Where was I?  On July 14*, 2005 Postcrossing launched.  I’ve missed out on 4+ years of this incredible project?!  The horror!  From their about page:

The goal of this project is to allow people to receive postcards from all over the world, for free. Well, almost free! The main idea is that: if you send a postcard, you will receive at least one back from a random Postcrosser from somewhere in the world.

Obviously, I signed up immediately.  This project combines my favorite things: exotic post marks, connecting strangers, a guarantee of mail, and documentation (maps, charts!).  Oh yes, I’ve already sent out my first three cards– one to the US, China, and Germany.  The first address I got was in Berlin (pictured below)– a city oh so close to my heart.  Someday I’ll tell you about how I can divide my life into before and after Berlin.

* my birthday.  Clearly this project is made for me.

“Newspaper Boat” in Marcel Germain’s Flickr Stream.
Licensed via the Creative Commons.

To Make a Dadist Poem
Tristan Tzara

Take a newspaper.
Take some scissors.
Choose from this paper an article the length you want to make your poem.
Cut out the article.
Next carefully cut out each of the words that make up this article and put them all in a bag.
Shake gently.
Next take out each cutting one after the other.
Copy conscientiously in the order in which they left the bag.
The poem will resemble you.
And there you are–an infinitely original author of charming sensibility, even though unappreciated by the vulgar herd.

Available online via PoemHunter.com

This issue of Vile, number 7- Winter 1979, is really the crowning jewel (it’s also the most difficult to photograph– the paper is awfully fragile and, since it’s bound with a metal tab nearly impossible to open completely).  Made in an addition of 300, this issue includes original works from artists who used rubber stamps.

Each of its 93-pages seems to be an original (at least, not photocopied).  According to the masthead it was hand collated by Madeline Behrens-Brigham.  According to some Google research, she is still active in the San Francisco Crafts community.  Trying to work up the courage to send her a message via LinkedIn or Facebook…  For some reason collating this seems like a truly herculean task– even moreso than following-up with the artists who agreed to participate.

[Read more →]

In honor of women’s history month, issue number 6 of Vile Magazine features mail art by many, many women artists.  This issue includes a substantial essay from Anna Banana in which she reflects on her position as a female artist in the 1970s, postal art’s accessibility to marginalized artists, and her perspective on the sub-genres within Mail Art (postal art, correspondence art, and post card art). I’ve scanned the 8-page essay and turned it into a PDF (2 MB, let me know if you require a higher quality scan).  It is also available on Flickr.

More images on Flickr and after the jump… [Read more →]

VILE magazine, International Double Issue, p. 91

We all know the difficulties it causes to receive the lot of mail we do every day.

That postal authorities have managed to get any item from one address to another is of course not intolerable, but the items themselves derived from and deprived of the postal reference must concern everybody.

To the end that minimize the implications brought abut by these items Eric Andersen offers you a mail-box.

You are requested to fill up this box with mail addressed to you, undelivered mail returned to you, mail you have received by mistake, etc.

If you return the box to Eric Andersen the content will then be redistributed to the 4000 persons on his address-list.

Eric Andersen – Copenhaguen [sic]

[Read more →]

Several years ago I received five issues of Vile Magazine as a gift from a colleague.   He packaged up all 5 copies he owns (the complete volume 3) and a few other things which I’ll share later.  Honestly, it was one of the most generous, kindest gifts I’ve ever received.  Exactly the kind of thing I adore: mail art, art history, documents, and newspapers.  Getting that gift in the winter of 2005 was like Christmas coming early.  Over the years I’ve flipped through them, read them, looked at them for inspiration, and keep them on a special bookshelf.

A bit of Internet research turned up very little on this incredible and influential magazine produced by Anna Banana and her (then) husband Bill Gaglione.  Over the next few weeks I plan to scan as much of the magazines as I can and post them on Flickr.  A warning, many images are marginally NSFW (unless you work in a museum).  The Internet isn’t totally bereft of Vile information (sorry, couldn’t resist).  This essay, “Misreading Mail Art” by  Matt Feranto, is useful and I quite like the writer who noted that, “[These Magazines] demonstrate  a much more strategically engaging recipe for institutional critque than the work of Hans Haacke, currently on view in a solo show at X [sic]; the jouissance of mail art makes Haacke’s strategies look remarkably didactic by comparison.”

I’ll post a few choice images on this blog too.  Click through to see more of Vile’s “Christmas Special 1975.” [Read more →]

“Amy’s 5th gr report card” in Stan McCoy’s Flickr Stream
Licensed via the Creative Commons.

Gee, You’re So Beautiful That It’s Starting to Rain
Richard Brautigan

Oh, Marcia,
I want your long blonde beauty
to be taught in high school,
so kids will learn that God
lives like music in the skin
and sounds like a sunshine harpsichord.
I want high school report cards
to look like this:

Playing with Gentle Glass Things
A

Computer Magic
A

Writing Letters to Those You Love
A

Finding out about Fish
A

Marcia’s Long Blonde Beauty
A+!

from The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster. 1968. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, NY.  Available online via the Library of Congress’ Poetry 180 project.

Scenes from our weekend in the VA country– taken by a film camera!

Spent the weekend in the VA countryside with some new friends– many from work.  As a thank you to our two hosts/planners/gourmet cooks I am going to award them adult merit badges. The border is just some free clip art from the Florida Educational Technology Clearinghouse.  I did the text in MSWord, printed it on Eames Furniture Weave “Natural” cardstock, and then just put one little loop of thread through the badge so it kind of swings around.

Photos from the weekend coming soon– it was so beautiful.  Bright white snow, gold grass, black cows, and dark brown mud.  I took the film camera for the weekend and cannot wait until I see how the pictures turned out.

Also, may be a bit quiet around here this week into next.  Work is going to get very busy– and it’s hard to complain since the blizzard gave me loads of time to revel in creativity, paper arts, stamps, and books.  I promise, I wont leave for a month and a half this time!

Late February
Gail Mazur

Late February, and the air’s so balmy
snowdrops and crocuses might be fooled
into early blooming. Then, the inevitable blizzard
will come, blighting our harbingers of spring,
and the numbed yards will go back undercover.
In Florida, it’s strawberry season?
shortcake, waffles, berries and cream
will be penciled on the coffeeshop menus.

Available online via Opossumsal Homestead