Responding to a request for comments on their involvement in Mail Art, artists are contributing their thoughts. Read the views of Marina Salmosa, Fabio Sassi, Angela Caporas, and others in Mail Art-Two Cents, now on its own page. Further opinions welcomed!

my postcard for the mail art project TEN

Do you have questions about mail art?  Unless you are involved in the making of it, it can be difficult to get a handle on it. There are no real parameters, except that it uses the postal system. But that’s changing also, I just contributed a small work via email to a project called Violet Spots .

On the Mail Art Page I’ve started a list covering the reasons I participate in this movement. Keep an eye out for additions. Also, if you have your own responses to mail art, let me know, and I’ll post those in another list. 

How does grief affect the creative process?

Our 11 years old dog, Gypsy, died a few weeks ago. It completely threw me off the studio track into the dirt, literally. Rather than painting, I dug holes, moved rocks, and planted native plants. I needed to do something extremely physical, forget myself in the ache of burning muscles.

Now, back on course, I’m reflecting on times when I’ve lost loved people and pets, and how it affected artistic productivity. It varied greatly. For instance, when my Grandmother-in-law died in 1990, I buried myself in a frenzy of artwork, churning out very intuitive pieces, like Endangered, in a short time.

When I read my writer friend Ann’s, loving, funny tribute Goodbye, Henry, it reminded me of my need to write creatively about our dog Capone, after he died several years ago.

However, with Gypsy’s death, I pulled out the shovel, and, starting with her grave, split open the ground and dug.  Kept it up for about a week, digging, extracting rocks and boulders, refilling the spaces with Sugar Bush, Buckeye, and Flowering Apricot.

Hopefully, I wasn’t channeling Gypsy, as one of her favorite toys was a rock, and she loved digging for rocks! Probably not, but I feel better now. 

In looking back over my varied responses to death, it’s apparent that all sorrow needed defined acknowledgement, whether through ritual, words, creative outpouring, or digging holes.

Sorrow is our natural response to a big loss. Not to give it expression and voice in some form can lead to depression, which is debilitating and can kill creativity.

Writing this…I’m being tough, but it’s awful quiet here without her bark, her stirring up of the garbage…

and so brilliantly written.

The 6th International MiniArt Exchange of Porta Alegre, Brazil travelled on to the The Federal University of The Amazon in Manuas, Brazil. It is now the 8th International MiniArt Exchange Exhibit. The works are in the main campus gallery from July 29 – September 12, 2008.

Searching Through The Memories.

My work in the exhibit. A collage based on my charcoal drawing of a figure. I’ve used this figure in a work before, it haunts me.

My latest Thumb!  a mixed-media collage that became part of the exhibit.

The Mail Art Exhibit Thumb! was well received in Kernville. 

About 80-100 people attended the Friday, July 25^th wine and cheese reception, and more folks came through on Saturday and Sunday. Thumb! related displays completely filled the Odd Fellows Hall. In the center of the room a pop-up frame held most of the mail art.

The pieces were inserted into crystal clear envelopes and suspended from fishing line with tiny clothespins.

The viewers were able to walk around and study both sides of the postcards; it was possible to see the contributor’s comments plus the stamps, postmarks and country of origin.

Some postcards were inserted into the pockets of the “clear wall” at the far end (shown in background) of the frame.

Near the Hall entryway, a map marked the contributors’ countries with thumbtacks. Additionally, there was a display of Brain Cell Fractal mail art, with an explanation of mail art in general.  

This display had Thumb! mail art, envelopes, and some other mail art calls available for closer inspection. 

A table set up for making art. It was a popular destination during the evening reception and throughout the weekend. Address labels were available, so some contributors received mail art in return.

                                                                                                                          -all photos by Kat Edmonson

Oh! And there was music! Taped music with mbira, or thumb piano selections, plus a bit of Under My Thumb by the Stones and other favorites played in the background for the duration of the show. Above, the acoustic artistry of Pat Seamount and Kat Edmonson enhanced the reception.

by Mirta Toledo of Argentina & the U.S.A

Theme: Thumb, Pouce, Daumen, Duim, Pulgar, Pollice, Policele, Polegar…

Open Media: collage, photography, painting, drawing, printing, etc.

Format & Size: postcards from 4”x6” (or 10 x 15 cm), up to A5 size

about 5 ¾” x 8 1/4” (or 14.8 x 21 cm) maximum.

Documentation: All received works will be exhibited and the artists listed on the blog http://thumbingthrough.wordpress.com/

Please include your name, mailing address, and email address for acknowledgment and correspondence purposes –we will send a list of participants, and copies of any press coverage of the exhibition.

There will be a three-day exhibit July 25, 26, & 27 at the Odd-Fellows Hall in Kernville, California, USA. Kernville has a rich history as a mining town during the California Goldrush and was also frequently used as the site for old silent western movies.

This is the first time an international mail art show will be held in Kernville. At the exhibit there will be a world map indicating the country and city of the artists.

Deadline to be received: June 30, 2008

No fee, no returns: The postcards will become part of the collection of Thumbing Through.

All works must be sent via normal postal route.

 Mail to:        

                  Thumb!

                  c/o J. Desmond

                  P.O. Box 2287

                  Lake Isabella, CA 93240

                  U.S.A.

More on Mail Art & The Thumb! Exhibition.