Mail-art from Vizma Bruns (Waitpinga, Australia) including a modest proposal involving Carina Granlund's hair

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Vizma Bruns (Waitpinga, Australia)

Note: I want to share this great mail-art Vizma Bruns sent me for the MinXus-Lynxus blog. I had intended to rework the text to explain the MinXus concept, the creation of imaginary worlds in mail-art and the generation of collaborative narratives. Then I discovered that the MinXus narrative, symbology and history have grown so complex and convoluted that they are impossible to explain and possibly incoherent. So I have just re-posted the entry.

January 28, 2014 - Attending to unsettled business this morning, we share with you an envelope of wonderful art from our trusted Australian correspondent, Vizma Bruns. Her missive offers a proposal that bears a response, and we want to share it with all Tenderfoots. Our day is always considerably brightened when we find in our mailbox an envelope bearing the MinXus Waitpinga stamp created by the great E - Ambassador of Utopia (France):

Vizma's mail-art is very distinctive and, here, shows here preference for Trashpo. This particular mailing is held together with renderings for a MinXus hair manufacturing facility:

Here is the reverse side:

The plan has a marketing component elegantly connected to MinXus's mission to identify who has the best hair:

The reverse side:

The gift card - referencing the famous, traveling red bag - is very generous. We are touched by Vizma's reverence and deference for Carina Granlund's (Petsmo, Findland) hair. This is a visionary proposal. Here at the Mink Ranch, we wish we could provide assistance. Unfortunately, our auxiliary enterprises such as the Mink Ranch Gift Shop, the MinXus-Lynxus School of Beauty & Cosmology and the Alsatian Diner are, as we say, deeply in the red. The proposed waterpark remains a small, icy ditch, as funding has ceased. Furthermore, we are embroiled in a dispute concerning the Saint Empress Marie Antonette brand and its ownership. We are pleased to endorse Vizma Bruns' plan, if only in spirit.

Our plan for an international "Who Has the Best Hair Contest" might have gone a long way to settle the burning question about who has the best hair. Alas, this project is also stalled.

MinXus-Lynxus has hit a bumpy patch on the dusty trail. Yet Tenderfoots should not despair. The rugged, pioneer spirit that built MinXus-Lynxus gives us resolve to move onward to the promise of the Tangerine Oncoming.

We very much enjoy Vizma Brun's envelope:

The other side:

Deepest thanks to Vizma for all her wonderful art and for her contributions to the development of the MinXus-Lynxus concept.

[Carina]

oh I'm honored to be included in this mail and blog! Alicia, it's not a good season for hair up here right now. The only thing I have to offer is static electricity and split ends :)

Here is a snapshot (Minxpinga Hair Factory) Vizma sent some time ago.

[vizma bruns]

Lovely to find this blog here when I was having such a bad hair day. Thanks DVS. The boiling weather has really taken it's toll on my coiffuratorial efforts lately.

Maybe one day this concept will come to fruition, until then we'll just have to do the best with what we have...

[De Villo Sloan]

Thx Claudia.

The stage is now perfectly set for Vizma's arrival!

[Claudia Garcia]

Great works!!!!! Congratulations!!!!!

Fantastic blog De Villo!!!!

[De Villo Sloan]

Gosh Alicia, I am still confused. I think you order through Vizma. Weaving the Lil Red Bag into this was a stroke of genius. The bag isn't an officially endorsed MinXus product, of course. Carina does not know anything about this, so we can get her take when she comes along.

The long-stated political position of MinXus has been: "Restoration of the French monarchy prior to the Revolution." I don't know how that translates into trade policies. The governance has been more like the Reign of Terror.

Rebecca, sitting here freezing today in Upstate NY, I have had a chance to reflect. I think we have to go forward with the "Who Has the Best Hair Contest" (mail-art call). This wouldn't be about individuals (unless they send photos of themselves" - more like approved hairstyles or whatever people send. I'm even hunting for photos.

I'll post it in the IUOMA mail-art calls if I bit the bullet.

Cryptic Tenderfoot message; The contest will be contingent upon a certain someone returning to serve as judge. This could be a real possibility. Negotiations in progress, but they have collapsed before.

[Rebecca Guyver]

The future fills this tenderfoot with joy .  Hair's to 2014!

Great blog and great mail art! 

[Alicia Starr]

Class Act MinXus-Lynxus packet. finally getting the MinXus concept.  So, we order through Carina, right?