Howdy Lovers of Art-Thru-the-Mail! This is our SECOND update on the State of the everlasting and ever expanding MUSEUM OF POSTCARD ART! (If you missed the foundational post, you can read that HERE, and if you’d like to see the update where I added three more HANDMADE cards to the collection, you can check that out HERE!)
Don’t forget, if you are interested in “NOMINATING A POSTCARD” for the MOPA, (this is done by MAILING the postcard to me---although you won’t get the card back, and ultimately, I have 100 percent authority in deciding what gets in and what don’t), just leave a comment below and we’ll find some way to safely exchange mailing addresses (probably a direct message on Discord or Twitter or something.) Another option, if you’d like to play, would be to start YOUR OWN BRANCH of the everlasting and ever expanding Museum of Postcard Art by buying your own 4 x 6 photo-book, like this…
…and then contacting me, and I’ll send you a pdf of an “Official MOPA Branch” certificate! (So goddam FANCY!) If a couple of people decide to do this, we might even start a GROUP or something… (I’m thinking about starting a mail art / postal art / correspondence art group anyway. The Museum of Postcard Art would fit right in there!)
ON WITH THE UPDATE!
As of 8 May 2020, I’m pleased to announce that there are now 22 cards inducted into the COLLECTION. This means we are now only TWO CARDS AWAY from filling the first book! (Neat!) SADLY, I also have to mention that we have SEVEN NEW HONORABLE MENTION cards to not add to the collection. These are all cards that I would have LOVED to include in the Museum, but as the rules of the game insist that the cards FIT in a 4 x 6 sleeve within the OFFICIAL MUSEUM BOOKLETS, and all seven of the new honorable mention cards were too big to fit, they’re OUT! (LAME!)
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Here are the newest inductees! (All of the images that you will encounter below were scanned or photographed by me from the actual cards that I have in my postcard collection. The images are included for historical / archival purposes only!)
“Your Worthless Civilian Life” by Mark Counts
[Hand cut collage and ink on cardboard.] Brilliant!
1 point for the card, 1 point for being one-of-a-kind, 2 points for coming through the mail! 4 points total!!!
“Never Surrender” by Mark Counts
[Hand cut collage and ink on cardboard.] Even more brilliant! Thank you, Mr. Counts!!!! [Curator's note: the slight "rainbow" effect on the "A" side of this card is an artifact of the scanning process. The image on the ACTUAL card is black and white only.]
1 point for the card, 1 point for being one-of-a-kind, 2 points for coming through the mail! Another 4 points!
“Untitled (XXX)” by The Crafty Hag
[Artist stamps and ink on paper and cardboard.] Super creepy and cool.
1 point for the card, 1 point for being one-of-a-kind, double points again for going through the mail. That’s three 4 point cards!
“Untitled” by The Crafty Hag
[Artist stamps and ink on cardstock.] Excellent.
1 point for the card, 1 point for being one-of-a-kind, 2 points for going through the mail. That’s FOUR 4 point cards!!!
“Washington State Geoduck” by J. Boyd Ellis
Only 1 point for this card… Darn. It’s still funny, though!
“Bigfoot in Oregon?” by Paul A. Lanquist
Only 1 point for this card, too. Still, this is the type of card I really love, some weird, local cryptid monster---just for the love of weirdness!
“Seattle, Washington – Mermaid Monster” by Lantern Press
I bought this one is from a cool shop in Seattle, called Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. Check it out, if you’re ever in the Pacific Northwest! It’s worth it!!!
1 point for the card---but it’s a GREAT card!
“Blue Cream Flashback Olde Time Soda” by (no creator listed)
This card and the next one came from a cool shop in Seaside, Oregon, where my family and I used to stop and get ice cream, but the ice cream parlor part of the store was no longer there the last time we visited… Serious bummer…
1 point for the card.
“Birch Beer Flashback Olde Time Soda” by (no creator listed)
1 point for this card, too.
