A Bitten Biscuit

I am trying to catch up on my postings from last year. Back in March, this German postcrosser wrote, "I am making a diet, one week just eating annoying vegetables." I guess the hunger got to her. Deutsche Post thought they had mangled the card. They politely sealed it in a recyclable bag before sending to me. I love postal interventions such as this!

Freedom Stamps

"Henceforward shall be free..." key words from the Emancipation Proclamation are beautifully imprinted on this January 2013 stamp. USPS art director Antonio Alcalá commissioned graphic artist Gail Anderson to design the stamp and the Hatch Show Print of Nashville Tennessee, one of the oldest working letterpress print shops in the US, produced the effect of Civil War era broadsides. 

Note to self: mail rates go up January 27!

Happy New Year!

What a beautiful night New Year's Eve was! I was surrounded by happy, dancing friends. We enjoyed our bowl of red posole and blew our horns when 2013 arrived. This time, I had the presence of mind to tape Yukutoshi/Kurutoshi so I watched the year change in all the sacred places in Japan before falling asleep. Today it's bright and sunny and I've already made tons of New Year's food to bring to a osechi ryori party.

 

Mike made this card with the snake stamp I got in Japan in October. The New Year's greeting is from a previously purchased stamp.

Mom sent the New Year's stamp sheet from Japan as a Christmas gift. Each year, the Japan Post folks ask famous artists and calligraphers to create their version of "hebi," or snake. It's always cool to see all the variations of that one character.

Bold & Beautiful

This colorful and oversized poscard arrived from Creativity Explored. Vincent Jackson, one of the artists at the center, will have a solo show in January.

Cut and Sewn

A card from a Russian postcrosser, cut smaller than regular size, and decorated with sewn red thread.

Best and the Worst

This amazing card arrived from a postcrosser in Belarus. It is a testament to the fact that altered cards, no matter how funky, can travel safely from one country to the next. She tore apart a card of Belarusian stamps and pieced it together on her musical notes. She said the experience made her think of the worst sides of her life and the best. The back of the card had a note in red to the post officers to deliver without any troubles. Deliver they did, to my absolute delight.

Her Version of the Nutcracker

And this is my favorite card today. This Russian postcrosser dressed up the ballet card with collage that makes for a wonderful nutcracker scene.

Tomb of Confucius

The ornate gates leading to Confucius' tomb. Note the dead tree on the left.

What Finns Eat

A lovely winter card from a Finnish postcrosser. She wrote down the typical foods eaten by a Finn: milk products, rye bread, Karelian pasty, Karelian hotpot, reindeer saute, meatballs, smoked fish, rice pudding, rye pudding, squeaky cheese, minced meat, cinnamon bun.  Yum! Will have to look up recipes. Noticeably absent: any mention of fruits or vegetables.

All Signs Point To....

A Canadian postcrosser sent this card with a note that said that her late husband purchased the card from his birthplace in Ireland. She lives in northern British Columbia surrounded by nature. I love the little yellow mailbox, over which she's drawn herself, waiting for her postcard!

Handmade Christmas

Top card made by Gloria and Cynthia; bottom card made by Riko. I had to resort to sending store-bought cards this year for the first time in many years. These cards are reminders that in 2014, I can go back to the pleasure of mail art.

2013 Christmas

This has been a Christmas of lowered expectations because of my current workload. Still, I received some lovely cards from friends and family. Clockwise from top left: artist S. Yagi's co-joined twins, brother Eugene's shape card from Japan, artist S. Cornett's mushrooms (my favorite European theme!), and an Artspan card of a drawing by a child from the Bessie Carmichael School.

Oh Starry Night!

 

My friend Susan made this gorgeous card of stars pieced with old Christmas cards. This is the first year that I've foregone making cards for the Holidays and this lovely gift will be a reminder that in two years I will be free again to create.

Inuit Card

I received this lovely card announcing the Cape Dorset annual print collection. My husband and I started collecting Inuit art in the 1980's, when we went to Quebec City. In San Francisco, there's a shop called Images of the North that carries a nice collection of Inuit work, from lithographs to sculpture to jewelry. It's a dream of mine to visit Cape Dorset, but right now I'm content to receive a card filled with squawking geese.

View from Above

I was looking forward to this gorgeous sheet all year. It reminds me of the Cloudscape stamps from years ago, but instead of looking up, these sheets look down. When I have a moment, I think I will create a set of cityscape artistamps in response to these earthscapes.

Land of Postcrossing

A wonderful altered card from a Dutch postcrosser. She writes, "I really enjoyed pimping the postcard." Indeed - the corners were carefully burned and the back of the card has lovely coffee stains on it as well as a postcrossing stamp. Thanks so much for creating this work of art!

Voyage from Poland

A beautiful postcard from a Polish postcrosser. I love the use of jute, buttons and text!

Tokyo and Kobe

This is a Toraya card, advertizing an exhibition of the making of wagashi (Japanese sweets).  I never made it to the show but loved the card.

I happened to attend the opening of the Yokoo Tadanori Museum of Contemporary Art in Kobe. It was a beautiful, new building but I wasn't too impressed with the selection of his works. I wanted to see more of his graphic collage work, like this postcard's. Instead, there were a lot of repetitive paintings of a female diver, and a woman openly drooling. I didn't know if he was trying to be droll or fetishistic, but they didn't work for me.

A Very Special Treat

Whenever my mother and I walk the Ginza, we stop at Toraya for something sweet. They specialize in adzuki-based sweets that can be enjoyed with matcha or coffee. This time, they had seasonal chestnuts on the menu, so that is what I ordered. The glass bowl comes filled with jellied agar cut up into flowers, leaves and cubes, peeled chestnuts, and chestnut puree, and azuki beans. I enjoyed it with a frothy cup of bitter matcha. My mother enjoyed the traditional yokan with matcha. It was such a pleasure to be in Tokyo once again!

2012 Japanese Stamps

 

1,000 Year Anniversary of the Tale of Genji 

 

Waka poets and their poems, issued on Letter-Writing Day

 

I just returned from a family visit to Japan.  As usual, I was on the prowl for interesting mail-related items. It is sad that the country is devoid now of the elongated red mail boxes, though I found one painted over in a ghastly beige tone.  

 

Japan post often sets up pop-up post offices in surprising places, and this is where you can purchase gorgeous commemorative stamps. I found a postal van parked on the back footpath of Kyoto's Kiyomizu temple. Two earnest postal workers had a spread of gorgeous stamps on their folding table. No one seemed to notice or care, but I made a bee-line. I was delighted to find the Tale of Genji stamps, issued in 2008 to commemorate the 1,000-year anniversary of Lady Murasaki's novel. The equally fabulous hyakunin isshu stamp provides portraits of 12th century poets, the poems in script, and the text reproduced in standard Japanese.