Bookcase Collages Continue

Another addition to my bookcase collage series, this one is 12”x12”.   After I paint the paper, it is cut up to resemble books. There are also a few bits of scrap paper and packaging, and maybe even a pasta box in there somewhere. I am experimenting with different paper for the shelves and trying different colors for the books. The final step is to put it back together on painted wooden boards to create a bookcase collage.

A Different Perspective

I learned perspective drawing from Mr. Rogers and Mr. Hill way back in the seventh grade at Campus School. So, when someone gave me this book, I really thought I did not have much use for it. Unless….   

A series of 30 pieces of mail art are on their way, all with a different perspective.  

Bigger and Bigger!

The latest in my bookcase collage series, this one is 16”x20”.   I start by painting paper that is cut up to resemble the spines of books.  Mix in some craft paper for the “shelves” and add a few books using assorted bits of paper from my recycling bin.  All of it reassembled on painted wooden boards to create bookcase collages.

Colorful Books

 A new piece from the Bookcase Collage Series, this time with a white background.  

Bookcase Collages

My bookcase collages are going to get bigger and bigger — the latest one is 16”x16”. Hours were spent painting paper, cutting paper and finally assembling the “bookcase.”

As I was gluing, I kept thinking about how my entire life has always had walls of books in the background. When I was 5 years old, we moved into a Victorian house with a large living room with built-in bookcases. They were 16 feet wide and all the way to the top of the 10-foot ceilings. At that point my parents did not own that many books, yet. My father even bought “filler” books like old encyclopedias at the Goodwill.  When we moved to a New England house with less space and lower ceilings, the filler books got left behind, but the TV room still had a full wall of books. My San Francisco apartment is filled with more than 1,000 books. I even worked in an office for many years where every time I looked up from my desk there was a wall of books.

I imagine looking at all these books for all these years might be part of the reason for my latest art obsession.  

I am not done yet…

New Art about Books

I have been exploring variations of book-themed art for many years, including my own Chaekgeori series.  My newest mixed media series is bookcase collages. I am mostly making my own collage material that begins with painting paper. I then mix in a bit of other paper sources before cutting it all up to resemble the spines of books.  Many different colors and sizes.  One by one they are added to the “shelves.” I started out with small work and now have finished a set of three that are 8”x8” each. I am planning on bigger pieces but with the same size books — I am open to commissions if you are interested in having your own bookcase collage.

What to do with Add-n-Passes? Make a Zine!

There was a time when I liked add-n-passes as part of receiving and sending mail art.   The idea is that you add something to a piece of mail art and then send it on and so forth.  Eventually it returns to the original sender.   I even started a few myself.   In 2012 I launched an add-n-pass based on geological layers that got a great response.  I have always found the better ones have some sort of theme.

But like many mail artists, I have gone off the add-n-pass. In my opinion, scrawling “add-n-pass” on a piece of paper and mailing it to me, is far from the idea of mail art.  It all reminds me of those cursed chain letters when I was a kid.
I still like doing truly collaborative pieces with other mail artists, but the add-n-pass is usually annoying.  On a rare occasion when I receive one that is all but finished, I will complete it and return to the original sender.  Nowadays I scavenge the good bits for one of mail art, artist scrapbooks (see image below ).
The new year began with a brilliant solution to the add-n-pass problem.   I received this little zine from Josh Ronsen made from add-n-pass scraps and I LOVE it.   Josh has come up with a great way to start my mail art year.   

Welcomed Home by Mail Art

After a few weeks in the tropics, I was welcomed by all sorts of mail art treats in my post office box.  This is a list of the artists shown here: 

1. Lubomyr Tymkiv - Ukraine
2. MiM – Virginia
3. Sabela Baña – Spain 
4. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
5. The Sticker Dude – New York 
6. Sally Wassink – California 
7. Jennie Hinchcliff – California
8. Jon Foster – North Carolina 
9. Debra Mulnick – Idaho
10. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California

A watched pot, or is it a watched P.O. Box, never boils?

Go out of town for a week and when you come back the post office box is overflowing.  I even had to wait at the counter to pick up the overflow.  All sorts of mail art including incredible artist stamps and a new, handmade, artists book of Ryosuke Cohen’s Brain Cells too.  Amazing!  This is a list of the artists shown here: 

1. Peter Müller – Germany
2. Fleur Helsingor – California
3. Pamela Gerard (California)
4. Debra Mulnick – Idaho
5. Artist in Seine (aka Dean Marks) – France 
6. Birgitta Jonnson – Sweden
7. Heather Ferguson – California
8. Matt Ferranto – New York 
9. The Sticker Dude – New York 
10. Nancy Bodkin – California 
11. Keiichi Nakamura – Japan
12. Maria Quiroga – Argentina 
13. Jack Latteman - Cascadia Artpost – Oregon 
14. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
15. Jürgen Greissbach – Germany 
16. Ryosuke Cohen – Japan
17. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 

Ukrainian Summer Mail and More

Very excited to receive some reproduction/stickers of Ukrainian stamps from Mindaugas Žuromskas this month.  And good to see mail is getting through from the Ukraine as well.  As summer winds down, here is a list of the artists shown here: 

1. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 
2. Lubomyr Tymkiv - Ukraine
3. Jennifer Utter – California 
4. Carolyn Oord (aka Kerosene) – Québec/Canada
5. Patti Wren – California
6. Margo Hill – California
7. Debra Mulnick – Idaho
8. Lynne Buckner – California
9. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
10. Eberhard Janke – Germany
11. Jen Bee – California
12. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
13. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
14. Sabela Baña – Spain 

A Small Artist Book

I have been creating artist books for several years.  Often, I start with an old book that I repurpose with collage and paint directly onto the pages.  This is the smallest book I’ve done so far.  Starting not with a book, but an expired passport.   
This little book tells a story.  The passport belonged to my grandmother who travelled the world more than many people I have known.  Growing up, I knew no one who travelled like she did.   She was a department store buyer who made frequent trips to California, New York, Hong Kong, and Europe.   As a child this was just grandma’s job to me.   I knew it was a bit unusual but as an adult, I started to understand how extraordinary it was for a woman born in 1919 to have that kind of career.   She also played the more traditional grandmother roles with ease — no one made a better apple pie than she did.

