Mail Art

Elizabeth O’Toole

Professor Rehm

Advanced Drawing

5 May 2020

Mail Art: Connectivity Despite Distance

         The concept of creating and delivering mail art seems more exciting to me now than ever. While the thought of sending small works of art in the mail prior to the start of remote learning still seemed an engaging activity, now living and working away from classmates and professors makes it all the more meaningful. It feels personal. It feels intimate. While my days seem to flow quite easily into the next and my so-called daily routine becomes less of a routine at all, I am excited by the smallest things. While waiting for something in the mail might have previously seemed like a burden or simply a relatively mundane occurrence, it has now become an exciting new shift of routine. I appreciate the mail art I have received as well as created now more than I had previously.

         When thinking of the kind of mail art I wanted to send out, I thought of it in terms of two themes. As we are stuck in quarantine and I know that I, personally, have struggled finding inspiration and motivation to create, my first question was, what would I like to create and communicate? And secondly, with the realization so many of us are stuck inside and likely dealing with a similar state of mind, I thought what might I like to see if I was receiving mail art?And upon asking those questions, I generally arrived at the same answer; positivity, colors, happiness, a reminder of the good and/or a distraction from the chaos of our current state of affairs. This notion is what prompted me to create the works I did. 

In my work, I created and sent out 10 different cards all with a similar concept. I started with creating colorful, wavy, striped cards with a variety of tools I had around the house like markers, pencils, colored construction paper, and more. On each of these unique backgrounds, I then pasted black and white images of people in motion; running, jumping, laughing, etc. I wanted to create little bursts of energy and sunshine. I didn’t include text and there is no concrete agenda other than to send a fun little colorful burst of emotion. These are all entirely unique and open to interpretation by each individual viewer, but they are all meant to be fun and lighthearted with the intention of bringing a burst of fun into the everyday routine.