Received: Mail-Art Social Realism from Jim Sant Amour (St. Petersburg, Florida, USA)

[De Villo Sloan]

Mail-art by IUOMA member Jim Sant Amour (St. Petersburg, Florida, USA)

December 9, 2010 - Jim Sant Amour sent me this slightly larger than postcard size mail-art collage that uses photographs he took in Raliegh, North Carolina; Syracuse, New York; and additional material from old telephones he found at a garage sale. I think this is a great use of personal photographs and found material. For IUOMA members not familiar with the United States landscape, these are the kind of houses you find in just about any town. I believe this style of architecture originated in the 1920s when there was a building boom; but I could be wrong. Jim also includes shots of movie theaters and stores (aka shops) found in these towns. The images have a vintage quality (probably the b&w) and strike me as being what some might call Americana. Jim wrote a very nice note on the address side, and there are some additional images:

Jim's work reminds me of the early Jon Foster pieces I received. If you are already not aware, mail-art provides a constant reminder that the world is vast. People who live hundreds of miles away start to seem like neighbors, and you begin to feel a bond with them entirely resulting from an accident of geography. So I was fascinated to learn - when Jim and I first became friends - that we lived a town or two away from each other when we were growing up in Upstate New York - reference in his mail-art being the pics of a city named Syracuse. But we have more than an accident of environment connecting us from long ago. Jim is a really nice guy with a great sense of humor, in addition to talent. Can anyone forget one of the first photos he posted at the IUOMA, the infamous "Evil Baby"?

Thanks for the mail-art, Jim. I'm looking forward to more.

MAIL-ART PSYCHIC

New people are entering your life, bringing new concepts.

Mail-art color of the day: mud (TYLT)

Mail-art word for yesterday was: Langpo (TYRS)

Mail-art fashion consultant: I'm going with the Armantroutfishing tee-shirt. Richard Brautigan wrote Trout Fishing. But Jack Spicer was the mastermind. And I always back Jack.

[De Villo Sloan]

Katerina, excellent pic! I thought it was Chicago before I read your comment. This morning I watched Ruud Janssen's walking through Valkenberg Park in Breda, Netherlands video. It's interesting that with mail-art you start to wonder about people you meet: What's it like where you are? We do have an opportunity to find out about those things here.

[Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat)]

The World is a Town...er, a global village, too! and it is here, at IUOMA,amongst our artists "neighbors" that we have the privilege to chat-over-the-fence, or with a cup of coffee or tea at the corner cafe. A good place to be, to learn, to share...that is mail art. (and this is a black and white photo by Petos Nikoltsos, somewhere in/near L.A.) Like cheryl said: Great art, and also, great blog, Mr. Sloan!

[cheryl penn]

Somehow reading and seeing the world through IUOMA art and comments persuant thereto makes other sides of the world FAR more real than pictures in books.  It imparts a 'living' quality which joins us as human beings.  This is entrenched by the art of giving inherent to the ethos of mail art.  Great art, great blog.