Mail Art 18: Backlogged and Behind Once Again

If you'll recall in the last mail art post, I had gotten all mail art responses I "owed" taken care of and sent off. That was great as I was blasting off to California for a 6-week stay and was taking a "vacation" for the hobby while away. Of course, coming home again, I find I am now more overwhelmed with mail art chores than ever! Oh my stars! I am supposed to be "retired". I appreciate what people have sent me--I really, really do--but, ARGH!! I wish they wouldn't bother. 

However, it DOES keep me active (I suppose), so... Here's what has been going on since my return:

The magnificent Maxima Strange had posted one of the envelopes I had sent her a while back on IUOMA (International Union of Mail Artists). Several people commented on it, but this comment caught my eye. It's from a "newbie" named Greg Diaz, who I have sent one envelope to. I don't know if you can read it below or not, but in it he says that has "been making his own envelopes" and that he "was inspired by artist(s) like Monster-A-GoGo, Mark Johnson, and Melanie Reed." Ha! How funny (to me) and nice that I am a (partial) inspiration to someone who considers me an "artist". To me, that seems bizarre-O! But it was nice to see... Of the other mail artists he mentioned, I know Mark Johnson a little, but Melanie Reed? I'd never heard of her. Imagine my surprise when I learned she was a "neighbor" living in Seattle. I wonder if Amy Kiessling knows her? She also recently had her own online museum dedicated to her work on IUOMA by other artists who are fans of her amazing work. I'd never seen any of her work or knew anything about her until that comment from Mr. Diaz. I'll have to send her something eventually just to say hello... (But, I am sure, it will be nothing compared to her amazing work.)

While I did want to send them both something, Melanie Reed and Greg Diaz would have to wait, because the next person I owed mail to was an IUOMA member named Ilya who lives in Russia.He had sent me something long ago. I had sent him something in return, but the war between Russia and Ukraine has caused the US Post Office to suspend mail delivery to Russia. However, one of my IUOMA contacts in Portugal (Luis Filipe Gomes) was kind enough to be a mediary and mail something for me. He sent a Christmas card for me to Ilya (as well as another non-mail art friend in St. Petersburg). When I returned from my trip to California, this was waiting for me from Ilya -- some translated sheets of his poetry and an art card.

A piece o' mail art is what I needed to send Ilya next. Being so behind with everything, I felt kind of rushed. It's another haunted house-y thing. Ho-hum. There's no stamp, because it will be posted from Portugal (hopefully). This is it:

And, of course, if I send something to Ilya, I need to send something to Luis Filipe Gomes as well--as a "thank you" and also as a means of getting Ilya's piece to him to sent off. But, I was tired and not feeling very inspired...so--blah! This mess is what he got.

Maxima Strange's latest goth project that I had participated in, the Goth Valentines, had arrived also.

I was glad to have been able to have been a part of it...and receive one of the sets.

All of the various works from the 13 participants are all so different and unique.

Her next project has already started and several of the 13 spots (well, actually only 12. Maxima always fills the 13th spot.) available for it have already been filled. I had to rush my entry. (The theme is "Tributes." I chose horror movies to pay tribute to as I've always been drawn to them and they've been a big influence on my life.) This is what I came up with:

And here are all 13 of them together. It wasn't inspired... It was LAST MINUTE. And my computer is dying a slow, agonizing death, making it all even more difficult.

And I packaged it up in this quick-o:

I had a late Christmas card from my friend David in Australia and his partner, Pablo. Oh my stars! This paper cutout pop-up is absolutely amazing... WOW!!! (It certainly put my Christmas pop-ups to shame...)

I ended up sending them this:

The ever-fabulous Coco Muchmore sent me a printed card featuring one of her original works.

I sent this back her way. My computer is practically comatose as it continues its death rattle. So, I whipped this together with images I had already printed up. It's kind of derivitive of one I did a few months ago (THE BRIDE WORE DEATH), but totally different. 

My recent new dear friend who I met through mail art, the incredible Amy K., sent me this while I was away. 

Inside was an art card (with a note on the reverse) and an article about a woman inspired by a turtle in Tennessee. (I'm guessing she was thinking of Shirley, our family tortoise.)

So, of course, I sent Amy something back. This is what I came up with. There is just the tiniest of pop-ups on the roof of the house. I hope it goes through okay.

The brilliant BonnieDiva graced my mailbox as well while I was away.

Included was a collaged art card and one of her precious (and "world famous") Bon-Zines! Hooray!

Of course, I had to reciprocate. So I sent her this (whether she gets it or not--as BonnieDiva rarely receives anything I send her): TERRORIZED GOGO GIRLS is rather lame. Sorry Ms. Diva. It is just what came out... UGH!!!!

The wondrous P. Landon also visited my mailbox...TWICE--while I was away. Both times with "customized" versions of pre-printed post cards. 

I had sent her a postcard (just a boring, non-mail art postcard) while I was away. It was nothing fun like this one.

So, of course I had to send her something back. We originally had this space-y thing going on between us, so I made her something along those lines again. She got this:

And then there was also something from the amazing Ficus Strangulensis. 

I hadn't heard from him in a while, so it was a great surprise.

Inside were three printed art cards of his own art as well as one of his trademark oddball letters. What a treat.

This is what I came up with for him:

On top of all of that, while I was in California, I had the chance of meeting another fellow IUOMA mail artist. I knew nothing about Tara, other than her avatar on the site. It looked kind of monstrous---like a female version of the Incredible Hulk with a near-skull-like face. 

Intrigued by this creature, I sent her a piece of mail art months ago. I eventually sent her another (and a Christmas card). When I knew I was coming to California, I was thrilled that she was willing to meet with tired, broken-down, old me. And where did we meet? At one of my fave tiki bars (and SHE picked the place), the Kona Club in Oakland! Ha! How delightful. So Tara met Monster-A-GoGo...

Of course, on the day we were to meet, I had this huge red zit on my nose--not unlike Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Oh my stars! I hadn't had much of an acne problem in years, but that day... UGH! And Tara turned out not to be the green monster girl at all, but a lovely young woman. (Her avatar is a picture of the very first female comic book superhero, Fantomah, from 1941.) It was so kind of her to take the time to meet me. (And there we are unmasked below. Note my head is slightly turned to hide that huge zit-o-rama! EEEK!) Cheers, Tara!

Of course, I wanted to send Tara something to thank her for spending part of her Saturday with me. It was very special and meant a lot to me. So, to thank her, I sent her something. I seem to be stuck on the same ol' haunted house schtick, as usual. I'm clearly a one trick pony....and my trick is getting stale. And I basically ended up redoing (unintentionally) :CREEPY MANOR" I made above. Oh well. I tried...

Caught up with these mail art chores, I was finally (FINALLY) able to make something for my (partial) "inspiree," Greg Diaz (I'm still so...what? flattered? about that.) and my recently discovered "neighbor" (who made a big splash in the mail art world before I even knew she existed), Melanie Reed. Here is what I made for Greg. I hope he likes it. It's not so fab. (Nothing I've made this post has been fab. Waaagh!):

And this went to Melanie... Uninspired same-ness. Yawn.

And...I'm outta here. I'm exhausted from all of the work and that's more than enough for this post.(And I already have a list o' people who need mail for the next post! UGH!)

Thanks for visiting. CHEERS!

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