Mailart 365 has moved

I've got a lecture tomorrow to the Art masters on mailart. I love giving lectures/workshops as I'm a qualified Physics teacher, and these days I don't teach much, so it's a real rush to get back into the classroom, especially teaching artists!

Tomorrow I have been tasked with setting up a task where the students have to submit a portfolio of their identity.

Personally, I hate drawing in front of other people, and Elena often feels the same, and I think we're not alone. Drawing and art is a very personal thing, especially if you are asking people to do a task where they describe themselves through their art.

I was given free rein to think about how to run this session and I opted to introduce them to mailart (obviously)

Here's the plan. I'll show them this piece and some others, and I'll have a HUGE amount of mailart from you guys around on the walls.

We'll walk around and talk about the artworks and perhaps the artists behind them.

Ultimately, the conclusion that they should reach is that art may or may not reflect the person who made it, but mailart effectively allows you to concentrate on the artists work and his artistic intention, and divorces the artist from his piece in a way that makes the art come to the fore.

They will then take a piece from the walls, and if it has a return address, they will send out a piece as their introduction to mailart. I've talked the art department into shelling out for the stamps and postcards there. Oh the perks.

For homework, they will be submitting their artworks "About myself" or somesuch title, anonymously in the post to their tutor. This will then be displayed in the next class, where the students may or may not come forward and claim it as their own.

So why a cow cut out from an old snack box? Why not? I just felt like it at the time!

This piece is off to Lindsay Killin straight after the lecture