drawer metal cabi-
net. Among the
images are planes,
birds and faces.
Some stamps rest on Snell's
cluttered desk — "Believe it
or not, I know exactly where
everything is" ,-- beside 100
pads of night-black and
bright red, green, yellow and
blue ink, a grimacing
gargoyle and old cookie tins
filled with more rubber
stamps. Nearby are paper
dolls and the latest issue of
Rubber Stamp Madness, a
journal jam-packed with
news for those mad about
rubber stamps.
Snell discovered the joy of
stamping from her daughter,
Jane Fonfara. At first, Snell
admits, her artistic attempts
with the stamps were rather
stilted. Then in 1984 the
muse descended as she and
her husband, John, were
driving to San Diego.
"We were going through
the Great Plains states,
which are anything but
great," Snell says. "And I
started thinking about ways
to use stamps creatively."
The fruits of her labor can
be seen throughout her
home. One work, about Pres-
ident Ronald Reagan's visit
to the Bitburg Cemetery,
where Nazi soldiers are
buried, is called "Things Are
Never What They Seem." It
shows a tomb with stamps of
a hand and a wreath of
Groucho Marx (because of
his sardonic sense of humor,
Snell explains) and of an
elephant, to symbolize the
Republican Party.
Snell's interest in mail art
also is reflected in the large
collection of curious cor-
respondence stuck in folders
and files throughout her
home. Many letters, with
return addresses in Italy,
England and South
America, are sent to
"Maxie," Snell's nom de
plume in the mail art world.
"I sent something to
Japan, and I think I must
have written 'Marie' funny,
because the letter came back
addressed to 'Maxie,'" she
says. It's been 'Maxie' ever
since.
Among the mail art work
Snell has received is a small
piece of paper with a draw-
ing of a brain. Called "the
brain cell," it comes from
Japan and has been cir-
culated around the world.
"But nobody seems to know
exactly what it is," Snell
says.
She eventually decided to
add her own design to the
brain drawing and return it
to the sender, Ryosuke
Cohen. "I also asked him if
we could be related, since my

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