Mail Art Show opens Sept. 6

From a press release:

Mail Art Show opens Sept. 6

Mail Art Opening September 6th from 6pm to 9pm at the Courtyard Gallery and the Flood Fine Arts Center, 109 Roberts St. in the Phil Mechanics Building located in the River Arts District of Asheville, NC.

Artists and (non-artists!) still have time to submit non-returnable artwork for the 9th annual Anything Goes, Everything Shows mail art show. There is no submission fee. Our mail art show title says it all! ALL submissions will be exhibited in The Courtyard Gallery, 109 Roberts St. in the River Arts District from September 6th  until October 29th. Opening reception is September 6th from 6pm-9pm Artists are encouraged to demonstrate or explore imagery of any kind.

Anything Goes—Everything Shows is just that, an uncensored free style mail art show. Mail art is art that uses the postal system as a medium. Mail artists typically exchange ephemera in the form of illustrated letters; zines; rubberstamped, decorated, or illustrated envelopes; artist trading cards; postcards; artistamps; faux postage; mail-interviews; naked mail; friendship books, decos and three-dimensional objects.

Fundamentally, mail art in the context of a Mail Art Network is a form of conceptual art. It is a “movement” with no membership and no leaders. Mail art is art which uses the postal system as a medium. The term “mail art” can refer to an individual message in the form of illustrated letters; zines; rubberstamped, decorated or illustrated envelopes; artist trading cards; postcards; artistamps; faux postage; mail-interviews; naked mail; friendship books, decos and three-dimensional objects.

An amorphous international mail art network, involving thousands of participants in over 50 countries, evolved between the 1950s and the present. It was influenced by other movements including Dada and Fluxus. The Courtyard Gallery receives hundreds of submissions from 80 countries and from throughout the US every year.

Themes could include anti-war, anti-art snobbery, anti-gallery art, love ,sex, dissent, anything goes! Mail artists like to claim that mail art began when Cleopatra had herself delivered to Julius Caesar in a rolled-up carpet. However, perhaps the initial genesis of mail art was in postal stationery, from which mail art is now typically distinguished (if not defined in its broadest sense).

This is a celebration of our creative spirit……without gallery snobbery or exclusivity!

All media will be accepted and exhibited, including mixed media, Collage, Montage, Sculpture Digital art, Painting, Printmaking, and Photography. Collage and/or the use of imagery are encouraged. Don’t be afraid to experiment with 3-dimensional art. We have exhibited painted shoes, records, fish, sticks, and even hog jowls and coal, to name but a creative oddities. Format is freestyle as well. Submissions of any size or shape will be accepted. If you can get a stamp on it and send it through the mail, it will be accepted and exhibited. Remember – Anything Goes, Everything Shows!

The Courtyard Gallery is located on the top floor and the Flood Gallery  is on the second floor of the Phil Mechanic Building in Asheville’s River Arts District. Your art works should be addressed to:
Anything Goes—Everything Shows
Carlos Steward
The Courtyard Gallery
P.O. Box 9907
Asheville, NC 28815

There is no fee for entry.  All entries received by August 28thrd will be exhibited in the galleries, located at the Phil Mechanic Building, 109 Roberts Street, Asheville, NC. Anything Goes – Everything Shows mail art exhibit opening is September 6th from 6pm to 9pm. For more information, contact 828-273-3332 or http://www.ashevillecourtyard.com.