Easy now dudes – this is an open call for mail art from around the UK and the world!

‘Mail Art: E17′ is the first stop on a touring exhibition of mail art from artists and illustrators across the globe, housed on this leg at Walthamstow Wine Club in Walthamstow, E17, London.

I am seeking art on any subject and in any form with the one stipulation that the art relates to a mailable or mailed form. For example, that could be art on jiffy bags, envelopes, brown paper, packages, it could be 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. Anything goes.

If you would like to take part in the exhibition please email me at mail[at]marielouiseplum.com or send your work directly the Mail Art:E17, c/o Walthamstow Wine, 56-60 Grove Road, London, E17 9BN. The deadline for submissions is ongoing, however, for this leg of the exhibition artwork should be mailed through by May 25th 2012.

The exhibition will move on from Walthamstow to Cardiff in June, for that is where the second leg of the Magical Mail Art Mystery Tour will be housed, at our new home, The Printhaus. Contemporary British artist Spike Dennis is curating the exhibition in Cardiff. We are still looking for curators for future exhibitions, so if you’d like to try your hand at curating a leg of the Mail Art tour, please get in touch by emailing mail[at]marielouiseplum.com.

Mail Art: E17 will be on display at Walthamstow Wine Club until June 20th 2012. Mail Art: Cardiff will be on display at The Printhaus from 7th July 2012-21st July 2012.

Read more about the world-wide cultural movement of Mail Art here.

*The reason I am exhibiting the first leg in E17 is because it’s a vibrant, art-filled community full of lovely people who are well into lovely things! Check out Stowscene to learn more about us.

Private view for my latest exhibition is this Thursday 19th from 5:30-8:00pm at Wood Street Indoor Market, Walthamstow. Location details here. There will be wine.

Location: Wood Street Indoor Market, 98-100 Wood Street, Walthamstow, London, E17 3HX.

“The Guest Artist section is a place for artists to talk about their work, techniques and materials. I am sure that one artist explaining how they solved a problem will help other artists and I hope that a community evolves where artists will assist each other with their artistic dilemmas, share ideas and technical information as well as make connections and give each other friendly support.

Here today to share her art with us is Marie-Louise Plum, who paints in London, UK. Thanks Marie!

JA: Please tell us a little about yourself.

MP: I am Marie-Louise Plum, an artist and illustrator from Walthamstow, E17. As well as good ol’ fashioned editorial illustration I also go by the motto that I can draw on anything. That means I take unconventional objects like musical instruments, old telephones, museum display boxes and ornaments and draw all over them. I mainly exhibit my work and contribute to arts publications and projects, although I sometimes get the odd – and I do mean odd – commission to make things like giant sweeties or married vegetables out of papier mache and illustrate them. I also have a keen interest in the world of mental health and facilitate drawing workshops for mental health service users. I do this in the interest of art and illustration therapy and also run a popular blog to highlight creativity and art in mental health.

JA: What materials and techniques did you use in making the art work you are showing here?

MP: I am first and foremost a doodler, a scribbler, an illustrator. I love dip pens, fat pens, thin pens, black pens, coloured pens, brush pens, liquid ink pens, fountain pens…you get the idea. I like to draw with pens. My most preferred materials are dip pen and ink, usually acrylic ink. I also like using watercolours and Winsor and Newton inks. I start my artworks in pen, usually fast and furious mark-making on paper, just to get the feel of what I am trying to achieve. If I want to keep the style of the first sketch I will usually use a light box to trace and keep the lines that I want. I’ll then continue drawing without the light box. If I am drawing with a more cartoon style I usually sketch in pencil, then when I am happy, draw with pen over the top of the sketch until I get the image I want.

JA: What challenges (if any) did you face in making this work and can you give other artists any tips for solving similar problems?

MP: The only challenges I really face in making any piece of work is when the drawing doesn’t go to plan and I completely deviate from the original idea of the piece I want to realise. This can be very discouraging and confidence knocking. I don’t find being flexible about my ideas is something that comes naturally to me so when I don’t draw the picture I have in my mind I do start to worry. However this is easily overcome by telling yourself that you have to be adaptable and go with the flow for any art to truly work, that ideas are in constant flux and have many meanings to many people. There is not a right or wrong way to make pictures. They are what they are.

JA: Please tell us something about the idea behind the work you are showing here.

