Mail art

It was approximately 22 years ago that the Griffin and Sabine trilogy were written by Nick Bantock.  I was but a youngster at the time (insert mischievous grin). I loved the story that ran throughout the three books, but what I loved the most was the magical way the book was put together.

Nick Bantock, an artist and writer extraordinare, has a talent like none other.  His many accomplishments and corresponding accolades are too numerous to outline here.  I prefer to let his work do the talking.

Opening each book was like unleashing some magical Christmas morning moment. You just never knew what would be on the next page, but no doubt it would be a visual feast.   And it didn’t stop there.  You actually got to open envelopes and read the mail going back and forth between the characters.

I remember waiting, not so patiently, for the next installment in the series to be published. A dear friend (if you are reading this you know who you are) knew of my obsession with these books and gifted me an address book based on the works from the trilogy. I still use it.

As I go through these books today, so many years later, I realize that what I am looking at was perhaps, one of the first artistic marriages between mail, art and writing.  Today we might call in mail art.

Have you seen cool mail art lately?   Send me a picture.

P.S.  Mr. Bantock has a new book called “THE TRICKSTERS HAT” (A Mischievous Apprenticeship in Creativity) coming out. It is to be published by Perigree Books (Penguin) in January 2014.