the letterbox art show experiment
Ever wanted to be in an art show? Do you miss sending snail mail to humans? When I started setting up Artschmart, I noticed the letterbox in the door, and decided to have an art show with art made by anyone, for everyone. The show was inspired by my 8 year old, who put up this sign on her door one day . . .
Ida’s art show
We all made art and put it under her door (she said for 3D art, please knock) and she curated it into an art show in her bedroom. It was so much fun, and I realized we could do a show inspired by hers at Artschmart. People could submit art through the letterbox and we could have an art show in the window. I made flyers, put a sign in the window and started inviting people to make art for the show.
The first day of the show
Kids love to send mail, so I filled a picnic basket with art supplies and took it to my daughter’s preschool to make art for the show. The list of what the preschoolers love included several mamas, one orange cat named Henry, going to the library, a dog named Dig-dig, birthday parties, friends, and a rocketship. It’s a pretty great list, and it was a lot of fun having conversations with four year olds about what they love.
the picnic basket art studio
Their art all went up in the window, and I put postcards outside the door at Artschmart to invite people in the neighborhood to make something for the show.
the letterbox mail art show submission process, art by Katie Mulcoy
Art started coming in like magic, and often from people that I have never met. It felt like a great icebreaker to get to know the neighborhood. Artschmart is next door to a busy cafe called Fat Apples, and people walking by often stop to look at the art and see what is new in the window. Sometimes they would take a postcard, and while I was painting the floor I’d often glance up to see people looking at the art show together and pointing things out to each other. It’s really lovely.
Jeffrey Lewis wrote a song called 100 Good Things, and I started wondering if we could get 100 people to share what they love with us. I decided to try to encourage more people to participate by building a mechanical counter to celebrate all the art (and people) who were part of the show. Matthias Wandel designed a great mechanical counter, and I used his plans to create one for the window. It makes a wonderful ka-thunk every time someone submits their art to the show.
art started coming in like magic
I set a completely arbitrary goal of 100, and last week we put up submission #103 in the show!
