Interlacing Channels

Popped down to the post this morning and was surprised to find a rather large package in the box. The return address was reminiscent of Johns Wayne's real name but the city was Taipei Taiwan. Racking my brain to remember if I purchased a sweatshop t-shirt of Happy Bunny or a loaded CD-Rom of warez, I opened the package to find two paperback books (one large and one small).

The large book immediately caught my eye because the art on the cover was by long-time collaborator, Denis Mizzi of Australia, who ARTicipated in my first mailart call "X-Ray Spex" in 2000.

A brief scan through the books contents reveal quotes from religious and ancient texts juxtaposed with observations from the author's travels. The name on both books is Madison Morrison and upon opening the small book, I found a handwritten note on the back of a change of address card. It said, "Why don't you send me some of your work? I saw you listed in Braincell 593. All Best, MM."

For those of you who don't know, Braincell is one of the most well-known and long-running mail art projects created and maintained by Japanese artist Ryosuke Cohen. His wonderful project arrives from time to time in my box and is a colorful and fascinating beast. The collages are created from stamp designs, rubberstamps, stickers, drawings and seals he receives from other artists. He then prints these materials onto A3 size paper and creates 150 sheets and sends a sheet back with a list of addresses to each participant. He publishes the Braincell project at intervals of 8 to 10 days and each sheet includes about 60 people. Ryosuke is always accepting artwork and designs, so check out his pages for more info and the mailing address if you are interested in collaborating with him. You can view an example of this project at the Artpool Website in Budapest.

A search for the author by name on Google brought up another interesting mailart connection. It seems a certain Dr. Madison Morrison, who graduated from Yale and received his Ph.D. from Harvard recently spoke about Homer and Western Tradition of Literature at the Jeju Culture & Art Foundation (JCAF) in Korea on October 19, 2004. I had heard of the JCAF because The Jeju International Art Show in October 2001 hosted a mailart call titled "Peace Island." I submitted artwork to the call and received a beautiful jam-packed printed documentation for the show. You can view some really great photos of the conference and mail art exhibit by visiting Jas W. Felter's (Vancover, Canada) Peace Island pages.

Coincidence??? Mail art connections passing the globe from Hungary to Japan to Korea and on to Cali. Gotta love it. All art is good. I'm looking forward to reading these books.

Pati Mailed

Received 6 snazzy ATCs (artist trading cards) from Pati Bristow of Los Altos, CA today. She used a variety of old stamp sheets, office supplies (affectionately known as paper assholes) and advertising scrap for these recycled mini-collages. They are quite colorful and I always enjoy seeing one person's trash turned into art and not a landfill.



She has been a prolific contributor to the ATC Virus call with two batches of cards send so far including Abstract Virrii and Peace Virus for a total of 18 virus infections.

Some Recent ATCs

Some recent ATCs that I sent out in limited edition batches. The first one was done in markers, the middle is a digital creation and the third one is painted in opaque acrylic with pen.

From left to right they are tilted: Kanji Bones Green, Spells in the Cupboard and Tattoo Doodle Bear. I'm always up for trades, Jams and Round Robin swaps, so email me and let's set something up.

A new ATC book is coming out just in time for the Holidaze. It's by the good folks at Stampington.com and has over 500 ATCs to view. This company has been around for a while and is best know for the great catalogues they produce. There is a bunch of cards to wander through in the book including one of my watercolor ATCs.


Pronghorn Shaman

Day of the Dead is upon us. Celebrate life and honor the memories of relatives long gone.

For the third year in a row, the nation of Matangi has issued an artistamp for the holiday. The mailartist.com has been updated to include this artistamp on the Matangi Island Postal page for the ficticious island nation.



A close-up image of the artwork for the stamp, including the 2002 and 2003 issues can be viewed by visiting the Day of the Dead page.

If you would like a sheet of stamps, contact me and we can arrange a swap.