Part One: It started with a piece of driftwood.

I arrived home one summer evening from work and went to check the mail. My (then) Brooklyn apartment building did not offer such lavish things as mailboxes. All of the mail for our building was placed in a heap on a board atop a broken radiator for the tenants to sort. Thus, the daily ritual of getting the mail became a recurring treasure hunt. On this particular day I sifted through the envelopes and didn't see anything too exciting. With my roommate's Netflix DVD and a bank statement in hand, I turned to go back to my apartment.

Then my eyes pulled me back. They saw some vibrant red and blue colors on what appeared to be a piece of driftwood. Was I dreaming? As I moved closer, the colors took shape and formed a mosaic of a chameleon on a tree branch!

This was amazing! I couldn't believe it. But what was it doing in the vestibule of my building? With curiosity I turned this specimen over to discover that it was addressed to ME!


I learned shortly after that this piece of wood had drifted to me all the way from Bass Harbor, Maine. It had been constructed by my friends Abby McCarthy and Michael Neault while they were vacationing in the region; and what may have started as a summer afternoon activity for them, led to a piqued interest in mail art for me.

These two artisans have continued to demonstrate their talents to me in the areas of mail art and design by sending me several items over the years, such as party invitations, elaborate mix CD packages, and, most notoriously, a reusable envelope made out of corduroy!

You can view some of their projects on Michael's website:
http://snoreandguzzle.com/

*****

Having been inspired by my friends (well, let's face it, I usually am!), I took my baby steps into the world of mail art. I was intrigued by, and began to experiment with, package design, which was only appropriate due to my concurrent acquaintance with the art of bookbinding. I was informed of where the "good" art supply stores were in NYC and began to fashion a string of various creations.

Through research, I uncovered such incredible enterprises as the P22 Mail Art Project from Buffalo, NY (http://www.p22.com/projects/mail.html). Those guys tried to mail a piece of TOAST!

I attended the Mapping Correspondence: Mail Art in the 21st Century exhibit at The Center for Book Arts (http://www.centerforbookarts.org/), which also proved to be a guiding light for my mail art and bookbinding experiments.

*****

Being sufficiently equipped with a prerequisite knowledge of mail art, I commenced work on a grand concept; an experiment laced with ambition, that would not only encourage participation in a diminishing form of communication, but would also preserve the existence of a dwindling medium for another form of art.


Joel Alter