Dogs in the Mail

Sometimes a new stamp from the U.S. Postal Service inspires me to make some mail art.  The Year of the Dog stamp for this week’s Lunar New Year was one of those stamps.  The original idea was to do a printed and individually hand colored series.  But, as I wanted to send a bunch of these, I opted for printing a small batch from an original.  They are in the mail now.

Mail Art from Russia

Last week there was a slip in the P.O. Box forcing me to the counter so sign for some registered mail.  I wonder why would someone be sending mail art that would be registered?  It was a big and fantastic envelope from Stanislav Semkin (aka Virgo) in Russia.  Virgo had some difficulties getting mail through to me.  I am so glad he persisted.

I would appreciate Virgo’s mail art wherever it came from.  But I especially like that it comes out of Russia.  I think back to growing up in Cold War America where the Soviet Union was portrayed as the Evil Empire.  At an early age, I was already suspect of America’s portrayal of the Soviet Union.  Was it all bad?  My trips to Eastern Europe in the 80’s, were mostly to Poland (I have never been to Russia).  My Polish relatives made a great point of making me understand that they hated the Russian government but really liked Russians.  I have known some awesome Russians myself.  We always have to remember that the people are not the government – even in more democratic countries. 

The Cold War is in the past and, decades later, the American rightwing has moved on to other bogeymen.  Their fanatic support of the White House occupant in Putin’s pocket is hard to fathom when you think back to the days when their demigod Reagan was in power.  But enough of that….

This is a great thing about mail art, it fosters human connections.  When governments behave badly, there may be nothing more subversive than when humans connect in spite of the people wielding power.

And no bots are sending me mail art, only really cool people do that.

Recycled Apples

Today this year’s first big batch of mail art was sent out.  A series of 21 collage postcards.  The source material was my 2017 calendar that featured vintage fruit crate labels from Washington State apples.  I could have just tossed the calendar in the recycling bin, or, instead, recycle the calendar it into mail art…

Finding Whittier at the Vintage Paper Fair

I paid 33¢ for this old postcard at the Vintage Paper Fair in San Francisco this month. The birch bark trompe l’oeil is what caught my eye.  I had not even paid attention to the subject – the photo shows the birthplace of John Greenleaf Whittier in Haverhill, Massachusetts.  I knew very little about the 19^th Century poet and abolitionist. You can learn more here.  Although, Whittier has been a presence nearly all my life.  A large volume of poetry sat on the shelves in the house I grew up in and the book.  Eventually the book made its way to my home in San Francisco.  It is stuffed full of treasures (see below) and was part of the inspiration for my ongoing Hide Art in a Book Project.  Now it’s time for this postcard to be slipped into the book and placed back on the shelf for someone else to find.