History of mailart

[An. U.]

Hello, dear mail artists!
Could you please help me with my academic work..?
I must give a lecture about history of mail art and mail art itself.
Maybe you could advise me some useful links, and maybe you know some online videos about mailart I could show them?

Thank you very much,
An.U

[Carmela Rizzuto]

What is Mail Art?

Anything that can be sent through the mail – artist made postcards, books, journals, broadsides, illustrated letters, decorated envelopes, artist trading cards, decorated three dimensional objects, such as shoes, plastic bottles, etc. - can be considered mail art. Artists use a variety of media including, pencils, pens, inks, paints, rubber stamps, photographs, found materials, and ephemera to create their works. 

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_art

2. Link to interview with John Held, Jr. who is an icon of mail art in the USA.

http://www.kqed.org/arts/programs/spark/profile.jsp?essid=4489

3. Link to Electronic museum of mail art at University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA

There are embedded links, but not all work. Crackerjacks Kid is a well-known USA artist.

http://actlab.us/emma/

Click on the opening page. Then go to FAQ, Galleries, etc

4. Article in New York Times about Ray Johnson who is credited with starting the Correspondence Art movement.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/arts/design/ray-johnson-defies-ca...

[Ruud Janssen]

The 5 books with all interviews

The complete project has been put in 5 books.

Free available at:

https://www.academia.edu/6764964/Mail-Interview_Project_by_Ruud_Jan...

https://www.academia.edu/6769512/Mail-Interview_Project_by_Ruud_Jan...

https://www.academia.edu/6769519/Mail-Interview_Project_by_Ruud_Jan...

https://www.academia.edu/6769537/Mail-Interview_Project_b_y_Ruud_Ja...

https://www.academia.edu/6769543/Mail-Interview_Project_by_Ruud_Jan...

And when you would like to have a hardcopy of the book you can order a print of these books with colour-cover on:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/ruud-janssen/mail-interviews-part-1/paperb...

http://www.lulu.com/shop/ruud-janssen/mail-interviews-part-2/paperb...

http://www.lulu.com/shop/ruud-janssen/mail-interviews-part-3/paperb...

http://www.lulu.com/shop/ruud-janssen/mail-interviews-part-4/paperb...

http://www.lulu.com/shop/ruud-janssen/mail-interviews-part-5/paperb...

For only about 100 US$ you have the complete set of interview which I worked on for many years. Digital it is even available for free!

When you use quotes, please ask permision first.

[Ruud Janssen]

made a group "Mail-Art History" where I will collect the links and sources. So that will come in handy for others too. It gets a more central place as well.

[James L. Weaver]

I'm 73 years old, and the very first piece of Mail Art I ever saw, was shown on TV...an envelope addressed to Robert Ripley % Ripley's Believe It Or Not. The letter was from a viewer. This was in the 1950s. There may be copies of the letter somewhere on the RBION website, if such a site exists.(?)
James L. Weaver

[William M]

you might look into the work of reginald bray. he doesn't seem to get mentioned much(i only learned about him recently) but he was pushing/testing the post office back in the late 1800s/early 1900s.

http://www.wrbray.org.uk/

[Lutz Wohlrab]

I think this can be helpful:

https://mailartists.wordpress.com/literature/

and my site in generell.

and this: 

http://post.at.moma.org/themes/10-poema-colectivo-revolucion-and-th...

best, Lutz