Cathérine Petré Spoils Me--Exhibits Multiple Talents in One Envelope

[Thom Courcelle]

Yesterday My mailbox contained my first blessed gift from Cathérine Petré.  Oh!  You know how, sometimes you receive an article in the mailbox, and you just know it's going to contain something amazing, and you open the envelope with a reverence as though it were a thousand-year-old document archived at the Smithsonian, and you pull things out of the envelope without breathing like it was a weightless thing that might blow away and be lost forever if you didn't treat it with a delicacy deserved of precious artifacts?  That's how I opened Cathérine's mail envelope yesterday.

 

Cathérine...  You... are... amazing.  I am so grateful that you took so much care to make me something and send me something that was designed with some of my interests in mind.  This two-sided work of art is a combination of fiber/textile art, paper, and poetry/words, in addition to featuring Cathérine's drawing and painting skills.  Not only that, but I hadn't previously realized that Cathérine was so skilled, or prolific, at creating her own rubber stamps and carved-press pieces!

The portrait is done on knit fabric--kind of like tee-shirt fabric--and sewn to cardstock medium.  The reverse side has yet another silhouette portrait with a lovely poem by Willem Hussem:

 

When you enter the room

I don't see nor hear you

 

When your hand touches me

I am no longer alone

 

It shouldn't surprise me that my fellow artists are able to find poetry in the greater canons of literature that can so fittingly express the joy we all experience through this past time of mail art.  This short poem, for instance, so easily translates to the experience of receiving correspondence.  Restated:

 

When your envelope arrives

I don't see your face or hear your voice

 

[But] when I open your letter and my eyes caress your handwriting/art

I am no longer alone.

 

Well, Cathérine, I am continually impressed by your work and your enthusiasm. Thank you for reaching out and including me in your mail art circle of friendship!  Something to you is on the way...

[Nancy Bell Scott]

The portrait is gorgeous, Catherine -- the thread, the way the colors subtly mix into each other, it's just beautiful.  And great job as always, Thom.

I will be posting another wonderful piece from Catherine today, with extra-wonderful envelope too.  First a new ink cartridge is needed -- why do scanners work only when you have all the inks even though scanning doesn't involve printing.  Grrr.

[Bifidus Jones]

great work, Cathérine

[De Villo Sloan]

Love your commentary, Thom! Wonderful verbal-visual combination by Catherine.

[cheryl penn]

FAB Blog - amazing work - MAN! A joy :-) X

[Lesley Magwood Fraser]

Lucky you Thom! The big fat chunky stitching looks like her hair...