Meeting up with Melissa McCobb Hubbell

Don't you hate it when you go somewhere, and a LOT of cool stuff happens, and then you get home and want to blog about it and it's just TOO MUCH! That's where I am at today. How and where do I start!
I was gone the past week visiting my family on Long Island. During my stay, I met up with Melissa McCobb Hubbell, of AEZine and Erraticus zine fame, and we rekindled our old friendship and also attended the FLUXUS event at Printed Matter on Friday, April 16th. I want to give some details on all of this and I am thinking this will end up being a couple of blog posts!

Melissa McCobb Hubbell....I met Melissa maybe 10 years ago thru the Art Erratica list on Yahoo. She was the list owner and creator. There were a lot of people in that group that were interesting and offbeat and I knew instantly upon joining this group that I had found a new home. Melissa's work spoke to me immediately and so did work of others'. One day Melissa posted about starting a zine. I was looking for a project to delve into and I also had special privileges that would come in handy for zine production such a free access to a color laser printer! Amy Peacock, an Art Erratica member hailing from Snohomish, WA also joined up and for a few years, the 3 of us produced AEZine. Amy's life got kinda hectic and we were all 3 of us breathing at the seams trying to print this zine and making no profit from it. We regrouped and renamed the zine. For a little while longer, Melissa and I did Erraticus Zine, and then finally I dropped out and I believe Melissa continued on for another year or maybe 2 by herself before closing it out. She also found a lack of activity on the Art Erratica list and she closed this list. It was the end of a long era.
I know our personal lives sometimes get gnarly, and our art obligations and interests sometimes have to take a back seat while we just plain old LIVE! And so we did.
It's been a few years since Melissa and I have collaborated on anything and we both went in opposing directions. She went on to work with Somerset Magazine, began to craft collage kits that she could sell to arty types, and we didn't lost contact, but we didn't make contact either. I went in some kind of fine arts tailspin, and did my best to remove anything related to "craft" from my work. I wanted to be taken seriously, and being that Somerset is a craft magazine I was quite biased and avoided that crowd and that audience. (It is interesting to note that now I am attempting to remove my self imposed moratorium against craft! I get silly notions sometimes that are detrimental to my personal growth.)
So life goes on. And now both of us are in an entirely different place. I have gotten divorced. Found my personal freedom and art voice. Started this very blog. Found a new love. Had a successful solo shows. Been published. Been in a movie.
And so did hers. She also was published in books, got involved with different groups of people, starting selling kits, and found her personal life also coming to a head. She's currently working towards splitting up with her husband and gaining living independence, looking towards creative ways to make money, and struggling to find a way thru this adventure we call life... It was time for us to meet up again.
And meet up we did. We met in NYC last Friday at Tinsel Trading Co. It was a cool place to meet. I had heard of it before thru none other than Somerset magazine.

Walls of trim tantalized me

This wall of vintage millinery was outstanding. I stood there gaping for quite awhile...

A cool display--I love black and white anything
It's a special thing to have an artist as a friend. I can't tell you how inspiring it is to hear about things that others are doing, or how nice it is to be able to talk to someone who actually understands your creative side. I really appreciate my friendship with Melissa, and I am glad that we could meet up again this past week. I am hoping to con her into collaborating with me again, on SOMETHING! I don't know what yet. That seems to still be percolating!
You can read Melissa's blog here. You can shop for her collage kits here.
Amy's gallery for Art Erratica is still here.
AEZ links still online on my website:
3Queens Productions
AEZ 1
AEZ5
The head game