A watched pot, or is it a watched P.O. Box, never boils?

Go out of town for a week and when you come back the post office box is overflowing.  I even had to wait at the counter to pick up the overflow.  All sorts of mail art including incredible artist stamps and a new, handmade, artists book of Ryosuke Cohen’s Brain Cells too.  Amazing!  This is a list of the artists shown here: 

1. Peter Müller – Germany
2. Fleur Helsingor – California
3. Pamela Gerard (California)
4. Debra Mulnick – Idaho
5. Artist in Seine (aka Dean Marks) – France 
6. Birgitta Jonnson – Sweden
7. Heather Ferguson – California
8. Matt Ferranto – New York 
9. The Sticker Dude – New York 
10. Nancy Bodkin – California 
11. Keiichi Nakamura – Japan
12. Maria Quiroga – Argentina 
13. Jack Latteman - Cascadia Artpost – Oregon 
14. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
15. Jürgen Greissbach – Germany 
16. Ryosuke Cohen – Japan
17. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 

Ukrainian Summer Mail and More

Very excited to receive some reproduction/stickers of Ukrainian stamps from Mindaugas Žuromskas this month.  And good to see mail is getting through from the Ukraine as well.  As summer winds down, here is a list of the artists shown here: 

1. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 
2. Lubomyr Tymkiv - Ukraine
3. Jennifer Utter – California 
4. Carolyn Oord (aka Kerosene) – Québec/Canada
5. Patti Wren – California
6. Margo Hill – California
7. Debra Mulnick – Idaho
8. Lynne Buckner – California
9. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
10. Eberhard Janke – Germany
11. Jen Bee – California
12. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
13. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
14. Sabela Baña – Spain 

Summerful Mail

 

When I take my summer walks and stop by the post office, I have been finding some good stuff waiting for me every time this summer.  Here is a list of the artists shown here: 

1. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
2. Peter Müller – Germany
3. Nancy Bodkin – California
4. Jon Foster – North Carolina 
5. Jennie Hinchcliff – California
6. MiM – Virginia
7. Patti Wren – California
8. Keiichi Nakamura – Japan
9. Fleur Helsingor – California
10. Pier Roberto Bassi – Italy 
11. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 
12. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
13. Andrea Grimes – California 
14. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
15. Jean-Phillippe Gilliot – Belgium 
16. William Mellott – Taiwan 
17. Sabela Baña – Spain 
18. The Sticker Dude – New York 

Winter Mail Bag

Sorting through recent mail art that has arrived in San Francisco including New Year’s mail — some sent from my own neighborhood to some form all the way to Lviv, Ukraine.   And it wouldn’t be winter without snow people — Kathy Barnett’s latest series of “polaroids” are just hilarious and wonderful.   The mail art shown here includes:

 

1. Barbara Stasiowski – California 
2. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
3. Jennie Hinchcliff – California
4. Fleur Helsingor – California
5. Johan Leschinkohl – Germnay 
6. Valdor – Catalonia/Spain
7. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 
8. William Mellott – Taiwan 
9. Eberhard Janke - Germany
10. Sally Wassink – California 
11. e. coles – England 
12. Peter Müller – Germany
13. Jürgen Greissbach – Germany 
14. Jennifer Utter – California 
15. Tanushree V – California
16. Lubomyr Tymkiv - Ukraine 
17. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
18. Kathy Barnett – Missouri

October Mail

After a long trip it is always good to get back home.  And the visit to the post office to empty out the box was another treat.  A whole pile of mail was waiting for me and more keeps arriving.  Kathy Barnett’s latest piece is hanging on my door to scare visitors and I am glad to see more responses to the Fluxus High School Yearbook as well.   The mail art shown here includes:

1. MiM – Virginia
2. e. coles – England 
3. Jürgen Greissbach – Germany 
4. Meral Agar – Turkey 
5. Lynne Buckner – California
6. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
7. Dori Singh – California 
8. Fleur Helsingor – California
9. Margo Hill – California
10. Maria Quiroga – Argentina 
11. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
12. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 
13. Peter Müller – Germany
14.  Valdor – Catalonia/Spain
15. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
16. Lynne Buckner – California
17. Jenny Soup – Oregon 
18. Ryosuke Cohen – Japan

Summerful Mail

There has been plenty of fun and fabulous pieces of mail art arriving all summer.   Prints, postcards, artist stamps and more movable pieces from Kathy Barnett.  I need to make a video one day of her work. This is a list of the artists shown here: 

1. Valdor – Catalonia/Spain
2. Morgan – Canada 
3. Peter Müller – Germany
4. Eberhard Janke - Germany
5. Richard Baudet – France 
6. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
7. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
8. Jennifer Utter – California
9. Fleur Helsingor – California
10. Pamela Gerard (California)
11. Margo Hill – California
12. Serse Luigetti – Italy

June Mail

The postal box has been full every week when I head up to Clayton Street.  June has been a good month for mail art.   There was even some mystery mail from Portland, Oregon. No idea who sent it, but I do love it — and it so happens I am currently working on collages with old yearbooks myself.   Here is a list of the artists shown here:  

1. Lynne Buckner – California
2. Jennie Hinchcliff – California
3. William Mellott – Taiwan 
4. Dori Singh – California 
5. Fleur Helsingor – California
6. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 
7. Jerome Jacobs – California 
8. Meral Agar – Turkey 
9. Marina Salmaso – Denmark
10. Katerina Nikoltsou - Greece
11. The Sticker Dude – New York 
12. Jon Foster – North Carolina 
13. Valdor – Catalonia/Spain
14. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
15. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
16. Anonymous – Oregon 

Mail Art Book #1

There is a finite amount of space in my archive boxes, but I strive to save all the mail art I receive.  Many artists include various ephemera, stickers, and other materials with their mail art.  Things I might use in pieces I create myself.  Many of the envelopes are works of art in themselves.   Starting in January 2020 I began to use much of this material for a new artist book.  I repurposed a large coffee table book that cost a dollar at a library sale of donated and books.   Two and a half years later, the 140 pages are all filled up.   Here are some photos of the completed book of mail art.
Soon I will start filling the next book.

