Stay Home, Make Mail Art — Royal Mail Art!

From a series of very Royal Mail Art.  It will be mailed while on my safe-social-distancing-walk today. All from old postage stamps featuring Queen Elizabeth (plus a few old stamps of her father, uncle and grandfather).   

Remember the Aerogram

The latest mail art I received from R.F. Côté  came enclosed in an unused aerogram.   Aerograms were typically sold by postal services with pre-printed, or franked postage.  This Canadian one cost a mere 15¢ at the time it was sold, I assume back in the 1970s.  Reg had to add some additional 21^st Century postage to guarantee I would receive it.

The trick with aerograms is they were made of thin, airmail paper and had to be folded and sealed by the sender.  No enclosures were permitted.  Their light weight meant they cost about 30% less to send than an airmail letter.  

In most countries they were purchased directly at the post office with the pre-printed postage. You could also find ones at office supply stores where you would then need to affix a postage stamp.

With an aerogram, once the writer had filled the page, they were finished.  If you typed, you could cram a lot into that letter.  Back in the 1980s they were an affordable way I and my college-aged friends would communicate.  As email became popular in the 1990s the use of aerograms started to wane.  The US Postal Service offered them until 2006, but I can’t imagine the sold many in that final decade.

Mail Out — Mail In

I’ve been sending out a lot of mail art lately and the best part is, I get all this great stuff in return.   Here are some of the recent pieces received:

1. Esther Kwan – California
2. Pamela Gerard– California
3. Janet Elliott – California
4. Crackerjack Kid – New Hampshire
5. Meral Agar– Turkey 
6. Dori Singh – California
7. Peter Müller – Germany
8. Valdor – Catalunya, Spain
9. Marina Salmaso– Denmark
10. R.F. Côté– Québec, Canada
11. Katerina Nikoltsou – Greece 
12. Dame Mailarta– British Columbia, Canada
13. Mindaugas  Žuromskas

Collage and Color

Braving throngs of summer tourists on Haight Street, I make my way up to my post office box.  It is always worth the trip, here are just a few of the pieces of mail art that were waiting for me in the last few weeks:

1. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
2. Jennifer Utter – California 
3. Sagebrush Moderne – California 
4. Skooter Fein – California 
5. R.F. Côté— Canada
6. Katerina Nikoltsou – Greece
7. Robin Sparrow– New Zelaand
8. Serse Luigetti – Italy

When it Rains it Pours (Mail Art)

After an exceptionally dry February, it has been pouring the last few weeks and art has been pouring into mail box as well.  A few more pieces for Valentine’s Day and a Year of the Dog print from Gina Visione and even a nod to Presidents Day.  A poetic set from e. coles that included some wool from a British Southdown Sheep!  Big envelopes, collaged postcards and some spring time mail art from Greece.  Here is a list of the recent senders:

1. Dori Singh
2. Susan Stewart
3. Jennie Hinchliff
4. Gina Visione
5. Kerosene
6. Julia Crossman
7. e. coles
8. Peter Müller
9. Gregg Biggs and the Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera
10. Katerina Nikoltsou
11. Crackerjack Kid
12. Lours Postal
13. Marina Salmaso

Nautical Mail

I recently received some mail art from R.F. Côté that included a piece of an old nautical chart.  This motivated me to pull out some old, slightly mildewed nautical charts and to make some ATCs.  I am sending some back for and upcoming issue of Circulaire 132.  I also used some for a mail art call where the theme is watermarks.  That one is on the way to Germany. I was made some large pieces (i.e., 36” x 24”) about 10 years ago (see image).  It can be difficult to find old nautical charts.  For safety reasons, out of date charts are meant to be destroyed, lest they be used by mariners.  Back on Cape Cod, our neighbors included a typical New England curmudgeon. His wife secretly “disposed” of some of his horde by giving them to me for art purposes.

New Year, New Mail

My P.O. Box was full after I returned from Christmas travel and more cool mail art keeps arriving.  There were some holiday card stragglers, a new awesome booklet from e. coles (I am building up quite the collection) and more Artist Trading Cards.  I have been filling up an ATC binder that I often show off when friends come by.  These new holiday ones from Kerosene, Amy Irwen’s moon series and Cuan Miles’ latest ATCs are all in the binder.  I answered Eric Bruth’s mail art call for postcards made with recycled paper bags.  He sent back a piece in a handmade envelope from a pink paper bag.  Gregg Biggs’ postcard was postmarked on the “wrong” side, but I always like when mail art is authenticated like this.  Pier Roberto Bassi sent an artist stamp and a card emblazoned with number 17.  17 is my favorite and lucky number.  Hopefully a sign for a better new year.

1. Carolyn Oord (aka Kerosene)
2. Barbara Stasiowski
3. Julie Crossman
4. Amy Irwen
5. Peter Müller
6. Eric Bruth
7. e. coles
8. MIM
9. Gregg Biggs
10. Cuan Miles
11. Heather Ferguson
12. Pier Roberto Bassi