Where Art and Mail Collide
This lens is my attempt at pulling the various strands of the mail art movement into one cohesive resource. Mail Art, or Postal Art, is many things to many people: sending art randomly to friends, swapping art covered envelopes with other artists and many variations including artist trading card swaps.
My friends involved in correspondence art in the 1980's and '90's were counterculture folk interested in recycling and giving postal workers something interesting to look at. I found mail art to be part intellectual artsy snobbishness (and I can talk cause I've been there, done that) and part silly madness. It was a way to let the otherwise serious artist's trickster side come out. Today there are so many people of varying degrees of artsy-ness sending works of art through the mail to each other that it's become more of a fad and less of a statement. But, at the same time, I think it's a good thing that the line between an "artist" and the rest of the populace is getting blurred. To me, the concept of mail art is what started that merging of worlds.
Art courtesy of Lord Marmalade on Flickr
Mail Art of the Day
Butterfly Post by theresahall on Flickr
Mail Art Calls/Projects/Swaps/Invitations
Opportunities to send and receive mail art.
- BIG QUESTIONS
- Send mail art asking a significant question. Deadline is September 30, 2008.
- Mail art Page
- **THIS MAIL ART PAGE IS UPDATED ON A WEEKLY BASIS** The Mail Art Projects listed here come from a variety of sources. Please contact me if you want to announce your own mail art project : Gandha Key, email:gandha07[@]yahoo.co.uk
- Mail Art Projects
- Overview of Mail-Art projects provided by the authors of this blog. If you want to enter information as well. Send an e-mail to info@iuoma.org The blog can contain all kind of projects the group wants to share. There is also a blog for a general Mail-Art Discussion
What's a swap?
A swap involves a group who sends the set amount of entries to the swap leader, who then sends them back out to members of the group.
How to Do It
Different methods to create your mail art
- Mail Art at Art By the Yard
- A brief explanation of how to create mail art.
- Go Make Something - Mail Art How-To Instructions
- What On Earth Is Mail Art? * Metal Flashing Mail Art * Plastic Bottle Mailgrams
- How to Be a Good Mail Art Participant - Associated Content
- Might be obvious to some, but if you've never exchanged art by mail this is a good list of what to do.
Mail Art Books
Mail Art Blogs
- Mail Art Postcard Exhibition
- This is an exhibit of mail art postcards. Any techniques or media are welcome, from hand made to digital creations. Not all cards submitted will be posted. Artists may send their pieces by traditional postal mail or by email.
- Frips Mail Art Blog
- The catalog/blog of mail artist Frips.
- A.1.Mail Art Archive
- Current blog that catalogs mail art.
- arriving and outgoing mail art
- "In this blog you can see my outgoing mail art - collARTages - as well as the arriving mail art."
- mailXart
- mailxart's journalLog
What is a mail art call or exhibition?
A mail art call and/or exhibition is when a piece of art is sent in to be displayed either in a real life or virtual exhibition.
Postal Art Exhibitions
See also "Mail Art Calls/Projects/Swaps/Invitations" above
- International Mail Art Exhibition in Malaysia
- Galleries of mail art received for a 2006 exhibition.
- Mail Art Postcard Exhibition
- This is an exhibit of mail art postcards. Any techniques or media are welcome, from hand made to digital creations. Not all cards submitted will be posted. Artists may send their pieces by traditional postal mail or by email.
- Mail Art Exhibition at Niagara Community College
- Exhibition Dates March 18 - April 18, 2008. Any mail art arriving after opening date will be included in the exhibition.
Correspondence Art Gallery
i heart sgodt
collaborationkellyap...
collaborationkellyap...
Red Box Card
Red Box Card
Chele's 1st mailart
be a dear
collaborationjustin7
collaborationjustin8...
collaborationjustin1...
collaborationjustin9
a tin can on a strin...
collaborationjustin4
collaborationjustin6
collaborationjustin5
collaborationjustin1
collaborationjustin3
collaborationjustin2
Ray Johnson, the "father" of modern mail art
After a decade of making collages he wondered what to do with them all and started sending them out in the mail to friends and acquaintances along with instructions to send the pieces on and even alter them. In 1962 he dubbed it "The New York Correspondance (sic) School".
The documentary How to Draw a Bunny inspired me to create this lens. It shows how even the most eccentric and celebrated artists have the same problems as the rest of us artistically.
Artistamps
An outgrowth of mail art, artistamps are faux postage usually featuring imaginary places.
Nick Bantock
The man who made mail art mainstream
Further Reading
- The Electronic Museum of Mail Art
- Chuck Welch's online museum of mail art.
- Postal Art History
- A brief history of postal art from the turn of the 20th century.
- Mail Art | Artist Trading Cards | Artistamps
- Links to mail art or postal art information and art calls.
- Vortice Argentina
- A wealth of information about mail art here.
- Mail Art
- A group of sites (webring) with content relating to mail art. Probably more information here than you can ever have time to get through.
- Open Directory - Arts: Visual Arts: Mail Art and Artistamps
- A huge list of links about mail art.
- A Mail Artist's Anthology. Ruud Janssen , TAM & IUOMA , 28 Year History in MAIL ART.
- MAIL ART. MY WORK IN THE MAIL ART NETWORK. MAIL ARTIST. PUBLISHER OF MAIL INTERVIEWS, FOUNDER OF THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF MAIL-ARTISTS IUOMA, TAM RUBBERSTAMP ARCHIVE, TRAVELLING MAIL ART
The Artist Trading Card or ATC
Artist Trading Cards are another outgrowth of mail art. They are individual pieces of art created on 2.5 x 3.5 inches substrates (the size of playing cards). Technically they are never sold, only traded. ACEOs, or Artist Cards Editions & Originals are the commercial version.
Astarte's Mega-Zine
Go Make Art!
A high quality, downloadable, e-zine in the style of Somerset Studio or Cloth, Paper Scissors with articles by and about popular artists such as Claudine Hellmuth, Lee Silbers, Leslie Riley and others. Not only are there articles about everything from collage to polymer clay to felting to creativity and beyond, there is free clipart in every issue!Take it from someone who has subscribed to Somerset Studio from it's beginning, Astarte's Mega-Zine is in the same league. It's gorgeous and very much worth taking a look at!
Casa Maison Haus von Collage
The blog of mail artist Jim Kaufmann of Iowa City, Iowa
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byFascinating Looks Inside the Postal Art Movement
and some pretty pictures, too
Comments
Are you a mail art maven?
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CleanFace
Nice lens! 5 stars given! :) Posted May 17, 2008 |
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spirituality
Like the lens, but I'd love to see more examples. Posted May 14, 2008 |
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enslavedbyfaeries
This is such an interesting subject...I received mail art in the 70's when my dad would write me letters with elaborate watercolor artwork on the envelopes. I still treasure them and love the art mixed with the old stamps and postmarks. Beautifully done lens. 5*'s Posted May 13, 2008 |
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Clairwil
You're up for Lens Of The Week! Posted May 13, 2008 |
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aeliason
Very nicely done! So much information and it makes me want to join in! I like the idea of fun serious art. Posted April 18, 2008 |
