A Majestic Mandala

Majestic Mandala, mixed media on canvas, 10”x10”, 2012

I’ve often put a few old postage stamps in my mixed media pieces.  Recently I acquired a big bag of old stamps, many of them British and Canadian.  Most of those feature the profile or portrait of Queen Elizabeth. After sixty years, she’s been on a lot of stamps.  Her Majesty has probably been on more stamps than anyone else.  With these new works, I have used stamps in the same ways I used pieces of old maps.  But with stamps, there are crisp borders and perforated edges.  The final result has a feel that harkens back to quilting and other textile arts.  It brings me back to the mapquilts I was creating ten years ago.  More examples can be seen at tofuart.com.

My best Christmas present

Yesterday I received this swell little piece of folk art. I love it. If it doesn’t use old maps, you always need to use old postage stamps. At first I thought it was made by some crafty, hipster up in Portland. But it gets better — It’s “souvenir” folk art made by Franciscan nuns in Québec. The images of Queen Elizabeth on the stamps look 1960’s but there is no date. No signature, only the initials “RL” for the artist and “FMM” for Franciscaines Missionaires De Marie.

I am looking for more information online about this stamp collage. Folk art, if anyone has any leads….