Spring Mail Call

Every time I head over to Golden Gate Park to enjoy springtime splendor, I stop by my post office box in the Upper Haight and see what mail art has shown up.  Here is a sampling of somethings that have arrived in the past month: 

1. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
2. Margo Hill – California 
3. Esther Kwan – California
4. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
5. Jean-Phillippe Gilliot – Belgium 
6. The Sticker Dude – New York 
7. Valdor – Catalonia/Spain
8. Ed Giecek – Washington
9. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
10. Fleur Helsingor – California

Recycling Envelopes

After 10+ years of exchanging mail art with other artists, my archive boxes are bursting at the seams.   Sometimes the envelopes are an integral part of the piece.  Many envelopes are works of art themselves.  But other times they are just envelopes.  To lighten the load in my archive boxes, I removed the boring envelopes and recycled them by turning them into mail art.    This series was mailed out yesterday,  

Winterful Mail

Time to get caught up and sort through all the mail art I received in the last few months.    It is nice to hear from folks I have not received anything from in quite a while, which is understandable with all the pandemic mail delays.  And a few artists, sent me mail art for the first time, including some nice ATCs from Tim Collapse as well as a bit of a mystery from Portugal (no return address).  Here is a list of the artists shown in this batch:  

1. Jennifer Utter – California
2. Maureen Forys – California
3. Jean-Phillippe Gilliot – Belgium 
4. Sandra Lefever – Florida
5. Dori Singh – California 
6. Carolyn Oord (aka Kerosene) – Québec/Canada
7. Rebeca R. – Portugal
8. Cuan Miles – South Africa
9. Jon Foster – North Carolina 
10. The Sticker Dude – New York 
11. Maria Quiroga – Argentina 
12. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
13. Tim Collapse – North Carolina
14. Marina Salmaso – Denmark
15. Heather Ferguson – California
16. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 
17. William Mellott – Taiwan 
18. Jerome Jacobs – California 
19. Serse Luigetti – Italy
20. Meral Agar – Turkey 
21. Roger Mulford – Massachusetts
22. Gina Visione – California
23. MiM – Virginia 
24. Wabi Sabi Sews – California 
25. Fleur Helsingor – California
26. Peter Müller — Germany 
27. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California

Last Call for Mail for 2021

A trip to the post office after Christmas found my box crammed with cats, dogs (including an altered Calder postcard) and some various characters in various altered states — including the latest movable piece from Kathy Barnett.  Below is a list of the artists shown in this batch:

1. Sally Wassink – California 
2. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
3. Susanna Lakner – Germany 
4. Fleur Helsingor – California
5. Bettina Pauly – California 
6. Eugenie Marek – California
7. James Cline – California
8. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
9. Skooter Fein – California 
10. Bonniediva – Illinois 
11. Meral Agar – Turkey 
12. Margarete Miller – California 
13. Jean-Philippe Gilliot – Belgium 

December Mail Art

It is that time of the year and I have started receiving some holiday mail art — including a beautiful hand-painted card from Margo Hill.   After sending out my brain series I am starting to see brains in the mail back to me (I love when things like that happen).   And if you wondered if an overside playing card can be tuned into a postcard, well, the answer is yes!  Below is a list of the artists shown in this posting: 

1. Deble Faulkner – California 
2. Dori Singh – California 
3. Jennie Hinchcliff – California
4. Margo Hill – California
5. Jon Foster – North Carolina 
6. Wabi Sabi Sews – California
7. Jerome Jacobs – California
8. William Mellott – Taiwan 
9. Fleur Helsingor – California
10. Debra Mulnick – Idaho
11. Maria Quiroga – Argentina 

A Fall Cornucopia of Mail Art

Postcards, artists stamps, glitter, rubber stamping, clever envelopes, mystery mail, etc.  It has been a little of everything this Fall.   Here is a list of the artists shown in this posting: 

1. Heather Ferguson – California
2. Fleur Helsingor – California
3. Sarah Wildfang – California 
4. Katerina Nikoltsou – Greece
5. Margarete Miller – California 
6. Esther Kwan – California
7. Michel – Oregon
8. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
9. Barbara Stasiowski – California 
10. Jenny Soup – Oregon 
11. The Sticker Dude – New York 
12. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California

End of Summer Mail Bag

 

Get busy, leave town, and don’t go to the post office for a few weeks and the box was bursting with new mail art.    Zines + mail art, altered postcards, rubber stamping, fabric sample collages, Fleur’s ongoing documentation of Oakland public art, Kathy’s moving pieces and a more patrons of the Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera.  Some of Kathy Barnett’s pieces get hung on my apartment door to entertain my young neighbors.   Here is a list of the artist shown this month: 

1. Eberhard Janke - Germany
2. MiM – Virginia 
3. Jean-Philippe Gilliot – Belgium 
4. Valdor – Catalonia/Spain
5. Pia Zaragoza – California
6. Debra Mulnick – Idaho
7. Carolyn Oord (aka Kerosene) – Québec/Canada
8. Rani Goel – California 
9. Fleur Helsingor – California
10. Jon Foster – North Carolina 
11. William Mellott – Taiwan 
12. Skooter Fein – California 
13. Patti Wren & Paula Currie – California
14. Margo Hill – California
15. Meral Agar – Turkey 
16. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
17. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California