Sign up for our second
Mail Art Project
We’re kicking off 2021 with a collective Zine! To participate please fill out the form below. We will be collecting envelope sized artworks to create a hand-bound zine. Although this means there will be only one copy of the original digital copies will be available to all participants. Once you’ve filled out the form you will receive an email with the address to mail your artwork to.
The theme of this Zine will be Art History. How each participant interprets Art History is up to them. Art History surrounds us in our daily lives and influences many of us. We are interested in seeing your personal interactions and intersections with Art History and related visual culture. These could be anything from the subject of your favorite Art History class to your childhood illustration inspiration. We are excited to create with you this new year!
Form Submissions must be completed by January 15th 2021 and artworks must be postmarked by the 31st of January.
The Art History Student Collective Presents:
The Mail Art Project
Created to connect and create community through small, envelope size artwork trades. These works will be sent through the United States Postal Service with purchase of stamps to encourage support for USPS.
We created two seperate Chain letters. Pictured is the first created by Zak Baumker, Anna Herbert, Ashli Towry, RJ Davila, Morty Foster, Sophie Hodge and Charolett Meissner.
We have yet to receive the second letter, but we are looking forward to its arrival. The members who created this letter are: River Berry, Anna Hayes, Ruth Nogi, Sarah Hoag, Jess Schwarz, and Elaina Workley.
A Brief History of Mail Art:
Roy Johnson Envelope
Mail art became prevalent heavily due to the artist Ray Johnson. Ray Johnson was a Detroit native who studied at Black Mountain College along with prominent modernists. Johnson broke away from the abstract aesthetic of the time to pursue a combination of collage and mail art. In this new practice he mailed envelope sized artworks to fellow artists and gave instructions for them to add to the work, then send it to another artist. This began to repeat and create a chain of artist correspondence. Johnson said that mail art was, “ a way to convey a message or a kind of idea to someone which is not verbal; or a confrontation between two people.” In the end, this led to creation of the New York Correspondence School and the introduction of Mail Art into modernism.
Researched by Zak Baumker
Mail Art (also known as postal/correspondence art) became prevalent in the Late 50s through the 60s. Artists used envelope sized artworks to break away from the conventions of the commercial gallery system. These works of mail art include a wide variety of materials, and some artists chose to include music, sound art and poetry. We hope to utilize this unconventional method of creating to bring together the CCAD community during this odd time.
Ray Johnson Envelope