Mail art show in Hopkins required creative thinkers and willing postal carriers
For most people, a daily trip to the mailbox is hardly exciting - another bill, another credit card solicitation. Over the past three months, however, the daily mail call has brought surprise after surprise to the Hopkins Center for the Arts.
Since last October, the Hopkins Center for the Arts has been receiving submissions for Postal Impressions III, a mail art show, which is on display through Feb. 25. This is the third time the center has held the show, which takes place every two years.
"This is our own version of the traditional mail arts show," said Susan Hanna-Bibus, executive arts director of the Hopkins Center for the Arts.
"Mail art started as a way for artists to subvert the gallery system," she explained, and the movement grew to prominence in the United States in the 1950s.
The premise behind mail art is simple: people decorate postcards and envelopes, then submit them for a show by dropping them in the mail. Cushioning art inside bubble wrap and boxes is missing the point. The art is not what's on the inside; the art is what's on the outside.
This means addresses, stamps and cancellation marks become a part of the art. It also means that any rip, tear, or wrinkle an envelope picks up along the way becomes part of the show as well.
Most postcards and envelopes make it just fine. The challenge and fun comes when an artist decides to mail something other than paper, like a T-shirt, a teddy bear or a water bottle. All three of those items were submitted through the mail without any sort of packaging and are on display in the current show, along with a scarf and a tube of lip balm.
"It's amazing," said Hanna-Bibus, "how few things fall off in the mail. For the most part, everything makes it."
In a past year, she said, an artist mailed a bag of cheese puffs. The bag arrived with cheese puffs intact.
"People have a lot of faith in the U.S. postal system," said Hanna-Bibus, "and in our experience, it is deservedly so."
Items in this year's show came from area zip codes, but the majority arrived from other states including Tennessee, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Maryland, to name a few. The call for submissions was published in a national arts magazine, through mailings and in local newspapers.
"Mail art is usually anonymous. Who made it is not as important as the art itself," explained Hanna-Bibus. "It's open to anybody that wants to participate. It's a democratization of art."
Lots of the participants, Hanna-Bibus said, are not professional artists. "Mail art shows are a way in the door for a young artist to get started or for someone who's never thought they could be an artist. It's also a fun activity for groups."
This year, several large postcards arrived that had obviously been made by a group of people working together as the work utilized a similar theme. There is one collection made by art students from a nearby school, another by residents in an adult group home, and yet another by a local Brownie troop.
Because most of the art is submitted anonymously and from far away, Hanna-Bibus said, most of the artists never attend the show or even know if their work arrives.
Once in a while, she said, someone will inquire after his or her work. Sometimes art is submitted with a tag asking that it to be sent on to another mail art show with an attached address.
"This is an ephemeral form of art," Hanna-Bibus explained. "At the end of the show, most of it doesn't get saved or returned.
"The best part about it is that it involves so many people," she said. "It's so fun to see what new things people come up with to put in the mail. This year, CDs were a new medium, but it's always a treasure hunt. People are so clever."
Postal Impressions III runs through Feb. 25 at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. Admission is free and the show is open from 8 a.m.-8 p.m Monday-Friday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday; and noon-5 p.m. Sunday.
