Recycling Envelopes

After 10+ years of exchanging mail art with other artists, my archive boxes are bursting at the seams.   Sometimes the envelopes are an integral part of the piece.  Many envelopes are works of art themselves.  But other times they are just envelopes.  To lighten the load in my archive boxes, I removed the boring envelopes and recycled them by turning them into mail art.    This series was mailed out yesterday,  

One month to go, send that Pink Mail!

The deadline to receive mail art for the upcoming Pink Mail Art show is September 30th.  Below is some of the pink mail received so far that will be shown in Sacramento for Pink Week.

Packing Tape Transfers

Inspired by a piece of mail art I recently received from Adrienne Masson, I’ve decided to try my hand at creating image transfers with packing tape – I have a new obsession.  And yes, that’s lil’ Tofu doing an interpretive dance at the campground (look closely).

A Block of Tofu

I love sending and receiving mail art.  And sometimes I get mail sent back to me that somehow incorporates my own work or references it in some way.  I am always delighted to receive those and quite flattered.  On Saturday I found this gem from San Francisco artist Todd Young waiting for me in my PO Box.  It is a little block that incorporates some of the postcards from my current show Collage + Landscape = Collagescapes.  Todd cut out and layered the cards creating the impression that my name, Tofu, is carved into a stack of cards.  Brilliant and a big thank you to Todd!

celebrate • share • create

As 2013 winds down it is the season to send out my holiday card.  This year each envelope included a postcard with an image of some new collagescape work, and a small glassine envelope with an original piece of collagescape approximately 1.25 inches square.

The back of the postcard had the following message:

---

When I spread my art around the world, I often use the metaphor of opening a packet of seeds and scattering them around a garden.

I never can be certain where my art will grow. 

·      How will others react to it?

·      Who will appreciate it?

·      Where will my art end up? 

With that idea in mind, I am celebrating the holidays by sharing small pieces of art — sending art seeds around the world to grow in the New Year.  May the coming year be filled with art.

Be inspired to be creative, express yourself and share your talents with the world!

Airmail

Airmail, mixed media on board, 4”x6”

Some of us still like our mail the traditional way, because we know, as fast as email might be, there is nothing like seeing an airmail envelope waiting for you in your mailbox with a letter for someplace far, far away.  Or in this case, a collage of an airmail envelope made out of old stamps.

Mail Art from Puerto Rico

Two nice pieces of mail art in the PO Box this week from Piro Rios in Puerto Rico — The first includes some of my own material sampled and returned (more about that mailing here).  The second was a bit of tropical warmth on a typical, gray, foggy San Francisco, July afternoon.  San Francisco is the only place in America where we’re putting the heat on at night while the rest of the nation is sweltering.

More Art to Hide in Books

Back in April I sent out 100 pieces of art with the intention that the recipients hide the pieces in books.  More about that project here.  I love as new pieces of art come back to me with the instructions to hide them in one of my many books.  This one came from the German artists Karin Fröhlich this week.

The Latest Treats in the P.O. Box

It’s nice to start the summer with a haul of mail.  This is just a sampling of some of the recent arrivals including some hand made books.

1. Robin Sparrow sent one of her hand made journals from New Zealand.  A few antipodean bird feathers even spilled from the envelope.
2. Phyllis Lucas-Haddon sent a hand made book incorporating materials from my sampling mailing from June.
3. Sandra Lefever sent me a copy of the handmade book Secret #1.
4. Mim Golub sent me an altered postcard of Monticello, Indiana.
5.  I received a soft and fuzzy, hand sewn card from Amy Irwen.
6.  Ana Marta Austin sent another card from Brazil with a Brazilian postal service stamp commemorating manicures!
7. Another beautiful card from Sandra Lefever at Artlikeart in Florida.
8. And finally, more mysterious postal charms from Pedro Bericat in Spain, a piece that includes popes and space aliens.

Recycled, sewn up and mailed to me....

Mail coolness from Rebecca Guyver in the U.K.  This piece has sewn scraps of paper and plastic bags.  And to make it even more special, a Jane Austen postage stamp.

Hide Some Art in a Book

In December 2010 I did a project inspired by the small bits of ephemera one comes across hidden in old books.  I decided to make some little pieces of art, enclose them in glassine envelopes, add instructions to hide each piece in a book and then mail them all out to different individuals.  Details of the original project can be found in this earlier blog post. 

I have always wanted to expand the project and get other artists involved.  This weekend I worked with my friends at San Francisco’s Correspondence Co-op to create hundreds of more pieces of art, all to be sent out and hidden in books by their recipients.  Pamela Gerard’s blog has more photos and details of the fun we had on Saturday.