MP: I am obsessed with childhood emotions, imagination and fears as well as fairy and folk tales, mystery and the uncanny. I wanted to illustrate a piece that conveys the feelings of creepiness you get as a child when going to bed, when you run and jump into bed to as not to let the bogey man under the bed snatch and grab at your legs. That feeling of someone hiding behind the curtains in your room. And you tell your parents but they assure you there’s no one there, go to sleep. You feel like they don’t believe you but you trust them anyway, and after worried minutes you drift off. But that’s when the bogey man comes. I love the idea of the child’s being right after all and their fears being realised. Whether in this image the bogey man is a real thing or perhaps a bad dream creeping into the little boy’s mind. The piece is called Archie Goes to Sleep and is from my recent solo exhibition ‘HAPPYLAND’.

JA: How does this work relate to your artistic practice, how you approach art over-all?

MP: This piece of work is the first I attempted using an already created piece of art to up-cycle and create my own artwork. I like to experiment with ideas and although I get that nagging doubt about ideas not going to plan, I do tend to try out new things frequently. Because I have a day job art is never stressful or tiring for me as I am not often up-against-it to hand in work and my livelihood does not depend on me churning out illustration on demand. Art is always free and exciting, I have no pressure to work to tight briefs or please other people. In this way I can make the art that I choose and enjoy so much. I have great respect for outsider and folk artists who I feel with their non-restrictive approach have captured the very essence of what art should feel like when it is being made.

JA: Do you have any art advice you would like to share?

MP: Be who you are and be that well.

JA: What is your favourite art material?

MP: My most favourite art material is acrylic ink. I love to create patterns and use it to up-cycle museum display boxes and I find that the ink works perfectly over a good primer. It is also great for drawing on already painted surfaces; for example, my featured image is a charity shop painting which I illustrated directly onto. I was able to do this with acrylic ink without having to use a primer.

Marie will be exhibiting the work from ‘Happyland’ at Wood Street Indoor Market in Turnaround 10 with the Waltham Forest Arts Club April 14th – 20th and in the E17 Art Trail September 1st-16th at Walthamstow Wine Club, 56-60 Grove Road, E17 9BN.”

Blog link>> Lost and Found In E17

My next exhibition with Turnaround is exhibition number 10 which runs from Saturday April 14th-Saturday 21st April at Wood Street Indoor Market.

I’m doing an illustration workshop on April 13th for the inpatients at Highgate Mental Health Centre in London. The participants will be taking part in drawing a cartoon strip about a day – any day, past, present or future – in their life and how the day is relevant to their feelings. They will also have the chance to use many different materials and mediums to work on their pieces.

The workshop is invite only for the inpatients, however if you know someone who is attending the centre please let them know about the workshop. Please note the day of the workshop is actually the 13th April and not 6th as advertised on the poster.

Hello lovelies!

Here’s news of my next exhibition:

“You are invited to Turnaround – a series of 11 exhibitions in 12 weeks by members of the Waltham Forest Arts Club in the unusual space of an all windowed kiosk of the Wood Street Indoor Market.
Feb. 4th to April 28th.
Painting, printmaking, drawing, sculpture, photography, performance, video & sound works, installation, textiles, mixed media & crafts, bookarts, music and poetry. See the full schedule on the website: http://turnaround.yolasite.com”

I’ll be exhibiting pieces from my solo show, HAPPYLAND, from April 14th-21st with the marvellous photographer Timothy Kraemer and printmaker Anna Alcock. I’ve currently got a piece from HAPPYLAND in the group exhibition on at the moment so if you have a minute to check out what is happening at the newly jazzed up Wood Street Indoor Market I would urge you to go and check it out.

More information and location details here.

>> Update on the mail art exhibtion housed at Walthamstow Wine, E17: opening times, submission guidelines and press coverage.

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I am still seeking submissions for the mail art exhibition,click here for submission guidelines and deadline.

Waltham Forest Guardian have covered the exhibition with a nice write up, available to view here.

Regarding opening times, the exhibition is freely open to the public every other Wednesday from 3-9pm, the next Wednesday it is open is 15th February and then every other Wednesday after that. However, the exhibition may be viewed by appointment and that is possible Mon-Fri during working hours. The wine club venue is also an office and you can book an appointment to view the artworks by calling 0208 521 8296 or 07723 323 542.

The submission deadline for this leg of the Mail Art touring exhibition is April 2nd 2012. The exhibition will be moving on to Cardiff in April therefore the sooner you send your work in, the quick and longer it is displayed on this leg of the touring exhibtion.