Mailart 365 has moved

Let's all celebrate the creativity of women throughout the ages. Not just in the fine arts, but in all areas of life!

I've been working with fabrics for decades and with using fabric for postcards for several years.  I love contemporary commercial fabrics; I find them delightful and exciting and varied and alive with color -- and the holidays have all of those things and more.  5 of 365, Boo Cartledge.  Sent to Brent Leopold.

December 4, 2010 in Louisville, Kentucky, where the snow is falling, the streets are icy, and the furnace is warm.  By Boo Cartledge.  No. 4 of 365, sent to Jennifer Kosharek.

I'm sending this one to dear Richard Canard.

Wishing everyone a tweet and charming year of mail art.  Sent to Lindsay Stewart.

I woke up this morning uncertain whether it was November 30 or December 1.  When I  realized it was the former, I decided to clean the kitchen,  including stove and refrigerator.  It's pretty much now or never.

I started my mailart blog to document my daily mailart, all of which contained snippets or pages from the book I had published in 2003.  Changes since then have made many parts of the book inaccurate, so I wanted to find a good use for it.  You can hop over for a look.

I use a lot of fiber and textiles.  Also, I post all of the mailart I receive.

I'm confident about the first 250 days but have a feeling the ones after that are going to be -- not a chore, but work.  And I love the rhythm of daily work.  And I have no theme.  So far.  But tomorrow is another day.  Meet you in the stratosphere then.

Boo Cartledge

A few of the members of this group have "known" me for awhile via IUOMA, but some of you have never met me. Plus, I told Andy that I'd tell him something about my background at some point. As I've mentioned, I've been making Mail Art for a number of years, leading workshops on making Mail Art, introducing my University students to M.A. and presenting talks about Mail Art.  I taught in the Art Foundation program of a major university for many years as an adjunct, first for 11 years, then for another 7 years. The break was to get another degree and work in another field where I could make more money (the kids were getting older, college costs loomed ahead of us.) When I returned to teaching, I didn't want to go back to being a painter, no more pigment for me, no more big abstract expressionist paintings, nope! Done, over that! My studio is small now, so small work is perfect for me, and what better small work than Mail Art. What did I teach at University? I taught basic 2 and 3 d design, color theory, drawing, and general creative studio classes. Over time, I developed a color course that included Albers Interaction of Color, and some history of dyes and pigments. I call this course Color Journey and teach it at our fine arts museum studio school. I love teaching adult students. I don't need to do grading, which I hated, and I get to share what I know with people eager to learn. No kidding, this is good! On a personal note, my husband is an artist. He taught for many years at university in graphic design and illustration. Now he's retired and makes art full-time. This Friday, he has an exhibit opening of his new works with clay. Our daughter trained as a fine art photographer but works in video now (though her day job is as a digital media stategist.) Her most recent documentary is on the Mermaids of New York. Our son is a graphic designer. He's also the skull-a-day guy, which some of you may know. What else, hmmm, well, I read a lot, always have, I knit, I have an Etsy shop, I put my photos on Flickr, I have a blogger blog and a wordpress blog (recipes) and I love writing letters. I'm a member of the Richmond Peace Education Center, I'm a volunteer with Books For Soldiers.
Okay, more information than you ever wanted! Let the Mail Art roll!