I've got an island in the Pacific

It’s time for the next installment in the Geo Graphic Mail series to head out to the post office.  This round incorporates postcards from the Athletic Model Guild and similar images from the 1950’s.  They have been “censored” with various Pacific Islands form a period, 1952, map of the Pacific Ocean from National Geographic.  As I was working on these I was reminded of July Holliday’s recoding of An Occasional Man which begins, “I've got an island in the Pacific…”  Additional cards from this series can be seen at tofuart.com.  

Thank You Millard

Marin Headlands, acrylic on paper, 2000

It’s President’s Day so let’s pay tribute to #13.  The very obscure, last Whig President, and mostly forgotten Millard Fillmore.   Historians have consistently ranked Fillmore near the bottom.  I don’t think he even turns up as a question on Jeopardy.  On a personal note, I was born in Millard Fillmore Hospital and live in a neighborhood that older residents still refer to as The Fillmore (as in Fillmore Street).

My praise of Millard Fillmore comes form his most inadvertent success.  As President it was Fillmore who admitted California to the Union in 1850.  It was the height of the Gold Rush when they brought early maps of the Bay Area into the Oval Office.  It was Fillmore and his staff that carved out huge tracts of land overlooking the Golden Gate and surrounding San Francisco Bay, all to deed them to the Department of Defense.  The goal in those days was to make sure the important harbor was protected.  Today you can see evidence of fortifications from the Civil War, to the Spanish-American War, both World Wars and beyond.  Fortunately for locals, those fortifications never saw any action.  What was wonderful is that all of that land escaped urban and suburban development for the next 150 years.  He didn’t know it at the time, but when Millard got out the map and his pencil he was preserving acres of open space that is not part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.  

San Francisco is the world’s greatest city, in part to our backyard wilderness.  The northern and western waterfront are wrapped in national park and, just across the Golden Gate Bridge, we have the Marin Headlands.  How many cities offer a local bus where you can take a ride, get out, and see a mountain lion on the trail?  It’s an escape and, of course, a source of inspiration for my art.

Variations on a barcode Op. 84

I receive some great artwork in the mail.  Yesterday something truly amazing was waiting for me in my PO Box.  Dean Marks sent me Variations on a barcode Op. 84 from France. First off, that it arrived without an envelope and made it in all it’s three-dimensional, non-standard size glory from France in under 10 days is an accomplishment in itself.  Like myself, Dean understands the need to preserve ephemera that may not be around much longer.   Particularly by incorporating it into art.  On the back of the card he states:

“It seems clear to me now that RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) will replace barcodes in the near future.  At first I thought to start a campaign to save this endangered species.  But then again, maybe we should let it become extinct.  Besides, it will always have its place in Art.”

And, most importantly of all, it just looks really, really cool!

A Valentine from the archive

From my series of mixed media prints done in the late 1990’s.  I made heavy use of a 1968 yearbook from Southern California that I found at Alta’s wonderful thrift emporium in Joshua Tree, California.  I suppose these lettermen have no idea….

Happy Valentine’s Day!

The Latest Prototype

I am always pleased when a prototype turns out well.  Vintage, 1960’s, silk screen prints of Marilyn Monroe from an old magazine.  Recycled and repurposed.  Stay tuned for something bigger….

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).

The Eyes Looking Back at You

In December I sent out more pieces for the Geo Graphic Mail series.  This time it was some Dutch-themed treats, or Vermeerkats.  It was all these Vermeer postcards with cat and dog heads.  A few went to artists, appropriately, in the Netherlands.  Including the one shown above to Nico Van Hoorn.  It arrived, was scanned and posted and then the eyes were configured into a new card that was sent back to me.