2005 events


Field Study International meeting at the Tate Modern on January 7 :

On a very windy day, in front of the Tate Modern and witnessed by everybody that was at the moment having lunch at the restaurant and several windblown passersby, we wrapped David Dellafiora in toilet paper which had stamped on every sheet the words: UNDER COVER FIELD STUDY. We were all wearing black T-shirts with the same words printed in white on it plus DELLAFIORA AT THE TATE MODERN, then we all took our field glasses and closely examined the field, symbolically represented by a piece of paper with the word FIELD on it. The performance was devised, organized, paid for and facilitated by Peter and Angela Netmail, to whom we are all very grateful. The commemorative postcard above was also the creation of the Netmails.
Peter presenting David with Netmail Mail Art	Afterwards while having lunch Angela painstakingly cut and dated forty of the toilet paper sheets that had been used to wrap up David. You can see her, in the red coat, hard at work in the photos below. We all signed the sheets of paper, which will be included in one David's 'Wipe' books. We exchanged our latest mail art calls, Peter in his postman's uniform presented David with a yellow box from the German Post Office filled with many Mail Art goodies and we all had a great time. Also present were Sue Hartigan, Eamon Kirwan, Ben Phillips, Simon, a friend of David's, Vic Scott, Bernd Reichert, Dawn Redwood, Geoff Stoker, Lisa Katzenstein and my husband John in the role of photographer.

On the left: Geoff Stoker, David Dellafiora, Ben Phillips
On the right: LIsa Katzenstein, next is Simon, Eamon Kirwan, Peter Netmail

On the left: Sue Hartigan, John Aitchison, Angela Netmail
On the right: Vic Scott, Bernd Reichert, Dawn Redwood

and Vic Scott with me.

		Grandparents and Grandchildren Book : This project was born when Nicole was born. She opened her eyes to this troubled world in South America. I wonder what to give her and after thinking a while I came upon this idea: what better than to give her a gift that cannot be bought, the gift of Mail Art? This fairy godmother’s gift would show her that, despite appearances, there is still a good deal of goodwill, friendship and collaboration going around. So I have compiled a book with the help of my friends, forty-three of them, who have made a page or more each. Mostly the artwork is pictorial, very few wrote stories but the most interesting fact is that almost all entries refer to grandmothers or grandchildren, only very few to grandfathers.
I married at 23 and our first child, Alan, was born a year later followed by Vanessa the next year. Foolishly I assumed I was going to be a grandmother in my forties or early fifties at the latest and was looking forward to enjoy my grandchildren with leisure because, as to my children, I never had enough time with them, with all the chores and having to earn my living as well. Besides, with our kids, bringing them up to be decent people takes priority and certain degree of severity is necessary but our grandchildren we can indulge and spoil; is up to the parents to educate them, I think. I particularly was looking forward to have grandchildren to take them to those art workshops in museums where little kiddies and the adult companions do fun and messy things with paint and papers and glue, fascinating but you cannot join without a child. As I got to my sixties without any grandchildren on the horizon I found myself taking an interest in the children of my friends in Mail Art, Archie, the talented and artistic youngest member of A1 whose main interest at the moment is computer animation, and Luca and Toni, the two beautiful babies of Gianni and Hisako Simone. There is also Charlotte, a French schoolgirl who started to correspond regularly with me after she sent work for one of my projects, a long time ago, part of a group participation by Reine Chad. In a way it could be said that I have adopted them as Mail Art Grandchildren. But as it would happen when a couple that cannot have babies decide to adopt and sure enough then they produce one of their own, nine months ago my son Alan and his wife Denise presented me with a baby girl, Nicole. Nicole is lovely, very sweet and friendly, but she is in Venezuela and I am in England, so she is too a sort of Mail Art Grandchild.

	Sand Stormer, designed and drawn by Archie, A1 member.		Archie in uniform, will the hostage get it?

Charlotte's Christmas card	Luca Simone		Fish Going to School, by Luca

Other news in brief :

The Shopping Bag Gallery

most memorable appearance of 2005 was at the performance devised by Peter Netmail in front of the Tate Modern in

January, during the Field Study Meeting, see above. David Dellafiora is holding it in the photo. It was a very windy day and David needed a extra pair of hands to hold on to all that paper as well and look through the field glasses.

The Shopping Trolley Gallery

went its way as usual among the local shops and supermarkets

and further afield too. Here we are in Camberwell in front of the Esperanza with Mehmet, the owner of the café. In March at the latest the artists whose work is displayed now will receive colour postcards of it as documentation .

The Wash Bag Gallery

made its appearance on Christmas day, a present from my daughter. She had found this plastic hold-all with two transparent pockets on each side and realized its possibilities so she bought it for me. It is ideal to display Artist Trading Cards, a side of Mail Art I have just discovered and to which I am rapidly developing a strong addiction

Responding to an invitation by Pat Collins and I, postcards arrived through the Summer on the theme of The Path of Peace. As it turned out Pat could not find a venue for the show, so I put it on line. You can still see this great collection of artwork by clicking on the snail which bears its name at the bottom of the home page.

The display of Mail Art at the Café Esperanza on the theme of Hope has been already documented in several A4 posters every 20 participants, one is under preparation at the time of writing this.