It’s an Aerogram!

Do you remember aerograms?  Aerograms were a single sheet of paper with gummed edges that had to be folded and sealed.   No enclosures were permitted, and you could not even use tape to seal them.  The cost was less than sending an airmail letter.   

In 1985, aerograms came franked with 36¢ postage.  It cost more than sending a postcard via airmail (33¢) but less than an airmail letter (44¢). The cost difference today seems quite insignificant even considering it was nearly 40 years ago.  But when you’re a student, you’ll always do something to save a few cents. 

 

You could fill the aerogram with as much writing as you could fit — write small or better yet, use a typewriter.  The rule was you just couldn’t put anything inside an aerogram. 

 

In the 1990s, as more people started having access to email, the aerogram was destined to become obsolete.  The U.S. Postal Service discontinued them in 2006.  In Britain they lasted until 2012. Very few countries offer them anymore. Australia still has them for sale. 

At a recent San Francisco Correspondence Co-op meeting I found these unused aerograms on the swap table. I knew I had to take them to do a series of mail art. I wonder if some of my recipients will even know what aerograms are.

  

Airmail Stickers

Sadly, the USPS no longer issues airmail stickers for our overseas mail.   Technically they are not necessary, but that should not deter any artists who send mail art.  I designed my own airmail rubber stamp for the California Post.  And I know many artists are making their own stickers.  A call came from dystatic in Canada to send a batch of mail art stickers.   She collects them and then redistributes them to participating artists.  An envelope full of artists stamps, mail art stickers and other goodies was waiting for me at the post office the other day.   I am inspired to make more.  Check out her blog if you want to participate.  

A Catalog of Collage Objects

Like any collage artist, I run the risk of becoming a hoarder.  When you make collage, you are always on the hunt for objects to use.  Boxes of collage fodder begin to fill up and then, when are you going to get around to using it all? MUNI passes going back to your 1990 arrival in San Francisco, Czech matchbox labels, vintage cigarette cards purchased in New Zealand 25 years back, fortune cookie fortunes from years of lunch specials. It all just keeps accumulating. 

My collage work has evolved.   Nowadays I tend to make my own material by painting paper, cutting and reassembling.  I really have little reason to save these things anymore.  In an effort to thin out the hoard I have been creating artist books and then purging, recycling, donating and giving away the rest.  

My latest effort is a A Catalog of Collage Objects  where each pair of pages is dedicated to 19 different ephemeral objects.  Some of the highlights are show here.

Transcontinental Arrows

Did you know that in 1924, across the Western United States, the U.S. Post Office Department installed a series of concrete arrows on the ground as well as steel towers with lighted beacons?  It was called the Transcontinental Airway System and it helped move airmail across the country.  Planes would use the arrows and towers to navigate across the sparsely populated West. 

When I first learned about the arrows, I immediately wanted to rent a car and head east to Nevada and see some for myself.  Not yet, but definitely on the next big road trip.  In the meantime, I am working on a series of hand-painted postcards.  The first ones are being mailed out today.  With elements of the desert, landscape painting, maps and mail art all rolled into one, it’s the perfect art project for me.

Airmail

Airmail, mixed media on board, 4”x6”

Some of us still like our mail the traditional way, because we know, as fast as email might be, there is nothing like seeing an airmail envelope waiting for you in your mailbox with a letter for someplace far, far away.  Or in this case, a collage of an airmail envelope made out of old stamps.