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Turning stamps into works of art

Shirley Familian, 93, sits next to her artwork titled "Coco" inside her Westwood home. She "tattooed" the life-size mannequin with hundreds of stamps; one of its hands rests on a clear plastic pillow that is stuffed with thousands of perforated stamp edges.

Shirley Familian, 93, sits next to her artwork titled “Coco” inside her Westwood home. She “tattooed” the life-size mannequin with hundreds of stamps; one of its hands rests on a clear plastic pillow that is stuffed with thousands of perforated stamp edges.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

For 25 years, 93-year-old Shirley Familian of Westwood has been honoring mail carriers everywhere by turning canceled postage stamps into art.
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Stamps with an edge

The life-size mannequin’s hand rests on a clear plastic pillow that is stuffed with thousands of perforated stamp edges saved by Familian’s assistant of 10 years, Maite Deen.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Showing her stamp art

A three-month exhibition of Familian’s fanciful designs has opened at the Los Angeles Craft & Folk Art Museum.   (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

The artist at work

Familian shows a Times reporter her work space inside her home in Westwood. A lifelong stamp collector, she said she has always admired the designs printed on tiny gummed postage labels.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

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