Artist Loves Post Office, Stamps and Mail Art

Jill Butler writes on Connecticut's ShorelineTimes.com website, "Forever, I have loved the post office. Maybe it started at camp with mail call. I would spot my Dad’s beautiful penmanship on his business envelope and my heart would sing. I wrote, its been noted, an endless stream of letters. Perhaps, it was the excuse to visit the camp store for stamps and candy. What ever got me started, it has now carried me around the world to post offices in shacks to historic buildings in world capitals. I’ve enjoyed tracking down stamp dealers in dark and shabby offices in order to comb their collections. Every stamp has a story to tell and I love their simplicity of scale."

Jill, who is an multi-media artist and stamp collector, points out, "I gravitate to my red binder that houses my stamp collection. This collection is not based on issue dates or normal collectors’ concerns for resale value. It’s the graphic, color, and message that resonates and attracts me to collect a specific stamp."

She goes on to say she also enjoys creating mail art as seen above and comments, "In Munich, Germany, the postal clerk flat out refused to post my creations not even with a begging smile. Instead he shouted at me in German (which I don’t speak) and the entire line behind me translated: 'this is not an art gallery, this is THE POST OFFICE!"

To read the entire piece, click here.