Jennifer Kosharek's Mail Art--Sending, Receiving

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Hey everyone! I met Mary Proctor today. She is a delightful folk art painter. She is being forced out of her art studio due to new zoning regulations. She has expressed an interest in mail art. Please feel free to send her a buck or two to help her with her situation.
Mary Proctor
P.O. Box 7597
Tallahassee, FL 32314

I also took a video of her today. Please watch it and share it! YOUTUBE VIDEO LINK

NEW ART CALL: UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA

Thank you to everyone who participated in UR TOY STORY! The show comes down this week--after about a month of enjoying the hospitality of Artpool Gallery in St. Petersburg, FL.

The new show... is:

UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA
Please create a mini flux box. I would like to see your utopia and/or dystopia in a box or tin. It can be like a diorama or a flux-kit--however you like to work... or find your own style and way to express an idea. Nothing bigger than a cigar box please. Show will be summer of 2011. Send to :
UTOPIA/DYSTOPIA
c/o Jennifer Kosharek
665 Jasmine Way South
St. Petersburg, FL 33705
All work will be included in the show. Work deadline is June 1, 2011.

Some food for thought gleaned from Wikipedia:

FLUXUS BOXES: The art forms most closely associated with Fluxus are event scores and Fluxus boxes. Fluxus boxes (sometimes called Fluxkits or Fluxboxes) originated with George Maciunas who would gather collections of printed cards, games, and ideas, organizing them in small plastic or wooden boxes
Utopia (pronounced /juːˈtoʊpiə/) is a name for an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system.^[1] The word was invented by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempted to create an ideal society, and fictional societies portrayed in literature.

A dystopia (from Ancient Greek: δυσ-: bad-, ill- and Ancient Greek: τόπος: place, landscape) (alternatively, cacotopia,^[1] or anti-utopia) is, in literature, an often futuristic society that has degraded into a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian. Dystopian literature has underlying cautionary tones, warning society that if we continue to live how we do, this will be the consequence. A dystopia is, thus, regarded as a sort of negative utopia and is often characterized by an authoritarian or totalitarian form of government. Dystopias usually feature different kinds of repressive social control systems, a lack or total absence of individual freedoms and expressions and constant states of warfare or violence. Dystopias often explore the concept of technology going "too far" and how humans individually and en masse use technology. A dystopian society is also often characterized by mass poverty for most of its inhabitants and a large military-like police force.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

a brief and mistake ridden synopsis of the evening of 9-11-2010

Bibiana Padilla Maltos invited Andrew Topel to play a game of Fluxus Memory... using bread. This was one of the many wonderful scores performed September 11, 2010. The doors opened at 7 pm at the Artpool gallery. Rebecca Zapen was our musical guest. Following Rebecca's superb melodic melodies... I handed out all the prizes and give aways. I tried to be pretty random but also matching up gifts with a person who might like it. (yes, I forgot to give tickets out...) Thank you to William Evertson for giving us several copies of his print, Red Sea Ducks. This was also the image used on the Artpool postcard invite. Then we started the Fluxus performance scores. The evening turned out to be an intimate occasion... as the audience was attentive and participating. At lunch that day-- "Mudhead" aka, Christopher Reynolds wrote a piece called, "Seeing Through Someone Else's Eyes." He would ask an audience member if he could try on their glasses. The FLUXUS performers were:
Keith Buchholz, Reid Wood, Ginny Lloyd, Christopher Reynolds, Bibiana Padilla Maltos, Reed Altemus, Mark Haber, Andrew Topel, Christine Flach, Truman Bentley Jr, and myself. Truman did a score called, "Video tape the whole weekend." You may purchase his dvd at a later time if you are interested. I really think everyone there was performing--audience too--cause it just felt like that. Hard to explain but it's like being able to be a part of the show and I think Fluxus can really do that... really allow people to connect on a different level. We are all a part of the "show."
I want to thank my mom, Joy Kosharek, for making some wonderful sweets for the occasion. Thank you Mom! Cafe Alma provided two trays of delicious appetizers. I'm a firm believer in art with food and drink. It was a fantastic evening of mail art, performances and treats. I want to thank Marina Williams for hosting the show and treating us like art stars. I also want to thank all the volunteers who literally make the event happen! Thank you to everyone who sent in mail art to UR TOY STORY--believe me when I say that people who viewed your work were thoroughly impressed.

Please check out...

...the photos on my other blog... you may recognize some of your mail art/FLUXUS friends! Or you may put a face to that person you've been getting mail from for years!
www.wee-hoo.blogspot.com

UR TOY STORY mail art Installation at the Artpool gallery, St. Petersburg, FL

Here is a sampling of photos from the UR TOY STORY mail art show. You can still see the show... for about a month... it will be hanging at the Artpool Gallery in St. Petersburg, FL. Artpool is open Tues-Thursday from noon to 6 pm and Friday and Saturday from Noon to 7 pm. There are about 500 pieces displayed from 23 different countries. Thank you everyone who sent in work to this show. You are the art heroes! It has been my honor to receive this work. Thank you again.