I’ve discovered the wonderful world of mail art, which was introduced to me by the New Hampshire Institute of Art (NHIA). They recently announced a call for entries for Errors, Fakes, and Oddities—an International Mail Art Exhibition. The exhibit is now on view at the Sharon Arts Center Gallery in Peterborough, NH.

What  exactly is mail art? That was my first question and Google was my friend in the search for answers. The definitions vary: a basic one I found was that mail art is “any art that can be sent through the postal mail.” But many of the examples I enjoyed browsing online also incorporated postage stamps and related snail mail artifacts as part of the art itself. So those were my models…

And at least three trial and error attempts later, I completed my first piece of mail art, titled “Butterfly Sky Banner on Behalf of the Monarchs.”

LJ Thomas, 2019

And I’m now hooked on another craft to add to my creative space exploration.