Mail Art

In reading the section of The Accidental Masterpiece about the artist Ray Johnson, I was interested to discover that he was particularly active in mail art. Mail art can be described as art in which the act of mailing becomes a medium. Artists typically mail items such as post cards, trading cards, hand made stamps etc. which are often collaboratively altered. It has been said that mail art began as a way to pull away from the classical art world and gallery setting. It has been seen as a way that anyone can get involved in art.

I was particularly interested to learn about Ray Johnson's involvement in mail art because I have participated in a couple of different forms of mail art myself. In high school I joined an online group in which members exchange artist trading cards. These tiny cards are the same dimensions as traditional playing cards. Each month the group would have a different theme for the cards. I would make a certain number of cards to send out and would receive the same number in return. As a student I thought of this as a great free way to collect some art. It is really fun to see different people's interpretations of the same theme. Themes were often very broad such as a particular color so that they would not be overly limiting. Here are a few artist trading cards that I made using mixed media and printing techniques.

Another form of mail art that I engaged in was the 1000 Journals Project. This project started with 1000 journals being sent to different people who had signed up online. They were passed around from person to person until they were full and they were then sent back to the anonymous founder of the project to be scanned and uploaded online. Sometimes the journals were worked on by one person at a time but some were also placed in community locations such as coffee shops to be worked on collaboratively. The project has grown to include far more than 1000 journals. Today, anyone can start their own journal to be passed around and upload their own images. I started a journal for a class that I took, Art and Community. Most of the people in my class added to it but I haven't been brave enough to mail it out to people I don't know yet! If anyone would like to add to it please let me know in class or in a comment.