Summerful Mail

 

When I take my summer walks and stop by the post office, I have been finding some good stuff waiting for me every time this summer.  Here is a list of the artists shown here: 

1. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
2. Peter Müller – Germany
3. Nancy Bodkin – California
4. Jon Foster – North Carolina 
5. Jennie Hinchcliff – California
6. MiM – Virginia
7. Patti Wren – California
8. Keiichi Nakamura – Japan
9. Fleur Helsingor – California
10. Pier Roberto Bassi – Italy 
11. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 
12. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
13. Andrea Grimes – California 
14. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
15. Jean-Phillippe Gilliot – Belgium 
16. William Mellott – Taiwan 
17. Sabela Baña – Spain 
18. The Sticker Dude – New York 

Super Mail Bloom

 

After a wet winter, Golden Gate Park has been lush and in full bloom for months.  I keep heading down there on afternoon walks and stopping by the post office.  My box has also been filling up with spring color.  The mail art I received that is shown here includes:

1. Fleur Helsingor – California
2. William Mellott – Taiwan 
3. Barbara Stasiowski – California 
4. Margo Hill – California
5. Maria Quiroga – Argentina 
6. Eberhard Janke - Germany
7. Sally Wassink – California 
8. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
9. Jennifer Utter – California 
10. Serse Luigetti – Italy
11. Lynne Buckner – California
12. Bonniediva – Illinois 
13. Shmuel – Vermont 
14. Bonniediva – Illinois 
15. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
16. Jennie Hinchcliff – California
17. Peter Müller – Germany
18. Meral Agar – Turkey 
19. Kiki – Japan

And here is the amazing park....

Postal Patchwork Postcard

This mail art call for collage mail art to be shown at Kolaj Fest in New Orleans.   

Library of the Future/Future of Libraries?

Mail art on the way to Germany for a mail art call with a theme about the future of libraries.

Air Traffic

This is my latest travel-themed commission.  Grid-based collages that are reminiscent of patchwork quilts is not a new territory for me — but I rarely source magazines for my collages.  For this piece I started with a stack of airline and travel magazines.   Then came the cutting out of hundreds of airplanes.  Finally, they needed to be layered, cut, and reassembled.  How many different airlines can you identify in this piece?

Winter Mail Bag

Sorting through recent mail art that has arrived in San Francisco including New Year’s mail — some sent from my own neighborhood to some form all the way to Lviv, Ukraine.   And it wouldn’t be winter without snow people — Kathy Barnett’s latest series of “polaroids” are just hilarious and wonderful.   The mail art shown here includes:

 

1. Barbara Stasiowski – California 
2. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
3. Jennie Hinchcliff – California
4. Fleur Helsingor – California
5. Johan Leschinkohl – Germnay 
6. Valdor – Catalonia/Spain
7. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 
8. William Mellott – Taiwan 
9. Eberhard Janke - Germany
10. Sally Wassink – California 
11. e. coles – England 
12. Peter Müller – Germany
13. Jürgen Greissbach – Germany 
14. Jennifer Utter – California 
15. Tanushree V – California
16. Lubomyr Tymkiv - Ukraine 
17. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
18. Kathy Barnett – Missouri

October Mail

After a long trip it is always good to get back home.  And the visit to the post office to empty out the box was another treat.  A whole pile of mail was waiting for me and more keeps arriving.  Kathy Barnett’s latest piece is hanging on my door to scare visitors and I am glad to see more responses to the Fluxus High School Yearbook as well.   The mail art shown here includes:

1. MiM – Virginia
2. e. coles – England 
3. Jürgen Greissbach – Germany 
4. Meral Agar – Turkey 
5. Lynne Buckner – California
6. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
7. Dori Singh – California 
8. Fleur Helsingor – California
9. Margo Hill – California
10. Maria Quiroga – Argentina 
11. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
12. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 
13. Peter Müller – Germany
14.  Valdor – Catalonia/Spain
15. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
16. Lynne Buckner – California
17. Jenny Soup – Oregon 
18. Ryosuke Cohen – Japan

Mail Art from Ukraine 🇺🇦

Nowadays it is reassuring to see mail art arrive from Ukraine.  The latest piece from Lubomyr Tymkiv was in the post office box this week.  Check out his blog (also glad to see The Artist in Seine has made a visit from Paris to Lviv).

Summerful Mail

There has been plenty of fun and fabulous pieces of mail art arriving all summer.   Prints, postcards, artist stamps and more movable pieces from Kathy Barnett.  I need to make a video one day of her work. This is a list of the artists shown here: 

1. Valdor – Catalonia/Spain
2. Morgan – Canada 
3. Peter Müller – Germany
4. Eberhard Janke - Germany
5. Richard Baudet – France 
6. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
7. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
8. Jennifer Utter – California
9. Fleur Helsingor – California
10. Pamela Gerard (California)
11. Margo Hill – California
12. Serse Luigetti – Italy