The artist describing how the mail art was engineered

"Mail Art" event

Herefordshire Landscapes - Risk or Harmony?

One of the artists commissioned by Herefordshire CPRE to make artwork for the exhibition in November 2006 at the new “water.shed” Gallery in Hereford was a mail artist. For those of us who had not previously come across mail art, it was intriguing. Mike Clements had advertised widely for volunteers to be among 144 privileged recipients of a postcard sized section one of the 144 postcards of the mail art in the post. All these recipients had to do was bring their card to the opening event at 11.30am on 11 November 2006 and put it in position to reveal the "mystery" image.

Each card turned out to have up to 30 small stamp-sized pictures of Herefordshire landscape. Some were of threats to Herefordshire landscape, showing polytunnels disfiguring our countryside, orchards about to be grubbed out and light pollution at night from industrial sites. Other thumbnail pictures were of glorious, unspoilt Herefordshire countryside – rivers and streams, hills, woodlands and fields.

At the opening of our exhibition more and more of these cards were returned and put in place. It became clear that our postcrards with all these little stamp-sized images were going to make one very large picture 8ft by 6ft. Being made up of stamp-sized squares, the large picture was quite “pixellated” but still easy to recognise as another polytunnel. As Mike said, there is a geometrical beauty in the rows of receding polytunnel hoops and converging lines of plastic warming the soil and discouraging weeds from growing among the strawberries. But overall, Mike was in no doubt that polytunnels are a major threat to Herefordshire landscape.

It The complete mail art picture - all 144 postcards was great fun taking part, an enjoyable event at our opening, an intriguing mystery and an accessible, understandable form of contemporary art. It was fascinating to see an image being made out of lots of other small images. Perhaps it was meant as a reminder of the interdependence of different aspects of our landscape - a blight in one location can rapidly be repeated elsewhere with dire consequences for the future of our so-far largely unspoilt Herefordshire countryside.

Mike Clements welcomes commissions: his mail art is suitable not only for group events like ours but also for individuals celebrating those special birthdays or anniversaries. It's a great way to break any ice there might be at the beginning of a party.

Return to Exhibition page

Home | Contact / Join Us

CPRE Herefordshire is a registered Charity: No: 213951. The Campaign to Protect Rural England exists to promote the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England by encouraging the sustainable use of land and other natural resources in town and country.

KC3 for all your Web Design, Hosting and Internet Solutions


	"Mail Art" event Herefordshire Landscapes - Risk or Harmony? One of the artists commissioned by Herefordshire CPRE to make artwork for the exhibition in November 2006 at the new “water.shed” Gallery in Hereford was a mail artist. For those of us who had not previously come across mail art, it was intriguing. Mike Clements had advertised widely for volunteers to be among 144 privileged recipients of a postcard sized section of the mail art in the post. All these recipients had to do was bring their card to the opening event at 11.30am on 11 November 2006 and put it in position to reveal the "mystery" image. Each card turned out to have up to 30 small stamp-sized pictures of Herefordshire landscape. Some were of threats to Herefordshire landscape, showing polytunnels disfiguring our countryside, orchards about to be grubbed out and light pollution at night from industrial sites. Other thumbnail pictures were of glorious, unspoilt Herefordshire countryside – rivers and streams, hills, woodlands and fields. At the opening of our exhibition more and more of these cards were returned and put in place. It became clear that our postcrards with all these little stamp-sized images were going to make one very large picture 8ft by 6ft. Being made up of stamp-sized squares, the large picture was quite “pixellated” but still easy to recognise as another polytunnel. As Mike said, there is a geometrical beauty in the rows of receding polytunnel hoops and converging lines of plastic warming the soil and discouraging weeds from growing among the strawberries. But overall, Mike was in no doubt that polytunnels are a major threat to Herefordshire landscape. It was great fun taking part, an enjoyable event at our opening, an intriguing mystery and an accessible, understandable form of contemporary art. It was fascinating to see an image being made out of lots of other small images. Perhaps it was meant as a reminder of the interdependence of different aspects of our landscape - a blight in one location can rapidly be repeated elsewhere with dire consequences for the future of our so-far largely unspoilt Herefordshire countryside. Mike Clements welcomes commissions: his mail art is suitable not only for group events like ours but also for individuals celebrating those special birthdays or anniversaries. It's a great way to break any ice there might be at the beginning of a party. Return to Exhibition page
	Home \| Contact / Join Us CPRE Herefordshire is a registered Charity: No: 213951. The Campaign to Protect Rural England exists to promote the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England by encouraging the sustainable use of land and other natural resources in town and country.
© 2003 Design & Development