The exhibition in our display case for this month is the collection of Mail Art held by the Fine Arts Library. Mail Art is art that uses the postal service as a medium, as a method of communication and as an integral part of the process of generating the art. It is largely an artist-run initiative of interaction and of collecting and disseminating art outside the realms of the mainstream galleries.
The Fine Arts Library’s Mail Art Collection is a finite historical collection initiated and motivated by Terry Reid, a visiting Canadian artist. Reid had no formal association with Elam School of Fine Arts but was friendly with and worked independently with many staff, students and ex-students. The collection dates from the late 1970s. Terry Reid, Philip Dadson, Nicholas Spill, Bruce Barber collected and deposited items in the Fine Arts Library.
The collection features both New Zealand and international artists and consists of both Mail Art works and press, ephemera and papers regarding Mail Art.
We have also included items from the rm103’s mail out projects. This collection is held as a part of the Fine Arts Library Ephemera Collection.
Victoria Passau
Fine Arts Library