RECEIVED: Cerealist ATCs from Amy Irwen (Minnesota, USA) and Fashionable Mail-Art from Jen Staggs (Texas, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Amy Irwen (Rosemont, Minnesota, USA)

 

November 13, 2011 - The State of Minnesota is home to many outstanding mail-artists: Bifidus Jones, Rain Rein Nevermind, RCBz, and Grigori Antonin (to name a few luminaries known well at the IUOMA). Now we are witnessing the ascension of a new shining star among them: Amy Irwen.

 

Amy sent me the wondeful Artist Trading Cards, shown above, dripping with sincere sweetness but also reminding us of one of the great blights of the modern world that ironically darkens the advantages of much breakfast cereal: White sugar.

 

The ATC seems a natural choice for cereal box mail-art enthusiasts. In fact, I recommend ATCs in lieu D-Koder rings and other prizes. The envelope is very nice (IUOMA stamp above), and here is the reverse:

 

I still owe Amy a pair of asemic glasses, which has been slowed by the disarray of DK merchandising. But soon! Many thanks Amy.

 

Jen Staggs (Dallas, Texas, USA), from what I understand, has kept a low network profile for the past several months because she was completing a graduate degree in art history. Congratulations to her for that achievement! Hopefully, she is back in full force.

 

I think Jen has established a wholly unique place in mail-art with her signature work that uses women's fashion across the decades as a subject, and with a discerning eye she explores the nuances of gender roles. In other words, Jen Staggs' work in this area is far more than an aesthetic look at fashion for the sake of fashion or a fetish - not that those things are necessarily bad. However, I admire the depth she provides through a connection to concept and theory. She recently sent me this great postcard-size print:

 

 

Themes of constriction and repression - as well as a kind geometric logic (including the absence of the head?)  - are self-evident and extremely clever. Here is the reverse side:

 

Again, my deepest thanks to Amy Irwen and Jen Staggs for this mail-art.

 

MAIL-ART PSYCHIC

 

Frosted flakes. 

 

Reincarnated as spandex grape nuts 

 

St. Paul pink

 

The problem is not the pseudonym

 

89 or 4

 

You have a sense of good taste, and it shows in your lightweight knit top

 

[De Villo Sloan]

Glad you checked in, Amy. I love the ATCs.

[Amy Irwen]

WOW...I think the angels are starting to sing....W.A.I.T.!!!  naw,  it's an aneurysm!!!

 

Thank you for that DeVillo Sloan..I love the mail art psychic....

*-*

[Jen Staggs]

Thanks Marie! I missed y'all too.  I was experiencing creative brain atrophy without IUOMA.

[De Villo Sloan]

CB, if you were tuned into the cosmic debris wave structures & cyclic inner-mind train schedules of the eternal network's past present future simultaneous continuum multi-planes the MA Psychic utterances would make perfect sense. Cheryl understands them perfectly.  

[Marie Wintzer]

Congratulations Jen! We have been missing you this summer. I got one of those prints too, on french text, very nice.

I'm happy to see that the mail art psychic is back with his ever so random utterances, the only problem is that it keeps me from going back to shrines. Oh well, a deal is a deal. 

[De Villo Sloan]

Spoken like a true art historian. Great to hear from you Jen - you will be the recipient of an authentic shred of the Shroud of Elgin - a piece of DK's clothing highly sought by her fans. Analysis reveals it's probably Bugle Boy. There's that brand identity problem with Donna Karin.

[Jen Staggs]

Thank you for your insightful comments!  My favorite part of IUOMA is the balance between my intention in my art and the reception of it by others.  I always learn something about both participants.  Onward!

[De Villo Sloan]

You know, this is the problem with the Mail-Art Psychic.

[DKeys]

The mail art psychics'  mentor, Bob, is quite upset with the Mail Art Psychic. He says there is no place in esoteria for polyester. He also had these bits of wisdom before he collapsed on the floor, speaking in asemic tongues:

mail art and pain are all in your mind

betting at the track and sorting your leaves by color, will only lead to dissapointment and  false charges on your credit card

Trashpo and 2012 are one and the same

He who collects fortunes and passes them off as true psychic messages, has let MSG numb their brain

Consider this a cosmic hand slap

 

[De Villo Sloan]

Spell Chick is busy channeling. Should read: Cerealism.