Mail Art Extravaganza!

Wow, I think this is the best year for mail art ever! I have been receiving some amazing decorated envelopes for the Liberate Your Art postcard swap this year. To date, 65 envelopes have arrived. We are now in the lull… the early birds are done and the bulk of the participants will mail in the next two weeks. It happens every year!

I got behind on photographing envelopes last week, so this week’s update on the mail art is HUGE. Enjoy the Mail Art Extravaganza!

My address has never looked so good! Kate from Illinois does amazing lettering, which you might expect from someone who’s blog is named KateLetterplay. Don’t you think it’s cool how well her lettering complements the Marsden Hartley art on the stamp?

Charlotte from Maryland highlights the “Date to Liberate” as March 15 — SWAP DAY!! (By the way, for anyone who lives in Oregon, you are invited to come over and help me stick address labels and stamps on postcards on Swap Day! Contact me if you are interested.)

Jewels from Michigan has a question on the front of her envelope…

…and the best answer ever on the back! Yes! This one just makes me smile.

Patricia from Oregon has a message for you. I agree!

Laurie from Florida created this gorgeously painted envelope. Can you see the texture? It’s feels lovely to handle! The last few years I’ve been seeing these gorgeous butterfly stamps gracing your envelopes. They always seem like such a beautiful complement to your art! I got curious and did a little bit of research on them. The artist who created all of these butterfly images is Tom Engeman, and you can learn more about him here.

“The other Kat,” as she identifies herself to me, sent a lovely collage from Virginia. I love the message she added, “Art to be liberated waiting inside.” Soon Kat, soon! (And see, another beautiful butterfly!)

This envelope from Jan in California is artfully done. I love how the swirls just lead me across the envelope. Such beauty and grace to find in the mail!

Carol from Washington goes classic, with some ink and stamps. Simple. Effective. Beautiful.

Speaking of simple, a few swooshes of ink and a hand cancellation make this envelope artful! From Sherry in Alaska, who wrote this great quote on the back of her envelope: Art is intelligence at play! – Albert Einstein.

Bethany from Florida used washi tape to spell out my favorite initials – “LYA” for “Liberate Your Art.” That’s the abbreviation I personally use in all of my notes and reminders about the postcard swap! Who wants to write out “Liberate Your Art” all the time? LYA, all the way!

This gorgeous mixed media piece is from Dee in California. Do you guys know how hard it is for me to open some of these envelopes? They are too pretty.

I opened an envelope from Texas, and was surprised to find it was really from Luis in Mexico! Luis included a letter within the envelope, which explains all of the personal symbolism of the images he chose for the piece. Beautiful!

And then there was the inside. More mail art waiting to be discovered, along with this postcards. Thanks Luis! Your envelope was an amazing treat.

Here was something new… Have you ever opened an “envelope” with a seam ripper? I hadn’t, until this one from Donna in New Mexico. It’s a decorated piece of fabric, sewn shut. What a fantastic idea!!

Do you see what I mean about some of these being too pretty to open? Here was the back of the “envelope.” Or should I call it a pouch?

I have a thing for stamps, especially ones from abroad, and so Debbie‘s envelope, from the UK, threw me for a loop. At first I thought that “Mailmaker” stamp was a cool arty stamp, but it’s actually the name of her blog. I don’t think it’s a real stamp at all!

Catherine, another artist from the UK, sent me this one. I love it when I see “par avion” on the envelope, a sign that art has come a long, long way to be liberated.

What a lovely tree from Mikki in Colorado! Mikki is a ceramics artist, but she reminds us that all you need is a pen and an envelope, and you can create some wonderful mail art.

And last, but definitely not the least, are these fabulous characters helping Wendy liberate her art from Texas. It’s a bird! It’s a fish! It’s the mail!

Whew! That’s a LOT of mail art, wouldn’t you say. And more on the way! I can’t wait to see what arrives next week.