Correspondence Project

The Archives of the Eternal Network exhibited its mail art holdings from the permanent collection and  created a local community initiative. The purpose of this initiative was to serve as an adult and after school arts and communications program for high school students in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. This  provided students with a hands on arts program and an internship at the museum archives. The emphasis was on creativity, artistic enjoyment and getting connected to and knowing the international network of artists who send art to each other through the mail. Students were surrounded by thousands of works of art and had access to our art library. Students also had the opportunity to participate in multiple international exhibitions over the course of the year.

Through the Postage and Handling Included exhibition, students were taught basic art skills for creating and documenting mail art which was sent out to mail artists around the world. As responses come back from artists, students studied incoming works and were taught archival and curatorial skills to document and publish the incoming works on the show’s exhibition blog and learn how to create and publish a physical catalog. Students then participated in the planning, installation and publicizing of the physical exhibition at the Archives of the Eternal Network here in Santa Fe.

All contributions to this exhibition were documented, exhibited, published and become part of the permanent collection of the Archives.