Let’s see, that’s four 4 point cards (16), plus five 1 point cards (5), plus 19 from last update’s total, which brings us to… (carry the one…) ummm… (I’m bad at math…) 40? I think that’s 40! (Calculator function on phone…) Yep, that’s 40 points!!!! A new high score! (Does your collection beat mine, so far? If so, send me a link. I’d LOVE to see it!!!)
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Honorable Mentions
As I mentioned above, I have SEVEN new honorable mention cards, each of which I found entertaining and would have loved to have in the collection. However, each of these was too big to fit in the 4 x 6 sleeve. Here are the newest honorables… (ZERO points each for these...)
“Untitled (The American)” by Mary Counts
This one was a heartbreaker. I love the Counts’s artwork, and when this card didn’t fit, I was seriously bummed. FORTUNATELY, I have a FRAME that it fit in, and it’s already on prominent display on the table nearest our front door! (If you stop by, I can show it to you in person!!! By appointment only, of course...)
“Hippocampus” by Joseph Laney
Another tear-jerker, this is the second postcard sent to me by my friend, Steffen, in Brush Prairie, Washington, that is just a hair too big to fit in the sleeves! Again, I’ll be getting a frame for this one and the previous card he sent (probably have to get 5 x 7 frames and some 4 x 6 matting, maybe trimmed just a bit...)
“Untitled” by Thomas Brown
Hand drawn, ink on cardstock. Cool card.
“Sasquatch” by John Kaiser
Another bummer. It’s a fun card!
“Ye Olde Curiosity Shop” by John Kaiser
This is the shop I mentioned above. I love weird collections of stuff like this, even if they are a bit macabre and unsettling…
“A Banana Slug” by Jack D. Swenson
Funny.
“Eastside Velveeta” by Douglas Galloway
I’m pretty sure this is a digital creation. Very cool image. (Glad I have the card, even if it doesn’t make it into the MOPA collection!)
Those are some great cards. I had a few others that I found that COULD have gone into the MOPA, but they just weren’t speaking to me. All the cards scanned above, though, well...I LIKE those! They APPEAL to me---so they’re IN (or WOULD BE IN, if it were within the parameters of the game.)
I thought about carrying a little measuring tape with me the next time I go potential postcard shopping, so that I can measure my prospective cards and see if they’ll fit in the protective sleeves, but then I realized that half the fun is SEEING if they’ll fit AFTER I’ve decided that I want them IN the collection. It’s so dramatic! Will it fit? Is it too big??? Such tension!
I still have a bunch more boxes to go through (haven’t even TOUCHED the ones in the garage, yet), so I’m sure I’ll have MORE postcards to add to the collection pretty soon. PLUS, I keep getting new ones in the mail from folks, which is awesome and fun and cool. (It’s nice being EXCITED to get the mail, instead of just being afraid it’s all going to be bills…)
Ooops! Almost forgot…
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I’ve also SENT OUT two more postcards. Here they be:
Mr. O’s card
Dr. P’s card
These folks have already received these cards, so I’m not spoiling anything by sharing the images. (I was kind of waiting to hear that they got them before posting!) The weird triangle image is the logo from The New Church of DIM, which is the fake religion that Mr. O’Brien and I started. (If you haven’t listened to the most recent “Shelter at Home!” radio show, yet, we talk a little bit about the religion in the program.) It’s kind of an inside joke. I also really love that goofy cat postcard. I’ve already ordered another copy of that one!
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And that about wraps this up for this update! If you’re interested in swapping postcards, let me know in the comments. (Or just send me a message on Twitter. I’m @richardfyates on there…) And if you think it might be fun to start a mail art / postal art / correspondence art GROUP, then raise your hand! We can post mail art calls, share art that we’ve received (old and new), post work in progress, and maybe figure out some way to safely swap mailing addresses. Drop a comment below if you have thoughts, ideas, suggestions, epiphanies, or hootenanny plans! I’m ready to believe you!
Later!
---Richard F. Yates
(Primitive Thoughtician and Holy Fool)
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