The touring mail art exhibition that I set up earlier this year, which kicked off the tour in Walthamstow, London, has now rocked up in Bedford. Anne-Marie Stijelja is curating this leg, taking over from Spike Dennis who curated the show at The PrintHaus in Cardiff.
We need your art! Please read the press release below to find out how you can be involved, and get yourselves down to the pop-up gallery space in Bedford to check out all the new work that has been added to the exhibition on its travels!
“As part of the 24 Mill St Pop Up local artist and all round wonder-woman Anne Marie Stijelja will be curating the Mail Art: Bedford exhibition which will incorporate her own work alongside other travelling Mail Art shows. Anne Marie explains more here:
“I will be curating an exhibition at the 24 Mill St Pop Up on the weekend of 22nd and 23rd September 2012 that will celebrate Mail-Art. Mail Art is a little known art form which first began in the 60’s as a way for people of any age, gender or art ability to express their creativity by painting, weaving, drawing, etc. directly onto the packages and envelopes they post out. Find out more here
Within the exhibition I will be including some of my own artwork, which uses British and foreign postage stamps as a medium as well as the elevated envelopes that I have sent and received through Tara Bliven’s ‘The Elevated Envelope’ project
There will also be an opportunity to see the 300 postcards entries from a recent stamp design competition that celebrated the Best of British in 2012 , where the best 50 designs were made into a book called The Jubilee Postcards published by Lavinia Drake.
In addition we are honoured to play host to traveling Mail Art exhibition, which is on a journey around Great Britain and will join us in Bedford after leaving its previous destination of the Printhaus in Cardiff. This travelling exhibition is the brain child of Marie-Louise Plum, who lives in Walthamstow but originates from Bedford.
SUBMIT YOUR OWN ART
I am seeking art submissions on any subject and medium with one stipulation – that it relates to mailable packaging or material i.e. art on jiffy bags, envelopes, brown paper, packages, art using stamps, printed or franked labels, mail stickers, stencils or mail delivery cards. You can draw, paint, cut, stick and glue, cut-out, construct, scribble or print the choice is yours. As your work is being sent straight to the empty shop, it would need to fit through a regular sized letterbox.
Submissions will be added to Marie-Louise Plum’s traveling Mail Art exhibition which will continue its journey around Great Britain and possibly further afield. If you would like to host it in your town then let Marie-Louise know on mail@marielouiseplum.com
All entries must reach the pop-up gallery between the dates of August 27th and September 23rd to ensure that they are exhibited in the Bedford section of the travelling exhibition. Please note that it is in the spirit of Mail Art that all entries submitted are shown and that it is open to amateurs or professionals alike. The weekend of the 22nd and 23rd Sept is the core of the exhibition, but if space allows within the Pop Up we will keep the exhibition up for longer.
Entries should be sent to:
Anne-Marie Stijelja
Mail Art: Bedford
24 Mill Street
Bedford
MK40 3HD
If you have any questions please contact me on amstijelja@btinternet.com”
