Mail Art to Remember the Dead

Covid has kept me home and I have not travelled to Mexico for two years now.  Ideally, I’d be there for the Día de los Muertos celebrations — it is one of my favorite holidays. Instead, I will make my ofrenda at home in San Francisco.  And this past week I have been carving rubber stamps and making some mail art for the holiday.   These postcards are on their way locally and around the world.

November Mail Part I

November always feels like an intermission month to me.  This fall’s show are hung, it’s the quite before the holidays and San Francisco is a mix of warm sunny days with intermittent rain as we wait for the real, wet winter to get its start.  Here is some of the mail art that I have recently received: 

1. Jennifer Utter could not resist taking a photo of a spectacular sunset and turning it into mail art.  You might not realize this, but for all we do have in San Francisco, an impressive sunset in our foggy city is a rare thing.
2. Elaine James incorporated the San Francisco MUNI map into a Día de los Muertos card.  The papel picado stamps the USPS put out this year are some of the best for 2016. I used many.
3. Punkie Ebert has done a colorful zine featuring many of cultural icons.
4. Jacqueline Wygant sent a small little booklet from Portland that reminds me I need to make a trip up there to once again spend the day at Powell’s.
5. And a new set of awesome owl artist stamps from Darlene Altschul.

Thank you for the mail art, watch for November Mail Part II in the next post.

Mail Art to Remember

I have a life long love of finding ephemera hidden in old books.  I have also left bits and pieces behind in my own personal library over the years.  In 2010 I started distributing art with the intent that the recipients were to hide the art in a book (read about the original piece here).  Over the last five years I have mailed out series of small works and included the instructions that each one was to be hidden in a book.

Next week is one of my favorite holidays, Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).  While I am very much drawn to the folk art and iconography surrounding the holiday, it is the purpose of the day itself that has deep, personal meaning for me.  It is always important to remember, but I really like the idea of setting aside a day to especially honor and reconnect with those who have departed our lives.

This year, I decided to bring together mail art to be hidden in a book with the holiday when we remember the dead.  There is a new series on the way in the mail, but this one has slightly different instructions enclosed with the art.  When the recipients choose a book, they are instructed to select a book that either:

• was given to you by a friend or loved one who has departed.
• belonged to a friend or loved one who has departed.
• or even a book you know they would enjoy.

The idea being that the art placed in the book is both an offering and another way to connect and remember a friend or loved one who has passed.

If you like this idea and want to make art to hide in books, you can even download and print a copy of the instructions to enclose (you will find them here).

Jellyfish

Jellyfish, mixed media on canvas, 24”x24”

Pictured above is my latest piece — more mixed work with old postage stamps.  I always like the effect when you look at a piece of art from across the room and, as you get closer, you see something different when you realize the piece is comprised of hundreds or thousands of small pieces of something else, in this case postage stamps.  As I was working on this one, something else happened, I added the row of Vietnamese postage stamps featuring various folk costumes.  As I kept working towards the center when I noticed the unintended effect.  As the circle was being filled in it was reminding me more and more of a jellyfish.

And I can say this piece is blessed.  The sun is low in the sky this time of the year, but the entrance to my apartment building is usually very sunny.  I actually take art down there to be photographed.  Last week, on Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, I brought the piece downstairs to be photographed.  I also carried a handful of marigold petals.  On the Day of the Dead one of the traditions is to sprinkle marigold petals on your doorstep.  I do it to let my departed loved ones know they are welcome to pay a visit.  I stepped outside, camera around my neck, marigold petals in my hand, carrying Jellyfish flat and upright into the sun.  Immediately a butterfly landed on the piece of art for a moment.  I set the art down and then sprinkled the flower petals only to have the butterfly return to land on my hand.  Safe to say, I feel this piece of art is extra special – it’s blessed!  

VIVO: Days of the Dead 2010

The Oakland Museum consistently puts on a great, annual show for the Day of the Dead.
This year's show is no exception. There is a mix of pieces from community groups, students and professional artists. Every year there are a handful of pieces that are outstanding. This year there is an installation of an ofrenda by local artist Ana Teresa Fernández that stands out. It is three illuminated figures of girls made from glass shards. There is an interview with artist here. The show is up until December 5 and worth checking out.

4400+ Hometowns to be shown in Salinas for Dia de los Muertos

4400+ Hometowns, my piece memorializing American service men and women killed in the Iraq War, is going to be shown later this month in Salinas.
The show is part of a Day of the Dead Show sponsored by Artists United-Artistas Unidos.
Details are below:

Bailando con la Muerte:
a Multicultural Community Celebration of Art and Culture

Hartnell College Gallery
Salinas, California
October 25 - November 6, 2010

The reception is on Tuesday, November 2, Dia de los Muertos, from 5-8 p.m.
The celebration in Salinas includes a procession from the gallery to the Steinbeck Center.

Some event details are here.