Some Souvenirs from AARPEX

[Thom Courcelle]

There was an Artistamp Exhibition and Symposium in Seattle several weekends ago, and boy was it stupendous!

Some other IUOMA-ians have posted some great documentation of this event already... Jennie Hinchcliff--who came all the way up from the Bay area--posted some great photos here.

And there are a couple videos that Ruud Janssen has put on the site here and here.

Again, I have to congratulate Carl Chew for conceiving of the event, and everyone who helped whip the weekend together, and everyone who traveled such great distances to exhibit, participate, exchange, and revel in all that artistamp history and artwork.  And there was a LOT of historical information available.  Anna Bannana gave a presentation on past exhibits around the world including publications that were printed, and some great stories were told.  Unfortunately I had a previous commitment on Sunday that weekend, and so couldn't attend the grand opening of the Tui-Tui Museum of Artistamps in Seattle. BUT (!!)... the video of the opening that Ruud posted is terrific.

I got to meet some of the mail artists that I'd been corresponding with for a long time--what a treat to finally get to see someone with whom you've been exchanging mail for so long!  And got to meet new friends along the way.  I got so wrapped-up in talking to friends and meeting new friends that I COMPLETELY neglected to take any pictures with the camera that I brought!  While that's pretty sad, there were others who had the sense to snap some photos, which have been fun to see.

One of the mail artists I've been exchanging with for quite a while is Sally Wurlitzer--she came up with Jennie Hinchcliff, and it was a pleasure to finally meet her face to face.  We exchanged little gifts, and here are some of the artistamp sheets she blessed me with...

Artistamps commemorating various districts of San Francisco.

Artistamps commemorating the [now] obsolete paper Fast Passes for tolled highways.  The passes are electronic now.

Artistamps commemorating the demise of the electric typewriter.

Here's the little note from Sally letting me know she'd be going to the AARPEX Exhibit--it included a mail art postcard that had been returned to her as "Unknown--Undeliverable" despite having the perfectly correct address on it (including the additional 4-digit zip addendum)!!

Looks quite a bit like Kawaii Zombie Kitty!!!

Another, local Seattle-ite artistamper in attendance (and a nearby neighbor!) was Kathleen McHugh, who double -blessed me--once at the exhibition with a recent BEAUTIFUL wood block print using a Japanese style called hanga:

Then I got this amazing artistamp sheet in the mail...

A closer detail:

That's an antique hand-written copy of John Keat's poem Ode to a Grecian Urn.  Wowza. All these artists at the exhibition put my amateur attempts at artistamps to shame!  Kathleen was one of the sensible people at the event with enough where-with-all to take some pictures during the event.  Here's one of Kathleen and Dame Mailarta who came all the way from Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada...  Dame Mailarta actually MADE that big felted model of Aarpy--the official mascot of the exhibition (whom you can see a drawn rendition of in the photo at the top of this post).

That's right... Dame Mailarta is also a FIBER ARTIST (among SOoooo many other artistic talents).  So she and I are going to have a ball sending whacky fabric art through the post!  Hey!! that's a DK Oracle™ bag that Dame Mailarta is holding!

See you all in the mail!

[Thom Courcelle]

Always nice to reminisce with pictures... Jack @ Cascadia Artpost made a new stamp issue sheet commemorating this AARPEX event and was kind enough to send me a copy.  It's treasured, Jack... thank you!...

 

Magnifique!

[s. wurlitzer]

Thom! Thanks so much for the great blog post! It was so good to meet you --and all the others in Seattle too who made us feel so welcomed. It was a lovely time. Sally

[Kathleen McHugh]

Hi Thom! It was great to visit with you at AARPEX. Reading your article just brought back many fond memories of a wonderful event!

[vizma bruns]

This is great Thom! What a weekend!

Will you be making that build yr own cat or keeping it intact? It's a beauty.

[Carina]

Thom, thanks for sharing this with us!

[De Villo Sloan]

Now I see it! Great. Dame Mailarta sporting DK. Trashion history.

Did you get a testimonial from DaMa,Thom? Never mind. I'll make one up.

[Thom Courcelle]

Yeah, yeah!  It's there in the bottom picture... It's the pink thing she's holding.  Her outfit is rather sparkly and flashy! (LOL!)  I suppose it could be easy to miss behind that set of knock-out rings she's sporting!

[De Villo Sloan]

Fantastic Thom!

Now you had a great product placement op there: Dame Mailarta holding a DK Oracle Bag. But where is it? Is the DK Oracle Bag really there?