I've been a mail artist for as long as I can remember - and a lot of my friends are too. But with the internet, it aint like it used to be and postal communication is becoming a thing of the past. Mail art is a process and it takes time, it's not immediate. I especially like doing collage because it is so much like my own life, mixing up things that may not go together at first then finding patterns and balance within the final piece. Mail art happens, and it makes people think & smile. Why not try some yourself!

In this contest, I'm asking for postcards on any themes or ideas you want to do art on (it can even be a book review or just a fun collage). Let yourself go (as simple or as complicated, as wild or serene, as funny or serious as you like) and then put this address on it (that goes anywhere you like too) :

There are plenty of cool sites on the Internet if you do a search for 'mail art' on the web, this will give you ideas for starting your own life story in the mail! To start, check out the gallery here

http://www.geocities.com/fleamail22/

What is Mail Art?

One definition: Correspondence art (Mail art)

This term applies to art sent through the post rather than displayed or sold through conventional commercial channels, encompassing a variety of media including postcards, books, images made on photocopying machines or with rubber stamps, postage stamps designed by artists, concrete poetry and other art forms generally considered marginal.

John Held Jr. The Dictionary of Art, edited by Jane Turner, Macmillan Publishers Limited 1996

Another definition goes:
It is not precious art. It can disappear in the post, get ripped, and have stickers placed on it in the process. This is all part of the allure. The artist collaborates with the post office. They add their mark to your work. I have a very purist definition of Mail Art. It is a piece of art that passes through the mail system. By piece of art- I do not mean a piece that is simply mailed in an envelope. That is "mailed art". Mail Art, to me, means the piece itself must be mailed as the art. All contents in an unembellished envelope don't count. The stamp you place on that piece, the cancellation of that stamp ... that is what makes the piece Mail Art. Mail Art is normally postcards and envelopes, but can not be confined to just that. It can also be sculptural.

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How can I become a mail artist?

Easy! You can become a mail artist by sending a piece of your own creativity through the snail mail to names and addresses of your friends or people asking for mail art Start by sending your art work to the Mustard Seeds Mail Art Gallery!!.

"You don't make a living out of mail art, you make an art out of living."

the credo at EMMA (Electronic Mail Museum of Art)

Go to:

Front cover
Mustard Seeds Report
A visit to Sunderbans by Saptak Mohanta
Mustard Seeds Haiku Contest
The disappearance of my glasses by Chotku Parekh
Mini Chatterjee's Culture Corner: Dowry system in Indian weddings
Tanabata by Megumi Takemura
Write Me by Shohini Sen
Cooking and Science - Try It!
A Rainy Watery Excursion by Maura Aunty & Malini Basu
Association for peace exchange with Indian and Pakistani youth
More Haiku
Book Review by Arnab Chakraborty
Mango Bite: Interview with Puja Paul by Aparupa Biswas and Mini Chaterjee
Back cover
MUSTARD SEEDS MAIL ART CONTEST