I've been making postcards and garnishing letters for a span of time so seemingly endless that I couldn't truly name the place and moment that I became a 'mail artist'. What I can tell you is that it was a mere month ago that I discovered the community of artists like me who prefer to make our art for others and send it off through the postal system. It was similar to a storm of melon sized hail raining down on me; DUH. How could my ego allow me to think that I was alone in this for so long? Exasperated and dumbfounded I began to explore the trajectories of this cult and with every blog, union, alliance, and CFE I couldn't assuage my anticipation- now, more than ever, I wanted to let the mail art explode from my fingertips.My grandmother, who I always addressed as Nanoo (even on envelopes!), had shoeboxes upon rubbermaid drawers upon manila folders of tiny bits of patterned papers; candy wrappers, used matchbooks, clothing tags, tickets, pamphlets, brochures...all for the purpose of re-purposing. We would sit at the same table and let the spread of materials grow and thicken until there might be a path to the chairs in the end. Sometimes the materials created crop circles of makeshift work spaces that I would hop to and from like lily pads of a pond and I an eager frog with newly sprouted legs.
Her artwork was graceful and methodical and beautiful, just as she was.
She made me all kinds of lovely little notes.
She also sent me postcards. Between her and my aunt (her daughter, of whom she also had aesthetic impact on) I have received more postcards than one might know what to do with. But, following their example, I knew precisely what to do with all those cards. I cherished them.
My postcard collection has reached 700+ and is growing all the time. The line graph showed steady and healthy acquisition of cards throughout adolescence and the college years until I came upon postcrossing.com, where one can send and receive postcards from others all over the planet. Since then, the increase has exceeded the graph itself.
When Nanoo passed away a chunk of me flew off with her spirit, wherever it may be. She told me once that if reincarnation is what occurs in afterlife then she knew that the two of us would reunite as river otters and spend our days floating down streams hand in hand (a completely unwarranted conclusion suggested over brunch. She was a rather odd lady herself despite her sophistication).
Thus, OdderMail! Inspired by the correspondence between a grandmother and granddaughter, two otters just tryin' to be together and the legacy of her that I intend to forward with all my might.
OdderMail will be updated weekly with my various working projects, ideas, musings, DIY instructions, any books or websites I find to be of aid, and documentation of current correspondence. So tune in every so often, but in the meantime feel free to send me your address:
ellopoppit08@yahoo.com
and I will gladly whip up something sweet for your mailbox or if you are a fellow mail artist who would like to share with me my address is:
Cassandra Gallagher
P.O. Box 62
West Glacier, MT
59936
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