Title: The northwest mounted valise
Description: A collection of "mail art" by the Philadelphia artist and songwriter Stuart Horn. The work is a collection drawn from Stu's ongoing contributions to the mail art movement started by Ray Johnson. Stuart Horn went on to do more and more complex collages constructed from materials clipped from newspapers, ranging from "concrete poetry" to satires of existing features to elaborate pieces with dialogue and the creation of depth and a sense of place. Horn also wrote fro Sesame Street and other children's television. His translation of The Insect Comedy by the Capek brothers was formed into a musical in collaboration with Ken Hymes and Jiri Zizka which was performed to acclaim at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, and later staged at Lincoln Center. For a time, Stu's band Horn and Hard Art recorded and performed in New York and Philadelphia. Horn passed away in 2008.