Last Week I Was Given a Box of Mail-Art from 1979

[jon foster]

Hello.

Last week I connected with a  friend who gave me a box of mail-art from a show in Winston-Salem NC in 1979. At this point I've gone through the whole box and written down the names of each participant. Over the next few months I will be digitizing all of this on a blog that I will share with everyone very soon. It should be a fun project and I hope you guys will take a look when it gets up and running.

If you have any information about this show, please let me know. At this point I have little to no information about it, but I'm trying to find as much as I can.

Here is a list of everyone who sent in.

Ackerman Clinic – Portland OR, USA

Thomas Adair – Richmond VA, USA

Barbara Aubin – Chicago IL, USA

Baron – Cleveland OH, USA

John M. Bennett – Columbus OH, USA

Carolyn Berry – Monterey CA, USA

J. Boccino – W. Caldwell NJ, USA

Betty Bressi – Staten Island NY, USA

Barton Benes – New York NY, USA

Blue Moon Toys – Salt Lake City UT, USA

Paulo Bruscky – Recife PE, Brazil

Patrick J. Canavan – Baltimore MD, USA

Mary Carol Combs – Kalamazoo MI, USA

Ulises Carrion – Amsterdam, Netherlands

Collageworks – San Francisco CA, USA

Marie Combs – Kalamazoo MI, USA

Contant Art / Changing System – Hillsborough NC, USA

Cook – San Francisco CA, USA

Cris – Ventura CA, USA

Robin Crozier – Sunderland, England

R. Deagle – Norfolk VA, USA

Walter Drearing – Indianapolis IN, USA

Charlotte Duval – Staten Island NY, USA                                     

Dated Material – Oakland CA, USA

Demaree – Raleigh NC , USA

Ko de Jonge – Middleberg, Netherlands

Mike Dyar – San Francisco CA, USA

Jerry Dreva – Milwaukee WI, USA

Bernard K. Fischer – Chatsworth CA, USA

Gasowski Productions – Tempe AZ, USA

Geek City – Greenville NC, USA

geORge – Greenville NC, USA

Richard Graham – Mt. Pleasant MI, USA

D. Klaus Groh – Friedrischsf., Germany

Lin Fife – Colorado Springs CO, USA

Aaron Flores – Mexico

S (?) Gardells – Gibson NC, USA

Geisha Among Barbarians – Chicago IL – USA

Claudio Goulart – Amsterdam, Netherlands

Ken Friedman – New York NY, USA

Paul Hartal – Montreal QC, Canada

John Held Jr. – Utica NY, USA

E.F. Higgins III – New York NY, USA

Tohei Horiike – San Francisco CA, USA

Hot and Into Rubber Cosmic Stamp Co. – East Cleveland OH, USA

International Network – Denver CO, USA

Bonnie Jean Malcolm – Paramount CA, USA

Lomholt Formular Press – Odder, Denmark

Jerry King Mussler – Harrisburg PA, USA

Miroslav Klivar – Belohorska, Czechoslovakia

Edith Kodmur – La Jolla CA, USA

Carol Kohler – Amherst MA, USA

Michaele LeCompte – Sacramento CA, USA

Byron W. Lacy – Nacogdoches TX, USA

Katalin Ladik – Yugoslavia

Cynthia Larson – Santa Barbara CA, USA

Larry Lean – Greenville NC, USA

Edward LeShock – Radford VA, USA

Elizabeth Lide – Atlanta GA, USA

Lana Lust – Colorado Springs CO, USA

Tracy Magen – Dresher PA, USA

C. Mehrl – Columbus OH, USA

Don P. Miller – River Falls WI, USA

Johnnie Mizell – Nags Head NC, USA

Tom Morrissey – Coral Gables FL, USA

Brian Muldoon – Detroit MI, USA

Michele Musser – Harrisburg PA, USA

Opal L. Nations – Toronto ONT, Canada

OK Post – Weare NH, USA

Orworks – Sunderland MA, USA

Paul Owens – Wedford OR, USA

Sharron Parker – Raleigh NC, USA

B. Phillips – Col MD, USA

Pawel Petosz – Elblag, Poland

Pitts Pie – Eureka CA, USA

Professor Plum – Long Beach CA, USA

Emanuel Ravelli – Reno NV, USA

David S. – Salt Lake City UT, USA

Salt Lick Press – Quincy IL, USA

Sarapta – Chicago IL, USA

Soft Art Press – Lausanne, Switzerland

Al Souza – Amherst MA, USA

Lon Spiegelman – Los Angeles CA, USA

John Stephan Fawcett – Storrs CT, USA

P.A.Z Stogre – Willowdale ONT, Canada

Marta Tornero – Greensboro NC, USA

A. Vandenburgh – Portland OR, USA

G.E. Marx Vigo – Buenos Aires, Argentina

Eva Vlasakova – Zelezny, Czechoslovakia   

Jordan Wagner – San Francisco CA, USA

Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt – Berlin, Germany

Mario Zecca – Norman OK, USA

[De Villo Sloan]

This is totally fascinating, Jon. In a way, you are re-staging a show from 1979. In another way, you're opening a time capsule. Either way, it captures a moment in time perfectly.

I think that was a very vital time. The NY Correspondance School was probably still dominant and the explosion of the 1980s was about to commence.

You have some real classic networkers here like Robin Crozier, Ken Friedman (Fluxus), Opal Nations (had a book out w/ Ferlinghetti's City Lights), Lon Spiegelman, etc. Yet I am not seeing a lot of the true Old School folks.

You have folks who are still with us on the IUOMA platform today such as John M. Bennett. John is just an amazing institution. C. Mehrl is there too!

I wonder if Ackerman Clinic is Blaster Al? I think, yes. Those would have been the early days of Neoism and a bunch of them were in Portland. No David Zack, though.

Also many lost in the mists of time.

Amazing. Really amazing.