Friday, October 30, 2009

mail art = senders receive

Source Book For The Network Of International Postal Art Activity,
by Michael Crane & Mary Stofflet, 1984.
Very hard to find and worth seeking to
learn
how it all started and about the
early players.

Written and published in 1991, another good resource
for a lot of interesting
information on the network.

Artistamp News always had samples of faux postage
made by people all around
the world.
I need to look into it and see

if Anna Banana is still printing this.


Chuck Welch used to put this out and also
wrote a book called:
Eternal Network A Mail Art Anthology.
Not long after I received my copy,
he wrote
and mentioned it was out of print.
If you find a copy, grab it.

What Is MA?

For many years, this was put out by APO
until she handed it off in the late 90s.
I only
saw one issue after that.
It was a must read
for mail art calls,
among many others.


Sometimes in the mail, you'd receive items like this.

Tim Mancussi, wherever you are,
made
some amazing faux postage stamps and mail art.
Ray Johnson inspired, the
man given credit for starting this
and who started the
New York Correspondance School.
More details on much of this at a later date.

Received from Beth Johnson who made fantastic faux postage.


Does anyone know the whereabouts of gorey laurie?

This zine came out of Florida and had some
amazing art work in it,

topical to the times it was printed.

Group 362 has done some amazing things
over time and dabbles in poetry,
found items
, dada, fluxus and cigar box gee-tars.

An envelope received back in the day.

When I started out, this group: Underground Rail Art,
would have a list of people,
send an idea around,
and everyone would do
whatever they wanted
and the last person
would send it off to the receiver.
It was fun, but after awhile, there were so
many projects circulating, it was hard
to keep up.
Not sure if it's still
going or when it stopped as a group.


The Church of Right Now put out some amazing material,
and sadly lost track
of their whereabouts.

Joki, from Germany did some amazing projects.
This was one I sent something to,
and he then
made booklets with everyones project, name and address.
Sadly, I believe he died
a few years ago.

Clemente Padin, from Uruguay has been
involved for many years. In the 70s,
due
to his protesting of the policies of the government.
He was arrested and his
mail art confiscated.
He still sends mail
which is topical
and reflects on
issues around us today.

A small booklet received years ago.

Chris Kenny from the UK always sent some interesting work.

The lady who made these envelopes would put a home made zine
about her travels around
the country.
She was a character.


FluxBux, don't leave home without it.

25 comments:

Tess Kincaid said...

Oh, gosh, this is a lust worthy post. I am nutty for vintage emphemera. ((drool))

Ténèbres à la lumière... said...

Hi! C.M. and Willow,
What a nice collection of mail art and sounds by Max Richter.
The quote(?) by Julius Ceasar...LOL!
Thanks, for sharing!
DeeDee ;-D

Janet said...

what a fabulous post Michael! There is still so much about mail art i've yet to stumble upon. This gives me lots of direction! Thanks. i can't wait to dig into some of this deliciousness. have a fab weekend.

ArtSparker said...

Looks like you could write an interesting history.

California Girl said...

my dad loved to recycle envelopes and reuse, tearing off old indicias and blacking out old addresses, inserting his own on an address sticker. One of my girlfriends made envelopes out of magazine pages. They were always colorful and interesting and I loved them.

Rec'd my "coffee mix" today (I'm terrible about going to the post office. Haven't opened yet but I thank you in advance. Your hand crafted envelops is too cool.

zencomix said...

Great stuff!

Megan said...

That's an incredible collection of images you have there.

Thanks so much for sharing and I agree with Susan!

Skybridge Studios said...

see my blog for a link to GL's boneyard...

lettuce said...

attacking rabbits in their own homes???

this is a fabulous post, what a lot of great stuff.
I particularly like the envelope received back in the day

Coffee Messiah said...

willow: There's some amazing art floating around.

dd: Thanks and for noticing the quote ; )

janet: There's so much out there, it can be overwhelming. You just need to jump in and start sending.

artS: Not me, but I know someone who could, and should ; )

cg: Hey, good 4 UR Dad! Glad it made it OK.

zenC: Hey, Thanks for taking a look C!

megan: Thanks.

skybridge ; )

lettuce: Thanks, it's always fun and interesting. CK has art showing in or near you, I believe.

Breath-e said...

You've given me a touch of motivation. Nice post!

Sculptor Dude said...

Very interesting post, Coffee. Especially the Dead White Mail Correspondence Project. That one has really got my brain churning.

Anonymous said...

Ah, "Cargo Cult." The halcyon days of 362. It was folks like yourself that started the fire! Thanks brah

mouse (aka kimy) said...

what a cornucopia of delights

great that you are keeping this lost art from being truly lost!

and yes one of these days you must do a book....

wow, wow, wow

tony said...

Heroes All. And STILL the Impulse LIVES!
Great+Mighty Post .

mouse (aka kimy) said...

gorey laurie.... any relation to edward gorey or just inspiration for nom d'art?

Coffee Messiah said...

b-e: Thanks for stopping by.

ks: Thanks for taking the time to peruse the linkage.

hR9: You did more than I ever did, to be sure. I miss your zines....

kimy: There are already too many books, plus, most do this and send, without expectation. So when you receive something, it's always a surprise. When you finally, if ever get around to it, then you send something back. People all around the world are involved.
As to the name, many never use their real name.

tony: Hi ya, and Thanks for stopping by.

tut-tut said...

inspirational. makes me want to clear off my desk, get away from the computer, and start cutting and pasting. Which I think I just might. Hello, Coffee! the last time I was by, comments weren't being accepted

Harnett-Hargrove said...

I love/ed the mail art genre. It is very zen to throw something out there....-Jayne

Coffee Messiah said...

t & T: Thanks 4 stopping by.

h-h: Very ; )

Anonymous said...

wow,

I feel like such a philistine, mail art was an underground movement way before the likes of Nick Bantock or any of those happy scrappy moms did it..

Anonymous said...

Wow! What an amazind array of postal art. Love it.

Coffee Messiah said...

g & d: Oh yeah, and there's a story, once heard, thousands of years ago, where a message was sent, via cutting a persons hair and running them to a king or something.
That was the 1st sending of mail art ; )

don: Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment. Cheers 2 U!

layers said...

I find mail art and faux postage stamps fascinating-- have you seen the book THE STAMP ART & POSTAL HISTORY OF MICHAEL THOMPSON & MICHAEL HERNENDEZ DE LUNA? As I mentioned before I am a fan of Ray Johnson.

Coffee Messiah said...

layers: Hi....no I haven't, will have to seek it out. Donald Evans was an early proponent of this also.