Above are shown some of my pieces, MUNI-inspired and full of lines representing the wires that wrap and connect our City.  Below you can see us all working on our pieces, each one was stamped on the back with the message: “Hide some art in a book.”  I stuffed and sealed my envelopes before addressing them.  100 pieces of art are on the way to the post office, but I am not sure who will be receiving which piece.

Remember, if you get some art, just hide it in a book and forget it’s there.  Maybe make some art yourself and send it on to friends.  If you would like a copy of the set of instructions sent out with each piece, you can find the PDF here.  And, yes, I’d be happy to hide a small piece of your art in one of my books too.

Magenta Mail

A bit of coolness in the mail from Holland from the artist Suus in Mokum.  

Wired City

Wired City #3, 5.5” x 4.25”, mixed media on paper

When it comes to San Francisco, there are certain iconic images that are recognized around the world, the most famous being the Golden Gate Bridge, followed up by cable cars and rows of Victorian houses.  But for us locals, there are different and local iconic images that we associated with our City.  We have Sutro Tower, the MUNI logo, and wires, lots of wires.  You look up in San Francisco and you are as likely to see wires as you will see fog.  Those are the wires that “ruin” many a tourist’s photo.  The wires that perplex Germans who tell me they “thought San Francisco was a modern city…” San Francisco wouldn’t be San Francisco without its wires.

The wires are full of contradictions.  A modern high tech city with wires strung everywhere.  We are a wire-filled city where more and more of its residents forgo landlines and only have cell phones.  A city where we are less likely to have cable TV, in part because we are too busy to watch TV and in part because Sutro Tower gives many of us great reception for free.  A city where even the über-rich in Pacific Heights can look out their windows at a leaning telephone pole and a nest of wires. 

With that in mind, above is one of a series of four handmade “souvenir” postcards of our Wired City.  They have been sent out for various upcoming shows in Italy, France, the U.K. and the U.S.

Rusty Mail

Northern Diggings and Gold Country, each 5.5” x 4.25”, mixed media on paper

Don’t ask me to explain it, but I find rust visually appealing.  Maybe it’s just the color or maybe it’s some sort of subconscious attraction to slow decay and the playing out of time.  There is something ghost-like about an object that is slowly rusting and decaying.  I photograph rust and those images find their way into my art.  The latest pieces of mail art incorporating rust have been sent off to Zona 598 in Montevideo and Atöly Arts-In in Istanbul for upcoming exhibits.

Number 36

Number 36 is back for the Millennia Mal Art Project. 

It’s a well-traveled piece that went from San Francisco to Québec to Germany and Argentina before making it back to San Francisco.  It includes contributions from Roland Hallbritter, Samuel Montalvetti and a few artists not yet identified.  Included with the piece of art from Samuel Montalvetti was a small hand made book made from an old envelope (see below).

2013 – The First Piece

The year begins with this little piece (4.5 x6”) being sent back to Canada.  Marie-Claude LeClerc sent me this nice card plus additional bits of material to be repurposed into a new piece and mailed back for a project.  The instructions in French were a bit enigmatic, so hopefully my card with my own work and other repurposed bits of postcards is what she had in mind.

Dutch Treats

What to do on a cold, gray December day. How about Round 2 for the Geo Graphic Mail Project? This time a series of modified Vermeer postcards with stamps, maps, and happy little pets.  There are Vermeerhares, Vermeerdogs and, of course,  Vermeerkats.  

My Latest Favorite

Today I found the 29^th piece to be returned waiting for me in my P.O. Box.  One of the things about the Millennia Mail Art Project is that it always seems the latest one to come back is my new favorite.  The cloth pansy added by Beth Yarnelle Edwards was the perfect touch along with additional layers by Diane Pierce, Rebecca Holt Palmer and Sara Holt.

All of the returned pieces can be seen at tofuart.com along with links to the participating artists’ websites.

Round 1

The first round of cards for the Millennia Mail Art Project is ready to go to the post office!

International Mail Art Exhibition and Exchange

Last November some of my work went up to Canada for the International Mai Art exhibit in Vancouver at the Richmond Art Gallery.  The non-commercial show is one where artists send work and in exchange get work from other participating artists.  This week three cool pieces (see above) arrived in my mailbox.

You can see much of the work from the show on the gallery’s tumblr page.  More of Penelope Harris’s work can be seen on her blog.  I love the idea of using monopoly money (I think I might have to borrow that idea).  Edwin Roberts piece is two-sided but I can’t find any additional work on line.  Ruby Rymer is another fan of maps and old high school yearbooks.  Another example of her mixed media work can be seen here. 

I like how this is working out and need to keep exchange small pieces of art.