Monday, May 26, 2014

From Richard Canard (IL)

I never know what to do with Add and Pass projects. I look at them and can’t figure out how to put myself in there in a constructive way. Normally these projects end up as a big mess. Sometimes I come up with something and other times I move them on or put them in one of my big plastic bins.
Since I’m not good at them, I’ve decided to do smaller more personal add and pass things. I’m calling these add and returns like most people do. I’m simply sending templates to specific people and then having each person to mail them back to me directly. None of this attempt at moving it around the world thing, those normally live on peoples’ desks for years and years. One of these projects is the NC project. Basically I put some paint on a large card, cut a North Carolina sticker to expose its guts, and then mailed three or four to NC folks. This is the one that I’ve gotten back and it’s from Richard Canard in Illinois. Richard is originally from NC.
What I like about this card is that it feels a little different from other Canard cards. Most of his work has a slight smile in it, a joke, or a pun and this one has neither. Maybe I’m reading into this a little bit, but his one work poem feels like it contains some direct emotion from the Zen master. It is only one word, however.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Thursday May 22nd 2014

The only thing I had planned today was to “make stuff.” There was no plan of what stuff to make, just to make it. That’s pretty much what I’ve done, card after card. After five hours of ripping I’m done. All of the images here were done out of student work, either things I’ve found at school or silly assignments my students have done. It’s a nice and cathartic way to end the semester.
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Everything

Sunday, May 11, 2014

I'm Making Mail Art Packages

I looked around at all of my mail art supplies and realized something, I have way too much stuff. What tipped me off was another mail-artist sent me a giant box of stuff with a note that read, “I have way too much stuff.” Everything in that box was filled with great stuff, and a lot of rubber stamps. It only seemed right to return the favor to other folks, so instead of throwing things out, I decided to mail them, not to other mail-artists, but to folks who don’t create mail art. So that’s what I’m doing, I’m making these packages of stickers, envelopes, weird images, and old magazines and sending them out.
The different sizes of packages is quite easy to explain. When initially put the feelers out there to see if anyone was interested in such things, only two folks who I regularly see said they wanted one. Those that I can simply hand a package to, well…they get a lot more. The smaller packages are meant to be mailed to everyone else. I “trimmed a lot of fat” with the ones I’m going to mail. Cutting down on postage weight isn’t a lot of fun.
So this is the first round, I’m going to do as many of these as people are interested in. In other words, I may only send what I have here and then nothing else, but that’s fine. Hopefully some of those folks will make something out of the raw items and more importantly, mail them. Once I get all of these out I’m going to make a bunch of smaller, really random items, and send those to mail-art friends.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

I'm Salon Worthy

A couple months back a friend sent me a message asking if I would send him some zines. This wouldn’t be out of the ordinary except he wanted them for his salon. Since I’ve never had anything I’ve written in such a locale, it seemed like a worthwhile endeavor. I sent him a bunch of zines, maybe the last four or so, and that’s all I thought about it. A couple weeks ago my friend Tim goes to his salon and sees one the zines on the shelf and sends me this picture. The positioning of my silly ramblings in between Nylon and Glamour was perfect. I don’t think I’ll ever have such a stage.
If you’re in Greensboro NC and you want a good cut and something to read, go by Fahrenheit Kollectiv. If you go in there ask for Neil and I’m sure he’ll make you pay a little extra.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Sunday Mail Art Book Making

I buy these books all the time with the intention of filing them up with random bits of things. Since I’ve avoided making books, they’ve started to pile up. On Thursday I picked up a few of these that I randomly started to paint and glue things in. Today I spent three or four hours trying to fill these cardboard picture albums up, with the intention of someone else finishing them. I got in touch with three fine folks and boom, a project came together. I can’t wait to see what everyone is going to do with them.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

May-Day 1st!

As soon as warmer weather starts I get less and less mail-art. For some crazy reason, people are inclined to go outside for the first time in months and enjoy the kind weather. Me, not so much, I’m inside as much in the summer or early spring as I am any time of the year. No reason to go out there, there’s where bugs live.
Instead of enjoying the weather, I’ve been on a roll with making mail art, and especially terrible music. More music than anything really, especially considering a self-imposed deadline is coming up. Gotta’ deliver the new record to the record company by the end of summer…thankfully I’m the person who gets it delivered to since I’m the record company. I can only imagine what I could get done if my creative outlets had real deadlines on them. Unfortunately all my attempts at collaborating have fallen hard, no one is interested. I’m working with little over here but I don’t expect much on the flipside, just to make something. Anyway, that’s for another day.
Because people are enjoying their lives elsewhere, I haven’t gotten lot of mail from folks, barely any at all. Since I’m staying in I’ve been making a lot. Hell, I’ve been making larger pieces as well, none of which I really enjoy. Currently I have twenty cards sitting around waiting to be sent out. I guess I could send them, I have the stamps, or maybe I’ll wait for a massive mailing?
My plans for the end of the semester are pretty simple, at least during June. I’m going to read Moby Dick, watch as many movies as I possibly can (50 again this summer), make a lot of mail-art, create two new zines…one mostly of images and one of essays, and finish the third Nostrils record, Meatloaf Pants. This is going to be my June, mostly. I’ve also instructed my friends that have become new homeowners that I’m willing to help them do things around the house and for free. One seems completely disinterested in the idea; while the other will retain my services I have no doubt about it. Oh, and I told someone that I would be willing to work with his business. I don’t like having downtime, I like being as productive as I possibly can be, if not I get depressed and feel utterly useless. Thankfully I can choose to abandon any of the above ideas in favor of one of the other and that’s what I like. I actually feel like I’m in charge of my life for at least a month, maybe two months in a year.
Here are a couple images that have landed in the world. One appeared in Germany, the other in Atlanta, I can’t remember where there other one ended up.