Skull Appreciation Day, Mail Art appreciation.

The exhibit runs until the beginning of July. There's a closing exhibit party on 8 July 2011. I'll take photos and post them shortly afterwards.  It's been an exciting experience which we hope to repeat next year. We had 49 artists submit over 55 + pieces of work, from 18 different countries. The response by artists and by the public was wonderful. I have to confess one omission, I somehow skipped a scan of the work of Claudio Gavino from Milan, Italy. I can't image how I did that, but a his work is on view and much appreciated. Sono così spiacente, Claudio.  See you in a few weeks with more venue views. Thank you one and all. Grazie, Merci, Gracias, Вы, Σας ευχαριστούμε,Danke, ありがとう, Dank u,

Ryosuke Cohen, Osaka, JAPAN

BRAIN CELL 788
These are two halves of a single sheet of paper, which didn't fit on my scanner. They are one of the fabulous Brain Cells that Ryosuke has been sending out for many years. Read all about him and his project here 
and here at his official web site.

A very fascinating project and we always love receiving one for our mail art calls. 

Carla Cryptic, Berkely, California, USA

Carla is a very active mail artist and this card is very interesting with stitched lines, a skull charm, illustration, a lot to take in. You can see more of her here.

Natalia Rachanova, Saransk, Mordovia, RUSSIA

Natalia's skull has a forest of ideas, I think. The moon and stars live inside. What an evocative skull image.  The address side was interesting, also.  I couldn't find a web site for Natalia, but maybe she'll supply one after she reads this blog post.

Anonymous, Ft Bragg, California, USA

 This entry is shaped like a skull. I scanned it against a green background. The artist didn't give his or her name so I don't know who it is, BUT they did identify as being part of the Lost Coast Culture Machine.  We're pleased that members participated in this Mail ARt call.

This is made from wood! A think layer of wood with paper. Nice construction and made it through the mail perfectly.

Carolyn King, Fort Bragg, California, USA

 Carolyn is associated with the Lost Coast Culture Machine.  They do lots of interesting exhibits and activities. Wish it wasn't so far away from where I am. I like the irregular shapes of these entries.

Annette Jarvie, Mendocino, California, USA

 These two lovely cards came from Annette, who is a member of the Lost Coast Culture Machine. An Artists' collective that you can learn more about here.  If you're in the neighborhood, drop in and see them. The Machine looks very interesting.

Kapree Clark, Ephraim, Utah, USA

 Kapree describes her materials and processes on the reverse of these cards. She used handmade paper, acrylic paint, rubber stamps, and all to such too ends.

 You can consult with Kapree on her blog here.
She will tell you very cool stuff.  The rubber stamps are from http://SmearedInk.com

Aren't these really attractive pieces?

Mimi Regelson, Richmond, Virginia, USA

 Mimi made her entries using old postcards.

She used the reverse on one, so it's intriguing. What's the message?

Douglas Galloway, Cherry Valley, California USA

ceremonial mask

Here's one of Douglas' fine interesting photos. You can see more of his work in his Etsy shop, here.

Amuldo, Gouda, The NETHERLANDS

A scary good skull. We like the expression on it, very much. I think it needs a good caption. Got one for it. You can see more about Amuldo here.

Beli Zlatičanim, Podgorica, MONTENEGRO

This entry came with writing all of it, and on the reverse, with an envelope with cool stamps. I don't read Montenegran, so have no idea what it says, nor could I find a skull image, but wow, this is the first ever mail we've received from this country. Can anyone read this? If yes, tell us what it's about.

Daniel Boyer, Houghton, Michigan, USA

 Daniel always sends very unique pieces of Mail Art to calls. This one is quite fun.

His envelope arrived with an over abundance of postage stamps, more that was necessary, making it a very valuable collage in it's own right.

Pedro Bericat, Zaragosa, SPAIN

Pedro sent this to us with as an invitation to participate in his project. Maybe there's a skull in there somewhere. Can you find it? Here's his project site.

Heloisa Sonaglio, Porto Alegre, BRAZIL

Heloisa gives us a multi-layered image.  Very mysterious.

Zlatko Krstevski, Prilep, MACEDONIA

This drawing has me wondering? Is this fish large? Did it swallow a skull? Am I reading too much into this? It's really nice to have received mail from Macedonia. You can connect with Zlatko here.

