I Used to be a (Mail) Artist!

 Thirty years ago or so, I was very involved in being an "artist" -- of sorts. I was sharing my art with people all over the world--and they were sharing their art with me. Yet somehow  I had amazingly almost completely forgotten about it--the people, the art, the amount of time I spent working on it--until I was going through boxes and papers in preparation for a move.

Back in the 80s and 90s, before there was email or texting, the world relied upon letters to stay in communication with friends in other parts of the world. True, there was still the telephone. But mail allowed you to get your thoughts out on paper, express yourself fully...and not be interrupted by call waiting or someone else needing to use the phone. As a kid who loved to read, I also really fancied writing. I wrote letters all of the time. At some point I took it upon myself to adorn the envelopes. I would send these missives to friends and families with stickers, doodles and other forms of decorations all over the envelopes. Before long, I was spending as much time--or more--working up the envelopes as I did writing the letters. 

A photograph of me in Frankenstein garb was the inspiration for this envelope.

My aunt was one of my favorite people who lived a ways away from me. I often sent her my decorated letters. She liked them and thought it was rather interesting that I was making them, as my father had done something similar when he had been about my age. She sent me one of his envelopes that she had saved.

An example of an envelope done by my bio dad.

I did not and do not speak to my biological father. I had no idea he had done this and thought it was an interesting coincidence. But what he did and what I did were very different things, very different styles. 

Somehow I started writing to my friend Dina's mom, Sue Nan, in Southern California, whom I only met a time or two. She also decorated her envelopes, but she used rubber stamps that she had made and stickers.  It was Sue Nan that sort of alluded to a world of people who decorated their outgoing mail--but she was mostly familiar with rubber stamped stuff. They were very cool -- but again different from what I was doing. (She did make me some fab tiki stamps not too long ago, though...)

One of Sue Nan's awesome rubber stamp and sticker creations.

Having been a life-long fan of movie posters, it was no surprise that my envelopes, although they were mostly collage, were done so in a way that they could be seen as horizontal posters for bogus Hollywood blockbusters (or low-budget exploitative trash).

A greeting card bought at a local, quasi-head shop called Penny Candy inspired this envelope.

Not all were movie poster-esque. Some were just weird collages. I would also have things coming off of the sides of the rectangular envelope. (Why be confined to a 4 x 9 1/2 inch space?) These pop-off pieces I reinforced with cardboard on the back.

That open wound on the upper left corner was a rubber Halloween scar that I sewed to the envelope.

I was constantly amazed that my non-standard envelopes made it through the mail. I was also surprised at some of the things I got away with sending on them. There were things like toe nail clippings, a little dead (real) scorpion, and, in one instance, real pubic hair (that was NOT mine). The more that got through the mails successfully, the more I "pushed the envelope" so to speak.

Yep, this envelope featured pubic hair--NOT mine--safely sealed behind clear glue. The story of how I came to have the creepy hair is detailed on the envelope itself. O' the horror!

Eventually, I heard a woman interviewed on a local radio station about a local Mail Art show. Her name was Mallory Moad. Mallory was the turning point for me. She had apparently been doing something similar for years as well--more so with rubber stamps again, but she informed me that there was this whole underground thing that people did called "Mail Art." Mail Art? Who knew? I was unable to send anything in for that show's deadline, but I did enter subsequent shows and Mallory and I became friends.

Mail Art turned out to be far more than just decorated envelopes. People sent stickers they had made, rubber stamps, drawings, paintings, cassette tapes (with obscure music or weird rants), or just random crap they'd find -- from all over the world. I even received a piece or two from semi-famous Mexican artist Gerardo Yepiz. There were also a lot of people creating their own homemade magazines --- which were called zines (as in maga-zine). Those were always so varied and interesting.

Some examples of some 'zines from back in the day. "Teenie-Weenie Magaziney" (upper left corner) was produced by friends of mine and was a hoot!

One such 'zine was Global Mail. Global Mail was a great resource. It was your gateway to mail art shows (Yes, there were galleries and studios having shows devoted to mail art.), projects, and just random people looking to meet other mail artists. 

