A Pair of Gems Emerge from Pandemonium
Two friends sent creative responses to Plague Daze, my mail art project of May 1. Mary Hill sent an exquisite collage folder, and Anna Weaver sent an original poem responding to the ideas in my mail art. These pieces arrived the same day, and immediately my gratefulness turned to amazement, because my shared message of thanks introduced them, and each has a strong connection to 309 W. Martin Street in Raleigh, home of The Paper Plant.
Mary, a papermaker and collage/assemblage artist, moved from Artspace to The Paper Plant’s new artist rental space and it was a wonderful experience to share space with her. We became like family after being close neighbors in Oakwood. I love this piece so much.
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I met Anna Weaver by attending (and being the week’s winner of!) her open mike in downtown Raleigh, which is called Tongue & Groove. It now takes place in VAE’s space at 309 W. Martin – the site of The Paper Plant! She is a true performance poet, and therefore she and her work are dear to my heart. Enjoy her poem!
Anna is working on a fantastic project – a seasoned emcee, she is working on participating in open mikes in all fifty states. You can find out all about it at Open Mike Tourist.
This mail art gig rocks at present. Showered with beauty. Stay safe!
Plague Daze – Mailing Out Some Love
Below are images of my mail art project (edition of 50) sent May 1 2020
back of folder (legal size folded into fourths)
Here’s to mail art in the new world!
JDJ 257 Baird Cove Rd. Asheville, NC 28804
Mail Art Response Provides Pandemic Panacea
Recently received mail art includes responses to Charts of the Universe 2020
We are extremely lucky, thus far at least, to be in our little mountain cove far from the hotspots during the trying times of Spring 2020. Just as the news got really bad, I was in the midst of mailing out a major project – Charts of the Universe 2020. Suddenly mail art seemed like a really good idea, and actually made the news, described as “a charming trend” on artnet.com. I got several nice responses to my Charts project, including some wonderful mail art pieces to add to my large collection.
Anna Podris created the image above as the centerpiece of her tri-fold mail art. Anna’s design responded directly to the Charts format, but I find the bird to be a perfect specimen of her own style, evoking her wonderful story-telling encaustics.
Anna Podris mail art object
Orvokki Crosby sent a wonderful mail art folder created from what appears to be a long dust jacket with many labor intensive additions, all textured with meticulous marker highlights. She is a big fan of snail mail and, like myself and many others, hopes mail art remains viable (along with the Postal Service that allows it to exist!)
Orvokki Crosby’s mailing from front
The mail art pictured at the top of the post features several postcards from Connie Bostic, a beloved Asheville artist and pillar of the BMC scene there, as well as John Justice, a new writer friend who says he is inspired by the mail art he has received. The “Quing” postcard is from Richard C, who curated the 1976 Ray Johnson mail art exhibit that got me started with mail art in the first place. Richard is going strong with mail art, and so am I. Maybe in the slightly new world in which we find ourselves, others too will see the value in this populist and irrepressible art form.
Charts of the Universe Culminates After 33 Years
Just completed Charts of the Universe 2020, a collage booklet in an edition of 36. Each one features an original collage, as seen above, with the following image recipe: a wildlife image, a cultural image, Jesus and a redemptive butterfly, a connective ribbon and two different brackets.I have been creating and sending correspondence art since discovering Ray Johnson and his show of mail art at the downtown NC Museum of Art in 1976. Ray responded to the zine I sent him and I was hooked for life.
This series, as with most, including a similar project entitled Science and Truth published soon after the Trump election, looks for resonances between art and science, between data-based visuals and visual aesthetics, locating surprising beauty in graphic information. The current project wraps up the Charts project for me, which began as an installation of assemblages at The Paper Plant bookstore which was accompanied by a chapbook of Chart images. Images of the chapbook are below.
The show of assemblages included over a dozen works, some designed for individual people and a few general ones. Like the final booklet I just mailed, the project was dedicated to Clyde Smith, who took me to that life-changing Ray Johnson show, and Richard C, the curator of that show, who became a friend and correspondent who still sends me his wry and quirky postcards.
Though I will continue to Chart in personal correspondences, this booklet marks the completion of the project and its group pieces. Send me your snail mail and I will add you to my mailing list. You will probably get a Ray J Jumps In, a memorial project that I hope will never end. Cheers to mail art!
Project Updates
John Diamond-Nigh’s blog post featuring Charts 2020
photo by Ginny Webb
photo by Tom Patterson
photo by Alan Bowling
Fish, A Broadside by Ted Pope
Ted Pope is a stalwart and beloved performer who features at the annual Black Mountain College conference held every year by the BMCM+AC on UNC-A’s campus. His presentation of his poetry is unmatched in creative delivery – from crumpling each piece after reading and tossing to the audience to lying prostrate while reading to whipping a deerskin as warm-up. The Paper Plant is proud to announce the publication of a broadside of Ted’s poem Fish. This broadside is offered in celebration of Ted’s inclusion in Appalachia Now!, the show that opens the newly renovated Asheville Art Museum.
The broadside (was) available in the museum’s gift shop and is available for $10 plus $2 shipping: order here.
I look forward to Ted’s performance and much more at this year’s BMC conference.
raleighrambles.com
portrait by Guillermo Velasco
Raleigh Rambles 