To browse Academia. It emphasizes the origins of these interviews, the evolution of their presentation in both print and online formats, and the importance of preserving this information for a broader audience, despite the limited circulation and subscriber base.
The author began a trek through the United States and Europe, while she produced artwork and lectured on copy art. She met other mail artists and collaborated with them on some film and audio works for the four months of her tour. This thesis examines two threads in the history of mail art: a networking approach dedicated to open participation and a crafted approach dedicated to the art object.
It then follows these two threads across three generations. Mail art is an international phenomenon that evolved over the past sixty odd years due to the efforts of a dedicated and growing group of individuals. American artist Ray Johnson and the international artistic group operating under the banner of Fluxus are discussed as establishing mail art as a separate form through their creation of the mail art network.
The generation that followed Johnson and Fluxus expanded on the free and open ethos of the mail art network, making it a cornerstone of mail art practice and embracing new technology. Finally, this study examines work by contemporary mail artists who have not yet been historicized and who return to a craft approach in the production of mail art.
Using Glenn Adamson's theory of craft, this thesis concludes that craft is an equally pertinent aspect of mail art practice and that, although it is underemphasized in mail art's first two generations, it is a dominant factor in the production of mail art today. Craft has been an important part of mail art practice throughout its relatively short history.
