Bottle Gram by The Blessed Father (San Diego, California, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member The Blessed Father (San Diego, California, USA)

February 4, 2015 - One wing of mail-art involves not simply mailing envelopes and cards but sending a wide array of materials through the postal system to serve various artistic purposes. The history is fascinating, with descriptions of items ranging from boxes of dirt and bricks to, yes, a human ear (part of a Fluxus event in the 1960s) and much, much more. This doesn't even scratch the surface, of course.

In recent years, I have seen familiar artists use the “message in a bottle” concept with great success, including TIC TAC (Germany) who curated an entire mail-art call around the theme and individual works by Richard Canard (USA). While belated due to photography issues, I am thrilled to share another hugely successful message in a bottle-style mailing sent by The Blessed Father during the past holiday season.

I think this was just a FAB idea and thank The Blessed Father for remembering me with this and other excellent mail-art items. The bottle gram had no problems passing through the postal system, and others might wish to experiment with this idea. I look forward to more great exchanges with The Blessed Father in 2015.