Everyone in the Mail Art world had a Mail Art name. Some of my more frequent Mail Art correspondences were with people who called themselves Pag-hat the Rat-girl, Effluvia, Rudi Rubberoid, Malok, and Dyslexic. Mallery's was The Moadster. I went by several names, trying to be clever or ironic (but maybe not being all that successful at it). I don't recall all of my names, but some the ones I went by were Mr. Hokey Pokey--the Multiple Amputee, and Full Frontal MAIL Nudity. The MAIL Prostitute was the name I was known by the most. 

A drawing/postcard from Walt Evans.

A group of friends (Henry, Christy, and Shawna) had a silly, just-for-fun club they called The Honeycomb Hideout (Yes, based off of the cereal commercials from the '70s). They each had secret Bee names (Henry was Bumble Bee, Christy was Queen Bee, Shawna was Honey Bee). I was invited to join and become one of the gang. I regret my chosen Bee name. I should have chosen Fresno Bee, as I would later become a writer for The Fresno Bee newspaper. Instead, I reached back into my childhood and chose Mr. DO-Bee. Everyone assumed it was a reference to pot/"dobie" (which was never my thing), but it really was harkening back to Mr. Do-Bee on the old "Romper Room" TV show. ("Don't be a DON'T-Bee. Do be a DO-Bee!")

For the Honeycomb Hideout, I made us stationary. (I drew little bee bodies, then cut out pictures of our faces and stuck them on.) Our slogan (I forget who coined it.) was "Sweetness with a sting." But I introduced the Honeycomb Hideout Gang to Mail Art. I found letters addressed to me/Mr. DO-Bee at the Honeycomb Hideout Headquarters when I was sorting through stuff. Henry and Christy created the Teenie-Weenie Magaziney 'zine, which I thought was brilliant as well as creative.

Naturally, because my envelopes and other things were mailed off, I really don't have examples of many to share. My aunt saved a bunch and sent them to me when I had to do a presentation once on "something unusual that you do" for a class. Those I have yet to unpack -- if I still have them. The few I do have still, I purchased back (they were sold for charity) from a Mail Art show at a gallery in my town. But because I was mailing them off, I started keeping records of them. I would take the finished envelope and Xerox it before I mailed it off. 

For the most part, I used copies of old newspaper movie ads or things I'd cut out of magazines or off of junk mail to make up the imagery and sensational verbiage. For my "movie poster" envelopes, while the images and tag lines may have been cut from real movie ads, they were completely repurposed and used for my completely made up, non-existent movies. Some of my Mail Art pieces I loved and was proud of. Others were not the most inspired, but... It was interesting to me, it was creative, and I enjoyed it. People seemed to like them, too.

From the Mail Art that I received or saw at shows, I was inspired to do a few different things and occasionally step outside of the envelope. Mail Art shows usually had themes. You didn't necessarily have to submit something that fit the theme, but it was nice if you did. I remember one piece I made repurposing a small round box. I don't remember what the project was about, but when you took the lid off, there were fish inside, dangling from lines from the underside of the lid.  Another project (that I found at home, unfinished) made use of some promotional crap I'd gotten in the mail. I'd painted it black and was in the process of making it this whole elaborate piece about UFOs, extraterrestrials, and alien invasions--using, of course, various copies of sci-fi movie ad clippings. I had a booklet, space glasses, etc. It could have been cool.

When I was going through my old Mail Art stuff, I was flabbergasted by how little I had remembered about it. There were lots of actual letters from people I had no recollection of corresponding with. While I did keep some things, most of it ended up in the trash, I am sorry to say. 

Why did Mail Art end? It may still be around. I don't know. For me, it just sort of faded away. In the early/mid 90s, I was finishing up my Bachelor's degree in English and then working on my teaching credential. All the cutting and pasting and glitter glue got channeled into props and decor for the classroom. Postage started getting more expensive and email started getting more prevalent. Mail Art just slowly took a back seat to real life. 

Stamp out boredom. Mail Art!

I did find this one last, unfinished envelope that I kept. I don't know if I'll ever finish it or not. You never know. I mean, who wouldn't like a little mail magic or postal pizzazz in their mailbox? 

For a follow-up, click HERE.