The Miss Noma Fun Club Lives!! (Sort Of)

 

Mail art to the Miss Noma Fan Club by Gerda Osteneck (Canada)

Miss Noma and the Miss Noma Fan Club (aka Miss Noma Fun Club) are already legends of the Eternal Network. And remain a mystery.

In this installment of Glam Faction, we present cards addressed to Miss Noma sent to us by Gerda Osteneck (Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada) and Aaron Krach (Brooklyn, New York, USA). Gerda is a longtime GF fave while Mr. Krach is unknown to us. 

Let's "talk turkey" as we used to say in the Mink Ranch Bunk House, Glam2 Glam. 

We have no idea who Miss Noma is or was, most likely several people. The extraordinary De Villo Sloan (DVS) does not know Miss Noma's identity. More important, De Villo Sloan is not Miss Noma. He received cryptic messages at IUOMA-Ning from several people claiming to be Miss Noma.

As the result of confusion, prank or both, several years ago DVS began inexplicably receiving mail for the Miss Noma Fun Club. This mail began to appear at MinXus-LynXus. We will do our best to share it on GF for the rabid fringe that still clings to all Miss Noma makes and utters.

Mail art to the Miss Noma Fan Club by Gerda Osteneck (Canada)

Mail art to the Miss Noma Fan Club by Aaron Krach (USA)

Mail art to the Miss Noma Fan Club by Aaron Krach (USA)

One-way ticket from the mysterious Atte Ourie (Helsinki, Finland)

 

Mail art by Atte Ourie (Helsinki, Finland)

Mail art is filled with mysteries, riddles, paradox and cryptic messages. Attentive Glamsters can even see it here on our humble blog where we seek to remove the smoke and mirrors for you!

Tonight we welcome - for the first time on Glam Faction! - the mysterious and enigmatic Atte Ourie of Finland who is a bona fide mail art legend. For years, Atte Ourie has been sending wonderful art around the world. They are messages written in strange symbols (probably asemic) that no one has been able to decode. Sometimes Atte Ourie sends beautiful maps, but no one has been able to locate places represented on these (apparent) maps. 

Strangest of all, unusual in all of mail art as far as we know, Atte Ourie provides no return address. So Atte Ourie chooses to send you art, but you have no way to respond. (We do believe, however, that s/he watches mail art blogs and platforms closely.) Atte Ourie does have a blog: 

http://attenblog.blogspot.com/

In the Eternal Network, one-way communication might seem self-defeating; it might even be viewed negatively. But Atte Ourie's "shtick" has proved endearing and enduring. Indeed, we venture to say s/he has become a beloved network presence. Atte's art "grows on you," as they used to say on the Mink Ranch.

So we're thrilled to welcome Atte Ourie to Glam Faction.

Gothic mail art by Maxima Strange (Ohio, USA)

 

Mail art by Maxima Strange (Bradner, Ohio, USA)

We're thrilled to extend a warm Post-MinXus welcome to Maxima Strange of Ohio on this, her first appearance at the Glam Faction. 

Maxima Strange is, as they say figuratively, "knocking them dead" at IUOMA-Ning with her FAB gothic mail art. We deeply appreciate that she took the time to send this tremendous & representative work to Glam Faction. 

Here at the Faction - as in MinXus days - we watch Eternal Network trends. We're seeing a tendency toward the macabre & strange in correspondence art. As far as we know, Maxima Strange is a newcomer to mail art. Regardless, we see her as an innovator in this new genre of gothic mail art. So we'll call her "an emerging artist to watch."

Somewhere someone started the popular phrase, "We're living in a Stephen King novel." This certainly defines the current world situation in a few words. This age of pandemic, burning post offices, mail disruptions and social unrest is touching mail artists personally & uniquely. It's not at all surprising that some mail art would turn to the rich gothic tradition in art, literature & music for expression. In fact, this is not the first time. 

Deepest thanks to Maxima Strange. We look forward to more art!

Cryptic Trashpo, Post-Pop & more! by Julie VanBortel Matevish

Mail art by Julie VanBortel Matevish (Rochester, New York, USA)

 

 

We are thrilled to introduce you to Julie VanBortel Matevish for this, her Glam Faction debut.

 

Julie VanBortel Matevish has participated in mail art previously and has even done some homework in Trashpo and apparently MinXus as well, although we have only encountered her work very recently and do not recognize her from the "long, dusty trail" that emerges from yesteryears. That's okay.

 

We do know she is an excellent visual artist and graphic designer. The material she sent is not what we expected, but mail art should be a surprise! And let us make the point now lest Glamsters think us "mean" or "grumpy" that we very much admire what the Julie VanBortel so kindly sent.

 

In our memoirs of how we "broke in" to the Eternal Network we have on other occasions and on other venues described how in youth we began receiving bags (not envelopes but bags!) of mail art from New York City. Via Dick Higgins' Something Else Press, our name had been added to some mailing lists connected to classic Fluxus circles.

 

We have also described how in our youthful innocence we were not so much intrigued as shocked and fearful that somehow the inhabitants of a very populous lunatic asylum had obtained our personal address. We began to accept and understand mail art quickly. Yet that initial shock is etched in memory. We have only experienced  that feeling - upon opening thousands of envelopes and packages thereafter - a very few times (mostly during the nascence of Neoism).

 

We take this circuitous trail of explication in order to help inform you, dearest Glamsters, that we cannot offer you much help in understanding what Julie VanBortel Matevish is trying to communicate, although we deeply support her in her artistic pursuits and assure her she mailed this work to exactly the right place. We have found a new Kryptic Kween?

 

Eternal Networkers tell us we are experts at decoding cryptic mail art. Alas, please tell us if you have any idea what JVBM is saying. Perhaps over time all will become clear as an azure sky in summer. Until then, deepest thanks to Julie! 

 

 

 

 

By Julie VanBortel Matevish

 

 

 

 

By Julie VanBortel Matevish

 

 

 

 

 

By Julie VanBortel Matevish

 

 

 

 

 

By Julie VanBortel Matevish

 

 

Personal fave:

 

 

 

By Julie VanBortel Matevish

 

 

 

 

By Julie VanBortel Matevish

 

 

 

 

Precious inspects suspicious packages that arrive at Glam Faction offices

 

 

 

Oh no, not the feet thing again!