencil I made and a gelli plate. I hate to clean the plate or my brayers too much between prints out of laziness, so it all gets mixed together and helps bring out more texture. 

Interesting that you used to live in the PNW. I used to live on the east coast (originally from NJ, but I also lived in CT). 

I’m looking forward to receiving your mail and to continuing to correspond. Stay warm!