"White Rhino" Mail Art Challenge VIDEO!

Ugly Art Room's Jen G. Pywell & new curator Chelsea Foss VanDenend open artwork from December 2015's "White Rhino" mail art challenge. Artwork was mailed from all over the USA.

January's Mail Art Challenge theme will be announced in a separate video very soon.

Mail Art Challenge Dec. 2015: "White Rhino"

Our recent video when we opened art for "Paradise" was such great fun and a success that we decided to host it with a different theme monthly. Here's how it works...

"White Rhino" Drawing by Jen G. Pywell

Ugly Art Room will announce the theme on the 1st of each month. Artwork is sent by participating artists and arrives no later than the 25th of that month. Depending on the number of submissions, at least five pieces will be selected and opened on camera. A video will be posted by the last day of that month and the following month's mail art challenge theme will be announced. All original work in any medium can be submitted as long as the work can fit into an 8 1/2 x 12" bubble mailer. Work MUST be sent with a SASE so the artwork can be returned. Work will be on display during Corvallis Arts Walk which takes place the third Thursday of each month. Work will be made available for sale on Ugly Art Room's website until the CAW event.

December 2015 Mail Art Challenge Theme: "WHITE RHINO"

Exhibit during Corvallis Arts Walk: January 21, 2015

Take a tour of Paradise (VIDEO!)

This film was recorded before final installation so pieces that arrived after deadline may not be in this video.

Paradise Postcard Show Artwork

Artwork for "Paradise" Postcard Show. All works are 4x6" originals, photographs or printed editions.

All artworks are for sale unless noted SOLD or NFS.

To buy, click on the price link and pay via paypal. Email uglyartroom (at) gmail.com if you would like to pay via check or money order.

Artwork can be mailed anywhere in the USA. $2 S&H will be added to all orders.



Caroline Burghardt (NY)
Untitled, 2015
paper, gouache, tape

Susan Carr (MA)
Untitled, 2015

oil stick and spray paint

Cory Bushman (NY)

Osteology, 2015

embroidery

Max Gibbons (DC)
EVERYWHERE, 2015
ink on paper

Molly Geissman (NM)
do you know where you are sir, 2015
mixed media

Midori Okuyama (NY)
Untitled, Series Enjoy the Experience,2001
chromogenic print

Linda Richmond (OR)
Summer Fun in Corvallis, 2015

collage

Linda Schmidt (NY)
Pluck, 2015

flashe & graphite on mylar

"Paradise" Postcard Show Participating Artists

All artworks will be available to view online after the opening. In the meantime, here are all the participating artists:

1. Nicole Agee, CA
2. Andranik Aroutiounian & Laurel Lueders (NY)
3. Nathanael Asaro, VT
4. Kris Askew, OR
5. Rachel Bartnek, OR
6. Iris Benson, OR
7. Rich Bergman, OR
8. Amanda R. Berry, MI
9. Eleanor Blair, FL
10. Daniel C. Boyer, NY
11. Silvia Soares Boyer, NY

Watch us open some art for upcoming "Paradise" postcard show! (Video)

Jen G. Pywell of Ugly Art Room open postcards mailed for "Paradise" postcard show taking place in Corvallis, OR on November 19, 2015.

Artwork by Gilaine Spoto (Gardiner, MT), Hye Ryung Na (NY, NY), Theresia Lynch (Glasgow, Scotland), Sisavahn Phoutavong, Jarrod Houghton (Murfreesboro, TN), Liz Walker (Portland, OR), Deborah Kapoor (Seattle, WA), Charles Wilkin (Narrowsburg, NY)

"Paradise" Postcard Show @ Poptart

Please join Ugly Art Room for its first Pacific Northwest show!

Paradise Postcard Show
Ugly Art Room @ Poptart (Nov. 19 - Dec. 16, 2015)
(Corvallis, OR)

RSVP on Facebook

Opening Reception: 4-8pm, Thursday, November 19, 2015
Exhibit Hours: Fridays 3-5pm (Nov.19-Dec.16)
Location: Poptart (460 Madison Ave, Suite #7, Corvallis, Oregon)

In participation with Corvallis Arts Walk (CAW), Ugly Art Room presents Paradise:

Ugly Art Room, the roving curatorial art project has moved from Brooklyn, NY to Corvallis, OR. For its inaugural Pacific Northwest exhibition, a postcard show will explore the theme of travel, place and presentation. It is UAR's mission to present artwork in consideration of its relationship to its environment - physically, conceptually or historically, so attention will be paid to the history of the Wellsher Building - where the art show will take place.

Jacob H. Wellsher, born in New York, was a wagon and carriage maker by trade and in 1852 he travelled from Iowa to Oregon to begin a new life with his wife Christena A. Wellsher. Their son, Theodore H. Wellsher, after whom the building is named, was a blacksmith, a carriage maker and ran a florist shop at the location.

Moving out west for a better life continues to be a theme in modern day American culture. Though travel is less dangerous timely and grueling, it still has many ups and downs. But it's worth the risks and inconveniences because the promise of paradise awaits.

Postcards originated with military communication so as not to have anything hidden inside. The messages could be read by anyone along the way, so while the messages were personal, details may have been omitted. As travel became more accessible, postcards emphasized the beauty, landmarks and attractions of a destination even if those images were never experienced by the traveller.

A perfect place brings the traveler away from home, but there is a desire to personally connect with loved ones, even if the scenes on the postcard and the messages are not accurate. What remains of these journeys, even a hundred years later, is a postcard - a physical object that contains images and words of paradise sought.

What is your paradise?

Special thanks to our sponsor Corvallis Brewing Supply.