What to do with Add-n-Passes? Make a Zine!

There was a time when I liked add-n-passes as part of receiving and sending mail art.   The idea is that you add something to a piece of mail art and then send it on and so forth.  Eventually it returns to the original sender.   I even started a few myself.   In 2012 I launched an add-n-pass based on geological layers that got a great response.  I have always found the better ones have some sort of theme.

But like many mail artists, I have gone off the add-n-pass. In my opinion, scrawling “add-n-pass” on a piece of paper and mailing it to me, is far from the idea of mail art.  It all reminds me of those cursed chain letters when I was a kid.
I still like doing truly collaborative pieces with other mail artists, but the add-n-pass is usually annoying.  On a rare occasion when I receive one that is all but finished, I will complete it and return to the original sender.  Nowadays I scavenge the good bits for one of mail art, artist scrapbooks (see image below ).
The new year began with a brilliant solution to the add-n-pass problem.   I received this little zine from Josh Ronsen made from add-n-pass scraps and I LOVE it.   Josh has come up with a great way to start my mail art year.   

KART

Just received issue #127 of the assembly zine KART from David Dellafiora in Australia.  It includes my Ukrainian sunflower rubber stamp series.  

Mail Art, Zines and More

Here is some of the latest mail art that has arrived in San Francisco including a Mardi Gras cat along with some of the zines I receive in the mail.   You can get a detailed look at The Runner Postcard  at the link.   As well as Circulaire 132  at this link.  Barbara Stasiowski also proves you can make a palette postcard and even sent that in the mail.  The mail art shown here includes:

1. Jon Foster – North Carolina 
2. Carolyn Oord (aka Kerosene) – Canada
3. Andrea Grimes – California 
4. Pier Roberto Bassi – Italy
5. Barbara Stasiowski – California 
6. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
7. R.F. Côté — Canada
8. William Mellott – Taiwan 
9. Bonniediva – Illinois 

May Mail

Sometimes with mail art the envelopes try to upstage the contents — and this month has seen a few examples of amazing envelopes in my mailbox along with some great contents.  Plus, I am noticing more and more postage stamps and artists stamps honoring, doctors, nurses and medical research.   I even hunted down some Jonas Salk postage stamps for the vaccine-themed mail art I sent out a few weeks ago.  

The mail shown here includes:

1. Rebeka Torowin-Borowicz – U.K. 
2. Wabi Sabi Sews – California
3. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
4. Jennie Hinchcliff – California
5. The Sticker Dude – New York 
6. R.F. Côté — Canada
7. Peter Müller – Germany
8. Margo Hill – California
9. William Mellott – Taiwan 
10. Fleur Helsingor - California 
11. Katerina Nikoltsou - Greece
12. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California

The Mail Marches on

 

The past month has seen everything from late arriving Christmas and New Year’s mail art to Kathy Barnett’s fabulous King Eggshire Eggbert (is that for Easter?).  Some of the mail is still incredibly slow.  But zines and prints and postcards and collages are still arriving, and I appreciate them all.  These are the artists for the pieces shown:

1. Meral Agar – Turkey 
2. Debra Mulnick – Idaho
3. Katerina Nikoltsou – Greece
4. MiM – Virginia 
5. William Mellott – Taiwan 
6. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
7. Fleur Helsingor – California
8. Serse Luigetti – Italy

June Mail

Things are far from getting back to normal, but the flow of mail art (sent and received) seems to be picking up.  Mail art does make for some safe, socially distant fun.  A recent trip to the post office box included zines big and small.  Theo Nelson is taking mail he receives and turning pieces into one-of-a-kind zines.  Robin Sparrow’s delicate, shimmering, hand sewn piece made it through the mail all the way from New Zealand.  And it’s good to see things are busy at Gregg Biggs’ Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera.  

The mail shown here includes:

1. Debra Mulnick – Idaho
2. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
3. Gregg Biggs – Museum of Unclaimed Ephemera – California
4. William Mellott – Taiwan 
5. Fleur Helsingor - California 
6. Theo Nelson – Canada
7. Robin Sparrow — New Zealand 
8. Dori Singh – California 

Eyes in the Mail

In a bit of shared artistic vision, some of the mail art I recently received featured eyes and I just emphasized eyes in my holiday mailing.  Ans Theo Nelson is turning some of the mail art he receives into small, one-of-a-kind zines and then redistributing the work.  As I have been filling art scrapbooks  with mail art, this idea is tempting. I love maps and I love public transportation, So Karen Clowney Scott’s bear made out of New York City MTA Maps is perfect. And, it is always a treat to get an envelope of mail art from Cuan Miles.

