Tuesday, April 11, 2017

IUOMA

The International Union of Mail Artists is the grand daddy of them all. The website can feel a bit intimidating at first, but if you're into mail art, it is a great place to find like-minded people. And everyone is extremely friendly and welcoming.

MomKat in Greece is one of the first IUOMA members I exchanged mail art with, and we are still sending back and forth between Columbus and Thessaloniki in Greece.

Here's her latest collaged piece.



Through my connection with MomKat, I started exchanging mail art with stripygoose on a regular basis, as they know each other very well, and hang out together whenever MomKat is in London (UK).

The latest from stripygoose, including an artistamp from Positively Postal, another IUOMA artist I connect with:




Another favorite from IUOMA is Mail Art Martha, also in the UK near London. Here's her latest:


Here's a piece of mail art from Keith (in California). We've been exchanging for a few years now.



And here's my first piece from Mim (on the east coast), sent unsolicited, and much prettier in person - the scanner didn't seem to want to pick up all the details.



Have you ever mailed someone you didn't know?

Did they respond?



16 comments:

  1. Yes I habe mailed quite often to people I did not know. Sometimes I got answer. Sometimes I didn t. What is frustrating in not getting an answer is that you don't know if your letter got lost or if the person decided not to answer (which I respect). Majority of my mail art contacts come from unsollicited sending...

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    1. That's true for me to regarding mail contacts.

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  2. I think I've written hundreds of times to people don't know, including my first letter to FinnBadger :)

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    1. :)

      I am not sure if I am up in the hundreds yet.

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  3. I have never heard of this, but it sounds fascinating. Find me here LINK

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    1. You could lose a lot of time perusing the mail art that people show.

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  4. A totally new concept to me. As a kid,i wanted a penpal. Never managed to find one

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    1. And harder to find one as an adult, I think.

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    2. On the internet are many opportunities, also for grown-ups. Even 'official' ones, like the LWA (Letter Writers Alliance) and the LEP (League of Extraordinary Penpals). And on instagram I see many mail / stamp lovers, and not seldom people write a call for 'penpals wanted' :-)

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  5. I had never heard of Iuoma. I was worse at art than music; my art teacher said I should stick to chemistry.

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    1. However, as I have shown on my blog, you don't have to be good at art to make mail art.

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    2. In contrary, mail art has a low threshold and everyone who names him/herself a mail artist, tmo ís an artist!

      By the way, the founding father of IUOMA, Ruud Janssen, is scientist, too. 'Close' to chemistry: he studied and teaches physics / mathematics.

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  6. Hi FinnBadger - you even have a Union ... that's a shock and a surprise ... cheers Hilary

    http://positiveletters.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/i-is-for-ice-age-art.html

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    1. It's a great place to connect with other mail artists and be inspired by their work.

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  7. A great collection of mail art from you're showing! Thank you for sharing!

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