Karen Wood, Big Bear Lake, California, USA

The very spatial background pattern puts this skully image right up front. Check out the eye holes!  Cool work. More on Karen at http://artmajeur.com/metalart

Jarmo Sermilä, Hämeenlinna, FINLAND

Isn't this so graphic? With that bold arrow and the direct composition. I like the way Jarmo makes us look in various directions with thie piece. Do you see the skull? More mail art by Jarmo can be seen here.  I have looked for a website for Jarmo Sermilä and, if I found the correct person, he has many talents.

Snappy, Victoria, BC, CANADA

 Snappy found many skull images to include in this collage piece. The address side continued the theme. What fun! You can see more Snappy here.

Wenchkin, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

 This entry by Wenchkin has sort of a Day of the Dead feeling to it. Very decorative.

This card has so many layers to it. Lots to see and absorb. The devil and angels skulls, the skull within a skull. The skeletal arms drawing, love it.

You can find out more about Wenchkin here.

R.F. Côté, Quebec, QC, CANADA

This interesting altered card arrived from Quebec. If you can read French, you can see the 2 different comments about the turkey.  I like the way the skull images are kind of like TVs. I wish I could give a link to more work by this artist, but none was given. Perhaps R.F. will find this site and let us know a bit more about themself.

Keith A. Buchholz, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Keith is a major person in the world of Mail Art, and keeper of archives of much to do with it, and the Fluxus West guy. You can read more about him here.

The Skull Appreciation Event Exhibition

 Mail art was installed on the wall to the right as you enter the upstairs gallery of Gallery5. My Skull was hung on the wall, like a trophy head, since I was the originator of this Mail Art call.

 The installers numbered each piece of Mail Art with tiny numbers. I took these photos on the night of the preview as I knew that the opening night would be very crowded.

 Close up of my head and some of the pieces of Mail Art.

 A selection of some of the 100 Skulls.

 Opening night, a whirl of people. We'd placed a list of all of the countries represented and all of the artists' names by country. Very cool! 18 countries, 45 artists, over 50 pieces.

What a night. The festivities continue today with a crafts activity in the downstairs gallery, and a dance tonight in the main room with 2 bands, burlesque, and more. Wish you were here. Oh, by the way, people have already put in donations for some of the Mail Art, which they'll pick up at the end of the exhibit.

Adamandia Kapsalis, Chicago, Illinois, USA

It's always fun to see what Adamandia submits. This is a nice change up for us. Hmm, is this an x-ray of her little dog? cat? I like the mystery of it.

You can see more of Adamandia's interest here.

Uli Grohmann, Munster, GERMANY

 Uli's entry is interesting on both sides. On the address side, you can see the images posted on two walls. They appear quite large. I'd like to know where the installation was located and the occasion.

Good question, right?



More of his work can be seen here.

Preview for Artists of Skull Appreciation Day tonight!

Oh, how I wish you could all be with us tonight.  I'll take photos so that you can see what the exhibit looks like.  Here is a link to an interview with Noah, the Skull-a-Day man. At that point, the Mail Art wasn't installed, so the skulls are the focus. Here's the link.

Roland Halbritter, Nuedlingen, GERMANY

Iceman

This piece is a gorgeous sheet of faux postage/artist stamps. The sheet (A4) is perforated and printed with an image of the Iceman that was found in the Italian Alps in 1991 by some climbers.
You can find out more about the Iceman here.

I wish this image could show the gold ink that is in some of these stamps.  Everyone who has seen this entry in person, so far, has been knocked out by it, meaning they liked it a lot.

More of what Roland did with the Iceman can be see here.

Alexandra Pharmakid, Austin, Texas, USA

 Alexandra sent an assortment of images for this exhibition. 

 This piece, Power Monster, is the largest of the three, being about 5.5 x 9" (14cm x 23) It's the only one with a title. I'm not sure it's a skull, looking more like a
star to me, but one never knows.

This is quite a complicated piece. I like how there's a lot of action and somewhat of a story being told. You can see more of her work here.

Valentine Mark Herman, Sigean, FRANCE

 Val says that he doesn't know the translation of the Norwegian, he's British.  I could take a guess at this. How about you?

 This entry is entitled "Even Skulls Dream."

This is the image used for the cover of Val's book, dicing with Death.   I turned over the other ephemera that Val sent to the SkullMeister, which included this image with the text on it. 

Val is active in daily mailings, including his daily envelopes which are works of art.

More Valentine Mark Herman can be seen here.http://www.val-herman-art.eu/