1. Debra Mulnick – Idaho
2. William Mellott – Taiwan 
3. Samantha Price – New Hampshire
4. Lubomyr Tymkiv - Ukraine 
5. Robin Sparrow — New Zealand 
6. Karen Clowney Scott – New York 
7. Theo Nelson (Republic of Whimsy) – Canada
8. Cuan Miles – South Africa

Fall Mail

 

Returned from some travel to see a great deal of mail art waiting for me.   Some very small mail art from Amy Irwen, Kathy Barnett sent a movable little frog, and Mindaugas Žuromskas is stenciling paper made from receipts that have been pasted together.  Here is some of the recent mail shown:

1. R.F. Côté — Canada
2. Fleur Helsingor - California 
3. Peter Müller – Germany
4. Lubomyr Tymkiv - Ukraine 
5. Jokie X. Wilson – California
6. Amy Irwen – Minnesota 
7. Bonniediva – Illinois 
8. Sally Wassink – California 
9. Ed Giecek – Washington State
10.  Kathy Barnett – Missouri
11.    
12.  Charles Kremenak – California 
13. Keith Chambers – California 
14. Mikel Untzilla – Euskadi/Spain 
15. Mindaugas Žuromskas – Lithuania 

April Mailbox

Time to organize and sort some of the latest mail art that had]s arrived here in San Francisco.  Everything from rubber stamp art, to zines, to some Brexit pain and another one of these amazing movable pieces from Kathy Barnett.

1. The list includes the following:
2. Maria Quiroga – Argentina 
3. Fleur Helsingor– California
4. Sally Wassink– California 
5. William Mellott– Taiwan
6. Debra Mulnick – Idaho
7. Peter Müller – Germany
8. Dori Singh – California 
9. Margaret Hill – San Francisco
10. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
11. Bonniediva – Illinois 
12. Mindaugas Žuromskas

Zine Mail Art and More

Here is some of the latest art that has landed in mail box. It takes a lot of time to scan and post some mail art like this.  I am always impressed and really appreciative of artists who go beyond scanning and create zines from the mail art they receive.  The amount of time and effort, let alone the cost to mail them out.  A big thank you to everyone who sends me mail, and these zines — Wow!  

The list includes the following:

1. Mindaugas Žuromskas
2. Kathy Barnett – Missouri
3. Fleur Helsingor– California
4. Kerosene– Québec, Canada
5. Dorothy Yuki – California 
6. Peter Müller — Germany 
7. Gregg Biggs — California
8. William Mellott– Taiwan
9. Zdeněk Šíma– Czech Republic
10. Bonniediva – Illinois 
11. Susanne Schumacher– Germany
12. Valdor – Catalunya, Spain  

November Mail Part I

November always feels like an intermission month to me.  This fall’s show are hung, it’s the quite before the holidays and San Francisco is a mix of warm sunny days with intermittent rain as we wait for the real, wet winter to get its start.  Here is some of the mail art that I have recently received: 

1. Jennifer Utter could not resist taking a photo of a spectacular sunset and turning it into mail art.  You might not realize this, but for all we do have in San Francisco, an impressive sunset in our foggy city is a rare thing.
2. Elaine James incorporated the San Francisco MUNI map into a Día de los Muertos card.  The papel picado stamps the USPS put out this year are some of the best for 2016. I used many.
3. Punkie Ebert has done a colorful zine featuring many of cultural icons.
4. Jacqueline Wygant sent a small little booklet from Portland that reminds me I need to make a trip up there to once again spend the day at Powell’s.
5. And a new set of awesome owl artist stamps from Darlene Altschul.

Thank you for the mail art, watch for November Mail Part II in the next post.

October Mail

The Pink Mail is ready to go up to the show in Sacramento and it’s time to organize all the other mail art and Halloween greetings that I received in October.  Some of the highlights include:

1. “Urban Accessories” from Fleur Helsingor.
2. I may have to go out in the neighborhood and see if I spot Sally Wassink if this Halloween postcrad is any indication of the wild costume she might be wearing. 
3. I love Sutro Tower and adore this zine I received from Julie Crossman as well as the Halloween Witch powder.
4. Marina Salmaso sent me this very pop-art collage from Denmark.
5. An altered postcard with a hand-stitched stamp arrived from Angela Behrendt in Germany.
6. Torma Cauli’s latest card from Hungary.
7. New prints came from Serse Luigetti.
8. A collaged art card from Skooter Fein.
9. Halloween greetings from Jennifer Utter.
10. And finally, Halloween mail art from Dori Singh.

Thanks for all the great stuff, now time for me to get back to painting and gluing.

A.P.E. 2013

The Alternative Press Expo (A.P.E.) is always a don’t miss and this year didn’t disappoint.  There is always an opportunity to see some familiar faces as well as make some new discoveries.  It’s also a chance to meet and talk to artists and authors, from the famous like Bill Griffith to the soon to be famous.  The show changes over time.  Felt art seems to have vanished and crocheted characters are definitely on the decline.  Benedict Cumberbatch fan art is understandably big – my favorite was this little book Let’s Learn the Alphabet with Actor Benedict Cumberbatch. 

Some of my favorite new “discoveries” (links below):

• Jesse Cowan’s Little Wolf Comic.
• Joan Wirolinggo’s illustration work, I got a little penguin myself. 
• Tu-Anh Nguyen’s Awkward Boobies (as in the birds),
• Estrella Vega was showing off some beautiful prints of her work.
• Though my favorite this year was Chris Koehler’s series of zodiac prints based on his illustrations and then overlaid with the constellation map for the corresponding sign of the zodiac.

 Next year’s show is moving to Fort Mason, so mark you calendar for 2014.