Mail Art News #29: Forward to the Past


MP Anker's Mail Art New's, 1979/1980


Now, while there have been some independent newsletters / magazines devoted to the topic of mail art news over the years, an internet search for "mail art news" to see if this blog shows up in the search results yet has uncovered some very interesting artifacts from the past.


In 1979/1980, MP Anker sent 200 sheets of letterhead to artists in his network, asking them to add to and then pass along to other artists, and then return to him once the sheet was full. 




MP Anker's Mail Art New's

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


We have only this photograph to indicate that there was a Mail Art News distributed by Friedhelm Schulz in 1985.


._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


Also uncovered an impressive online archives: Lomholt Mail Art Archive, 63 pages of envelopes and their contents. 





_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 


Another resource uncovered: Artpool, the Experimental Art Archive of East-Central Europe, (pdf) 537 pages, includes a great deal of mail art.


_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 


Oh, and speaking of interviews, Abigail Ogilvy interviews Jonathan Stangroom. He's on IUOMA. 




Comments

  1. PamMay 4, 2023 at 7:29 PM

    This is fantastic! I love seeing mail art from the past. It has a different feel to it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BomTrownMay 5, 2023 at 12:37 PM

      Thanks for commenting Pam. It sure does have a different visual feel to it. Why is that? I would guess it has to do with the different materials available, different technologies, and different design ideas floating around at those times.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thank you for commenting.

Popular posts from this blog

Mail Art News # 67: Jimmy Hackney

Image
  drawing by  Jimmy Hackney Thomas Brown (TB): Hi Jimmy. Your profile on IUOMA says you've been a mail artist since 2023. How did you learn about mail art? Jimmy Hackney (JH): I was dropping off some art at a friend’s ( Steve O. Black ) house for an upcoming event. We began talking about some of the projects he was working on. Then, he comes to one of his storage bins and asks me,  “Have you ever heard of mail art?” I said, “No, what is it?” He pulled out fascinating pieces of art. My mind was completely blown. I could not believe that this kind of thing existed. I asked, “People send you these!!?!” It was like hearing music for the first time. He told me that he was a member of IUOMA and suggested that I join. So, I did. He said, “Find someone to send art to.” “Easier said than done, right?” As it turns out, it was indeed that easy. I picked out an address and let it rip. I can’t remember who the first person was that I sent mail to. I sent out approximately 20 at that ...
Read more

Mail Art News # 68: FEB 22, 2024

Image
Greetings from the Moon from Francis Lammé   I just had the idea the other day that I'd like Mail Art News to be a little more like MAD Magazine , so why not eh? You might see more goofy drawings in the future.  goofy drawing by T. Brown, FEB 2024 And with that, let us take a look at the incoming mail.  from  Francis Lammé from Bancks from Jimmy Hackney from  Jimmy Hackney from RCBZ Outgoing: I'm going to buckle down and send some mail art to Stephanie Lentz Morrison today. I'm gonna do it! This one will be in there, along with some other stuff I made and some other stuff I didn't make. T. Brown, Feb 2024 Don't forget about Pam's mail art vlog .  Book alert! Tentatively A Convenience has released the following publication, full of memories, pictures, and accompanying text (87 pages). Here it is on Amazon . And there's a Baltimore connection. If you've ever lived in Baltimore and maybe you went to MICA or had any artistic leanings, you probably visited...
Read more

Mail Art News #62: January 1, 2024

Image
wuh-pish, wuh-pish , some bizarre North Carolinian inner hellscape collage from Jon Foster , 2023 It's 2024 here on Earth according to the common calendar used by the majority of humans on Earth. Does anybody really know what time it is? It could in fact really be the year 13.7 billion or even 26.7 billion depending on who you ask at NASA about the age of the universe. While that's being worked out in detail, I'm going with the year 2024. Enter the Dragon .  I'm happy to report that I have a perforating machine now, a birthday present from Mail Art News media specialist, Ariel Greenwood . Get your own here . It works well enough for my purposes, but there's no precise way to line up exactly where the holes will be punched. You just have to feel it out with your eyes each time. The AI generated intergalactic postage stamps look pretty good. You may have noticed my absence for several weeks. That's because November and December were extra busy this year at my day ...
Read more