Mail Art News #35: Mail Art Saved His Life
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| Hazeleye by Cameron Terhune |
As mentioned in Mail Art News #34, IUOMA member Sarah Roe sent me a link to Cameron Terhune's article: My Ukrainian Correspondence Saved My Life. We then discussed the possibility of doing an interview with him, and since Sarah has an ongoing electronic communication with him, she agreed to serve as the go-between for this Q and A. The following interview was conducted by email on May 18, 2023. -T. Brown
How and when did you first get into mail art?
Cameron Terhune (CT): I got started in mail art before I knew what mail art was, back in about 2011 or so. I had recently been transferred into a less restrictive prison where reading material and pens, pencils and the like were allowed. I didn't have anyone to write, but I was hurting for lack of human contact so I started writing to addresses I found in the numerous zines and free literature floating around the yard. I don't remember the exact progression but I got ahold on a copy of PJM and some other review zines, in which I found Lubomyr Tymkiv's Museum of Mail Art. We struck up a friendship through the mail. I found others, like Rora and Dob Kamperelic (Serbia) and a guy named Stratu in Australia, Erik in the Czech Republic and Clark Dissmeyer (Nebraska) and many others all opened the door to the many ways creative energy can be traded through the mail.
How would you describe your style and your processes when it comes to mail art?
CT: I describe my painting style as abstract because that word encompasses almost anything, a species of total freedom. My other art ranges from silly to morbid to meticulous. I like doing comics, I make collages and rubber stamps and I also like to draw. Nature and death are big themes, though really death is encompassed in 'nature.' I also favor hope, love, freedom, sci fi space imagery, cats, castles and bugs.
What are some recent examples of mail you have sent out?
CT: Recently I have been painting and making little penpal booklets, since another big interest of mine is writing people overseas and learning other languages.
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| Bubblegum Nebula |
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| stamp made from a flipflop |
What is your favorite type of mail to receive? What would you like to receive more of in the mail? Is there anything people should NOT send you?
CT: My favorite mail to receive is big envelopes from faraway places packed with eclectic stuff. That was one big hook for me right from the start, ephemera from other countries. It always surprises me how different places can be so alike in the most mundane ways - everyone's TV guides and pizza menus look the same. I always hope to receive more mail, and the content is not so important. I appreciate anything someone puts the effort into creating or collecting and choosing to send to me, but big piles of strange things have always fired my imagination the most.
As for what people should not send me, I'm hesitant to discourage anything, but being incarcerated there is a huge list of things I am not allowed to receive through the mail. Polaroid photos, wooden and rubber stamps, articles of clothing, seeds from plants, books not from a bookstore, naked pictures, cardboard, fabric cards and more have all been casualties of the post wall I sit behind. All those items I send home but never see, so I encourage anyone sending mail art to anyone in prison to be aware that there's lots of restrictions and many of them are surprising. It's better to err on the side of caution, since otherwise communication can get disrupted or mail can go missing, no fun for anyone.
What advice would you give to someone just getting started in mail art? And do you have any thoughts on mail art rules / etiquette? Are there any rules?
CT: To someone just getting started in mail art, you are an artist as soon as you decide you are and no one can ever take that from you. Be yourself. The mail art community is vast and only grows. It's also, on the whole, extremely accepting, nonjudgmental and positive. You're welcome here and people are waiting to meet you as friends and equals. There are no rules, but a little etiquette to know is that the network is free, not a business. It's not dominated by politics or religious rhetoric, instead focusing on building community and not attacking, excluding or shunning. Finally, be sure the receiver is amenable before sending something risqué or with porn, that bothers some people.
Based on your influences, where do you see yourself heading mail-artistically in the near future?
CT: In the near future I see myself continuing with my painting experiment. Recently I thought I would use my rubber stamps on new paintings to continue the melding of different things into something new. I also hope to find my way into more international exhibits and zines. This year was big for me, getting into Echigo-Tsumari, Edition Janus and the cover of a Belgian zine called Kermisse. I love having a chance to come together with other artists in a collaboration, whether it's one other or hundreds.
When you think of mail artists on IUOMA or Facebook or Instagram, who is impressing you lately?
CT: To my chagrin, I don't have internet access so I have never seen the IUOMA sites, and I have been incarcerated since before Facebook and Instagram existed. From what I know, the IUOMA groups are creating new infrastructure for the eternal network to grow upon, and that's fantastic, especially for places which do not always have reliable post service. I'm also impressed that Lubomyr could run an online exhibit in the midst of his country being invaded, he's always been something of a hero.
I appreciate everyone who has ever taken the leap and traded mail art with someone who is behind bars. There are a lot of artists in prison and many great people outside who look past the past to give us a chance to show who we are now. If anyone is interested in learning more about incarcerated artists and the efforts they make to give back, there is a gallery in Arizona called Artists Serving Humanity which is all incarcerated or formerly incarcerated artists. The website is artistsservinghumanity.org.
Thank you for the opportunity to ramble on for a while about a topic so dear to me, and so integral to my own journey of recovery. Walk in wisdom.
Contact:
Links:
My Ukrainian Correspondence Saved My Life
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