Mail ART Summer 2017

Mail ART by Alton DuLaney June 2017

Mail ART by Alton DuLaney in Marafa, Texas June 2017

 As part of my artist's residency in Marfa, Texas in the Summer of 2017, I created  a collection of Mail ART based on art tourism in Marfa, and the concept of the souvenir to commemorate a time or a place.

Small birch panels were branded with the word ART. The branding represents not only the burning of the wood, the marking of property especially with livestock, and the branding of the object as ART and the artist wielding the  red hot branding iron.

Mail ART Branding by Alton DuLaney, Marfa, Texas June 2017

A collection of 24 cards were branded, embellished with a gold seal of art-authenticity, stamped and addressed to destinations around the world, including fellow-participants and artists from
D.U.S.T. Residency  http://www.desertunit.org/
Fieldwork Marfa, http://fieldworkmarfa.org/
Marfa Live Arts / Mafa Sounding https://www.marfalivearts.org/marfa-sounding
The University of Houston http://www.uh.edu/kgmca//art/Graduate-Programs/MFA%20in%20Studio%20Art/Interdisciplinary%20Practice%20and%20Emerging%20Forms/

Mail ART Wooden Post Cards by Alton DuLaney 2017-2018

The mail ART was then transported to Art, Texas.

Mail ART project from Art, Texas by Alton DuLaney 2017

Mail ART was sent from the United States Post Office in Art, Texas.

Mail ART project from Art, Texas by Alton DuLaney 2017

Mail arrived to all targeted destinations post marked from Art, Texas, and thereby validated by the United States as ART.

Mail ART project from Art, Texas by Alton DuLaney 2017

For more information on Mail ART and other expressions of Public ART check out the blog https://uhpublicart.blogspot.com/