Sunday, July 3rd, 2005, The Brampton Guardian
TINA DEPKO, Staff Writer

Photo by BRYON JOHNSON
Visual Arts Brampton is looking for submissions for its Snail Mail World Postcard Art Show. Nicholas Moreau, the show's guest curator, says the show is an open stage for creativity.

Visual Arts Brampton is asking artists from Brampton, the Greater Toronto Area and around the world to send in submissions for its second annual Snail Mail World Postcard Art Show.

The show runs August 26 to September 30 at Artway in Shopper's World. The deadline for entries is midnight on August 12.

Submissions by artists of any skill level working in any media are welcome, as long as the original or reproduction is postcard size at 4 by 6 inches.

"People can take a picture of artwork or do digital art and print it out as a postcard," explained Nicholas Moreau, guest curator of the show. "They can also do it directly on the postcard as original work."

Last year's show attracted entries from several different countries, including Australia, Japan and the United States. Entries also came from a number of Canadian provinces, such as British Columbia, Ontario and the Northwest Territories.

"The purpose of this exhibit is basically to get art from all around the world," Moreau said. "Without sending it on postcards, you can't really have art from Venezuela, for example, in a local gallery. It allows us to show the creativity from all corners of the world."

The submissions for last year's show varied greatly, encompassing nearly every medium known to mankind. Fabric art, sculpture, comic art and mixed media were just a few examples.

The Snail Mail World Postcard Art Show is judged, with 15 awards in categories like Snail Mail Show People's Choice Award, Best Animal Art, and Snail Mail Show Award for Innovative Use or Creation of a Medium.

The top 50 postcards will be compiled in an online book that will be accessible from VAB's Web site.

"Creating an online book is a new idea this year," Moreau said. "It will allow people to see some of the best artwork from the show after the fact."

Despite being the only mail art show in Toronto and the surrounding area, submissions were low last year. The glass cases at Shopper's World can hold 1,200 pieces of postcard art, which was stressful for Moreau as only 300 entries were submitted.

VAB set up tables in Shopper's World and invited the public to paint postcards. VAB's members also contributed more works. The end result was an acceptable, 600-piece show.

"It was satisfying to see the quantity and quality of the works," Moreau said. "It was a diverse selection."

Submissions have started to come in from around the globe for this year's show.

"They've already come in from across Canada and the United States, Venezuela, Uruguay, Australia, Malaysia, France, Italy and Germany," Moreau said.

"It is like Christmas every single weekday when I get the mail. You never know what sort of work they are going to send."

Moreau is advertising the show on several Web sites that reach mail art enthusiasts worldwide. He hopes there will be at least 500 entries from the GTA alone this year.

"There are hundreds of artists who are interested in mail art shows, so there should be more entrants," he said.

"England and Italy are two major players with mail art, so they have a lot of artists who are accustomed to it. We'd like to see some entries from them."

Serving as the guest curator for the Snail Mail World Postcard Art Show has been a challenge for Moreau, who is an 18-year-old student in the advertising and graphic design program at Humber Lakeshore.

"It has not been too tedious, but for the amount of result, which has been fairly low, it has been a discouraging," he said. "I would have expected more entries."

Despite the slow start of the show, Moreau has big plans for its future. VAB is currently in negotiations for a permanent postcard art display.

This would allow artists to submit postcard art year round.

"This is an open stage for creativity," Moreau said. "No matter what you want to express in your work, it is an easy way to show it."

The public is invited to make their own postcard art for the show at Shopper's World on July 19 and 20.

There is no entry fee to participate in the Snail Mail World Postcard Art Show.

Postcards can be mailed or dropped off to: Snail Mail Central, c/o VAB, 1 Bartley Bull Parkway, Suite 10, Brampton, ON, L6W 3T7. Entries will not be returned.

For a complete list of rules and regulations for submissions to the Snail Mail World Postcard Art Show, visit www.visualartsbrampton.com.