Short and sweet this week, mail art friends. Happened to see this experimental mail art video by Rafael González. Soundtrack by GX Jupitter-Larsen. Love it!
Another drawing converted to mail art. This time, an alien reading through The Laws of Earth has determined the book to be full of strange idiotic poetry, but there may be some good and useful things contained therein.
"Strange idiotic poetry, but I guess there's some good stuff in there." T. Brown 2023
Rubber stamp alert. Seen on Facebook. Comments from Mark Bloch:
"This is my favorite contribution (of mine) to mail art, a rubber stamp I made that sums up how I feel about all of you: YOU are the art, YOU are better than art. Just like when Hans Ruedi Fricker says that mail art is not fine art, it is the artist who is fine, it is my belief that mail art is not visual art, but more about process, more about the human experience. So if you want to know where the art is, go door to door and knock and you will find out."
Also seen on Facebook. Mathart.it shared the following work by Pedro Branco:
Pedro Branco, 2023
One more from Facebook, and this one is related to the early mail art that I was looking into last week in Mail Art News #52. A big thank you to Mail Art Worldwide for sharing this post from the vagabond language blog. From the Mail Art Worldwide FB page:
"We have discovered ensconced in the private art collection of Castle Howard (a beautiful stately home in N. Yorkshire/England) six envelopes illustrated & posted by artist & aristocrat, George Howard the 9th Earl of Carlisle. He illustrated his family's holidays & posted decorated envelopes to his children. Two of these are postmarked December 1876 & January 1877!"
Speaking of the past, Mail Art News media specialist Ariel Greenwood has been busy investigating Stone Age postal systems, even traveling back in time to visit the city of Bedrock. Now that's far out.
As always, thank you for reading (and commenting). It's pretty easy being a mail art documentarian. I'm keeping it easy and fun. I'm glad to see the tiki bar is almost ready.
Thanks for reading (and commenting). It makes me happy to know that you got something interesting from the blog. Reading these articles or listening to them with a text to voice reader app...I'm learning more about the history of mail art.
Someone in one of the Ruud Jansen interviews was lamenting that mail artists in general are not very aware of the history of mail art. Mail art...it's not for money and there aren't any real rules...so do you need to know about the history? I say not really, but it IS interesting. And therefore I like to include pieces of mail art history here and there on the blog.
My inspiration at the moment --- from that article -- is to create an aesthetic, and it is Postal Art rather than Mail Art. I like the idea of moving away from the word mail more because of the confusion with the word male than due to my feminism. I love the egalitarian ideal so much but also want to put effort out to share things I've made which I find pleasing to the eye and/or the mind rather than just pushing mail out in haste. I love how there's always something to learn and some way to grow and some way to connect - more directly through mail art than in so many other venues.
City of Cascadia central post office (1:87 scale model) by Jack Lattemann The other day, Cascadian denizen, Nonlocal Variable , suggested that I contact Jack Lattemann, also known as Cascadia Artpost , a name I had seen here and there during my relatively short mail art career of ten years, and so I thought yes that would be great. I'd like to learn more about this mysterious Cascadia Artpost. What is it all about? Jack was super generous in providing information and dozens of images of his creative output, and so I present you with an overview of Cascadia Artpost, plus a few interview questions, followed by the usual weekly mail art news that you've come to expect...nay, demand! From Jack Lattemann (JL) : Between 2008 and 2014, I posted entries on a blog, “Welcome to Cascadia Artpost” (two versions), which provide some background on the first years of Cascadia Artpost. I discontinued the posts in 2014 because they were taking too much of my time, even though I had retire
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 time. Howe
Sunshinysam on IUOMA I'm just a one man operation, so I can't cover all the posts made by all the mail artists. I can however make note of the things that grab my attention the most. Occasionally people send me links and factoids. Per nonlocal variable , there exists an archives of the copy-culture publication known as Photostatic (1983-1998). Definitely worth a look. Diana Hale has a perforator. Adam R. has a Wizbang perforator, a gift from Michelangelo Mayo. Questing for a perforation machine...there are some leads. There's a nice looking, heavy duty one made in India , but attempts to land on a page where one could order the item has resulted in a slew of disorienting incoming emails. Shipping costs could be prohibitive. Then there's word from Heather Wilkie in the Mail Art News group on IUOMA that a person on etsy is selling small scale perforators. The seller offers two or three different sizes, plus a circle-shape perforator. Very interesting! Kind o
Short & sweet is right--but still very much appreciated. Thank you -- again -- for being the mail art documentarian. CHEERS!
ReplyDeleteAs always, thank you for reading (and commenting). It's pretty easy being a mail art documentarian. I'm keeping it easy and fun. I'm glad to see the tiki bar is almost ready.
DeleteReally enjoyed the linked piece by Mark Bloch - so much delightful food for thought. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading (and commenting). It makes me happy to know that you got something interesting from the blog. Reading these articles or listening to them with a text to voice reader app...I'm learning more about the history of mail art.
DeleteSomeone in one of the Ruud Jansen interviews was lamenting that mail artists in general are not very aware of the history of mail art. Mail art...it's not for money and there aren't any real rules...so do you need to know about the history? I say not really, but it IS interesting. And therefore I like to include pieces of mail art history here and there on the blog.
My inspiration at the moment --- from that article -- is to create an aesthetic, and it is Postal Art rather than Mail Art. I like the idea of moving away from the word mail more because of the confusion with the word male than due to my feminism. I love the egalitarian ideal so much but also want to put effort out to share things I've made which I find pleasing to the eye and/or the mind rather than just pushing mail out in haste. I love how there's always something to learn and some way to grow and some way to connect - more directly through mail art than in so many other venues.
Delete