RECEIVED: Grocery List & Authentic Male-Art from Diane Keys (Elgin, Illinois, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Diane Keys (Elgin, Illinois, USA)

 

June 29, 2011 - Diane Keys (DK) sent me a nice mail-art package covering the current grocery list craze, gender roles, and (above) a pic of some very appealing shoes, a touch that always wins my heart.

 

The post-card size collage above features a receipt from an animal hospital (just begging the recipient to fill in a narrative) and a fairly not dangerous envelope clasp - classic DK, as always refreshingly non-linear, non-metaphorical, yet nevertheless packed with meaning for friends of the reigning Elgin Empress of Trashpo.

 

Next is the morphed shopping list and an explanatory note from the desk of DK:

 

The grocery list craze was inadvertently started by poet John Bennett (Ohio, USA) and the fake lists were inspired by Oh Boy's (California, USA) fake collage project, at least that's my take on it. I've noted before DK coats her mail-art with glue (?) and, yes, this one is particularly lumpy. DK chops a lot of text, and she has a real knack for creating interesting little poems, as you can by looking at that aspect of the work above.

 

Somehow DK was involved in shopping lists, maybe because her cooking disasters are sometimes ingeniously turned into art, which provides a vague segue to the gender material she sent me. Diane tore pages out of a book that give instructions about how to use tools to cut wood. Here's a representative example:

 

I'm certain these were sent in response to Dark wall's ongoing mail-art epic "Life of DK." It's a kind of documentary chronicling DK's life and mail-art career - with incidents real and imagined.

 

One piece used material from an old Girl Scout Handbook, which sparked a discussion about gender role depictions for boys and girls. I complained I couldn't find a lot about boys, so I think the pages are to be used in collages but might be best used if I pass them along to Dark wall. Here's the section from Dark wall's "Life of DK":

 

 

All this for the sake of gender balance. DK's envelopes never fail to impress. She puts together a great package of interesting materials:

 

And the usual suspect:

 

 

Many thanks as ever, DK!

[De Villo Sloan]

Thanks, SH. Surgery at home is dangerous.

 

I wanted to tell Sue Bowen - I also received the seal-a-meal skunk fur from DK. I don't know how many are in circulation. This one has the distinction of allegedly causing a riot in a Mexican restaurant.

[1cgqtuoblpeqc]

let me know if she needs a good surgeon,

there's a ton of doctors in my town!

[De Villo Sloan]

I'm partial to the shoes and painted toenails. Those are women's shoes. That's a gender distinction. But knowing DK, a man could be wearing those shoes. She has been doing some gender bending recently.

[1cgqtuoblpeqc]

don't forget the gender rolls!

[De Villo Sloan]

fake dk 

 

 

[De Villo Sloan]

Hi Sue, great to hear from you. John Bennett started the grocery lists, no question. The first one I'm aware of - he sent an authentic grocery list of his to Karen Champlin in the Chicago area. Fake lists were a later development and based on the lack of authentic John Bennett lists circulating. I have received reports of people receiving real and fake grocery lists. Obviously a growth area.

 

Thanks for sharing DK.

[DKeys]

DVS sent this to me

[DKeys]

Admittedly, I've been collecting trash for years. Handwritten notes are my favorite-grocery lists being the Holy Grail. So when John Bennett sent me one of his I was ecstatic and used it right away, just like the one you sent me. I thought at the time that JB knew they were my favorite thing to collect, and that's why he sent it, now I'm not sure. Maybe he was being intuitive? or total coincidence? Either way, I love lists and the recent one you sent me is no exception. Not just a shopping list, but an ingredient list! so I am posting it here without your permission. Thanks for blogging DVS-you're the best

[prettylily]

A lucky day for you!