Year of the Snake 🐍

 
To celebrate the Year of the Snake my latest series of mail art used hand-carved, rubber stamps.  Of course, it’s the endangered and beautiful San Francisco Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia).  Let’s hope the snake can bring us peace and harmony and rid us of all those unwanted pests. Happy New Year!  

Dragons! Dragons! Dragons!

My Year of the Dragon mail art piece has been going around the world. And I have been receiving mail art celebrating the Lunar New Year as well.

1. Fleur Helsingor has incorporated an Oakland mural into her piece.
2. Sabela Baña sent a very happy looking dragon card.
3. Gina Visione created a very regal looking dragon.
4. Jennie Hinchcliff did a commemorative artist stamp sheet.
5. R.F. Côté’s latest issue of Circulaire 132 features the set of dragons I mailed off to Québec.   
6. Ryosuke Cohen newest Brain Cell has my dragon in the mix as well.

I anticipate a few more dragons will be arriving in my P.O. box soon. 

Happy Year of the Dragon

 

As soon as I got my Lunar New Year’s stamps from the USPS I started carving rubber stamps for a new series of Dragon Mail Art.

Yosemite Falls

 Yosemite Falls inspired my latest hand-carved rubber stamps for a new mail art series to celebrate the holidays.   

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 

Making your own Souvenirs

 A new hand carved rubber stamp for some San Francisco, Victorian postcards.

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....

Ukrainian Sunflowers

My latest series of mail art.  Sunflowers done with hand-carved rubber stamps.

Inspired by Embroidery

Sending out a series of 50 hand embroidered postcards would be overwhelming.   But what happens when you carve rubber stamps inspired by Ukrainian folk art?  This latest mail art series is on its way around the world.

The California Postal Service?

Start with a stack of old, unused California postcards and then make some artist stamps to add along with the official postage.   And if President Biden doesn’t fire Louis DeJoy soon, we might actually need our own California Postal Service.  If that happens, Huell Howser is going on a stamp!   

Eggs in the Mail

 Egg-themed mail art on the way to Hungary for a mail art call.  

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 Made in Mexico

While spending a few weeks down in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico I did this new series of 30, hand-painted postcards inspired by the view from where I was staying.   Overlooking the Isla del Río Cuale (the island in the small river that flows along the Emiliano Zapata District).

In the past I have sent mail art directly from Mexico, but it tends to take weeks.  Plus, the mail box I have used in the past (see photo) seems to be closed.   Plus, back in San Francisco, I had an opportunity to use the USPS’s Mariachi Stamps.

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

Post-Folk Art — Ukraine 🇺🇦

For over 20 years, textiles have inspired much of my mixed media artwork.  Since 2017, I have been working on my post-folk art series.  Painting paper and using color palettes from Polish and Kashubian Folk Art.  Next, I cut up the paper and reassemble the pieces in collages.  I have wanted to explore the Ukrainian side of my Eastern European heritage.  This call for mail art for work based on Ukrainian embroidery immediately inspired me.

June Mail

The postal box has been full every week when I head up to Clayton Street.  June has been a good month for mail art.   There was even some mystery mail from Portland, Oregon. No idea who sent it, but I do love it — and it so happens I am currently working on collages with old yearbooks myself.   Here is a list of the artists shown here:  

1. Lynne Buckner – California
2. Jennie Hinchcliff – California
3. William Mellott – Taiwan 
4. Dori Singh – California 
5. Fleur Helsingor – California
6. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 
7. Jerome Jacobs – California 
8. Meral Agar – Turkey 
9. Marina Salmaso – Denmark
10. Katerina Nikoltsou - Greece
11. The Sticker Dude – New York 
12. Jon Foster – North Carolina 
13. Valdor – Catalonia/Spain
14. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
15. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
16. Anonymous – Oregon