Domestic Trashpo

[Thom Courcelle]

But wait… There’s more.  Domestic mail artists have been prolific with their artwork, too, proving that Americans produce garbage just as colorful as their overseas brethren.

From Marcia Cirillo, in Texas, a treasure map to where some fantastic Trash might be located for our next trash treasure hunt…

 

From Michael Orr in Cornpone land (that’s Georgia, apparently), some more BRILLIANT cereal box augmentation, this one inspiring the taking of the long [blue] road, with several hieroglyphic road signs along the way.  Better be careful, there’s a contingent of Asemics afficionadoes that will conscript you if you’re not careful, Michael. This is a lovely addition to Michael’s serial cereal series. Seriously.

 

 

And most jaw-dropping of all has been some delights from the Notorious Nancy, the Old Orchard Beach Bell[e] (Great Scott!)…

 

The artwork below deserves its own special blog… or shrine… or museum… or something, but I am sticking it here with my thematic domestic[ated] Trashpo list.  The pictures are voluminous enough that I will have to undoubtedly make additions in the comment field of the blog afterwards, but their documentation should not be missed.

 

Firstly, Nancy didn’t want me to have to wait for her mainstage masterpiece, so she sent me something crafty to tide me over in the interim.  Kind of like when the chef in the kitchen wants to create the most memorable meal you’ve ever had, but it’s gonna take a while for the preparation, so the waiter or waitress keeps coming back to fill up your bread basket. Well… although it’s never necessary to placate me thus, I never turn my nose up at the delights of mail/mailart. And this “interim” mailart accomplished its intended task, Nancy, because I was immediately distracted and engrossed. Hmmm, if this is just the appetizer, WHAT in the world is the main course going to be like??!!?

 

First of all, it was a puzzle challenge: How the HECK does this thing open up? There seemed to be no edge that presented itself as the “enter here” point. You should have seen me with my little penknife and the dissection that occurred! (One’s operation should always be careful when dealing with a new life-form…) Finally, I opened the thing in a sort of booklet-style format, which was just right, because it indeed contained some “rescued” (?) pages from the Second American History Quiz Book.  Such questions as: “Of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of independence one when signing his name also put down his address. Who was he?” and, “September 17 is the anniversary of Washington’s Farewell Address. How and where did George Washington give his Farewell Address to the American people?” (Careful…TRICK QUESTION!!)

 

Well, all this was fascinating stuff, but was easily sidelined when the main course arrived in the mail. DANG!! I know Nancy used to have an antique shop, from which she seems to have an endless supply of curiosities, but MAN—this stuff just seems like TREASURE! This “Trashpo” book contains antique aquatinted postcards (as the coverlet!), musical scores, archivist book (or magazine?) documentation of archeological sites of Viking settlements and excavation treasures in Greenland, altered scholarly textbook pages (Frequency Analysis Modulation and Noise), digitized and pixilated photos of  Nancy’s artspace, newspaper clippings, an old hand-written recipe card for Banana Bars (should we make some for you, Erni?), and most precious of all a handwritten postcard from the family archives that Nancy has dubbed “Scott History” and which fits in a little cellophane pocket in the back of the book like it was an old-fashioned library card ticket. What is awesome about that little piece is not only the picture postcard that was chosen by the person who originally sent it (which says something about their artistic taste at the time…), but also the “story” that is written on the little 2” x 3” space. Part of the enthrallment of postcards is their necessitating their authors to abbreviate events in a short space. The most masterful of postcard writers can tell or reveal a lot in the shortness of their writing. This one in particular details a public’s general reaction to a recent Hurricane event that affected the country in 1985. Engrossing stuff! It’s also one of those items—a piece of personal history or heirloom—I probably would have found hard to let go of if it were in my personal archive. But it makes your gift that much more personalized and special, Nancy, for me to have experienced that small sand grain of family story. I don’t know how else to describe it other than “treasure!” Such details make the delight of friendship and correspondence truly heartwarming.

 

Here are some photos without further ado… Favorite pages here, and more to follow in comments:

 

OooF!  At photo limit already! ...Thus stayed tuned for an additional litany in the comments field--not to be missed!

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Svenja and KDJ, well this is a nice surprise. Glad you like it, thanks, and Svenja, yah, the old clothes--you get the history even just by looking, not necessarily reading. Beautiful thing.

[Svenja Wahl]

I somehow missed this one, it's so beautiful, Nancy! I love the picture of the old piece of clothes. And thanks for the great blog, Thom!

[Nancy Bell Scott]

p.s. That first thingy, it wasn't supposed to open at all, Thom. My hope was to drive you nuts, maybe permanently (in a good way). How you ever found some unglued pages I'll never know.

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Excellent work by Marcia and Michael. Thom, you have amazing insight in your blogs (in "real" life too, no doubt). I always learn things from them about my own work that I didn't even know, for example. Thank you very much for this, and DVS, Catherine, and Les for your comments, much appreciated.

[Lesley Magwood Fraser]

Oh Nancy this is awesome. What a FAB book. Thom you are one lucky man!

[De Villo Sloan]

Totally FAB, Thom. Dazzling commentary. Everyone's a star in this blog. But Nancy's Trash Book is a stunner, made all the more awesome through the lens of your careful reading.

[Thom Courcelle]

And, yes Nancy, I did notice that specially made mail art stamp that you had commissioned... it was actually the very first thing that I noticed on your mail piece and ADMIRED!!!...

Sorry it's so fuzzy here! But it's delightful! Brava!

[Thom Courcelle]

More photos of Nancy's Trashbook, which also includes [rubber] stamping, as well as asemics: