Why I Started a Snail Mail Art Club, Italy Bound, and Musings on Creativity

I've started a mail art club to encourage myself to keep creating daily, and in multiples. I want to keep my creative flow going, and I feel like I need to be making things so that when inspiration comes, it finds me working in my studio where I can act on it and make it a reality.

There are so many reasons to join my Snail Mail Art Club, let me share a few of the most important with you here. For one, our world and are days are so tightly packed primarily with digital streams of incoming information, and having real-life analog interactions have nearly become a luxury. I heard that the super wealthy are reverting to flip phones because our attention is the most valuable commodity. They don't want to waste their own attention on the digital influx of commercialism and noise. Bare with me, I'm an artist after all, haha, but here's my point. Getting the opportunity to open handmade mail art delivered to your physical mailbox by our friends at the US Post Office, is truly a moment to savor and be present for. I'm betting that if you set your phone down for a little while and enjoyed the unwrapping, the colorful designs of all the original artist surprises, the joy I feel in creating them in my sunny, plant-filled studio is bound to be transferred over to you, and you will have moved a little more into your actual life - and gotten a break from the one in your phone.

I mean it friends, there seem to be so few of us that can sit comfortably by ourselves without being distracted in thoughts, whether in our phones, our work thoughts, or just general worry. And we need to find our way back to being able to sit comfortably with ourselves, with awareness, and with softness.

Italians have a saying "L'arte di fare niente," which translates to the art of doing nothing, but which more accurately means intentionally relaxing and finding enjoyment in the moment. We're never really doing nothing, right? We're at least sitting or relaxing or watching the sunset or at the very least, we're breathing. But my friend in Quebec was asking me what I plan on doing when I'm in Europe this fall for the first time, (yay!) and I realized I want to do a lot of nothing. And I want to do it well - like an artist. I want to soak it all up and admire all the little details, the flavors, the sounds, the smells. I want to be more like someone with only a few months left to live, delighting in even the smallest comforts like the cool butter on my baguette and feeling my feet on the ground. I don't want to be on my phone - what a shame to miss even a handful of the whimsical details of my time in France, Switzerland, and Italy!

So yes, now that you know my travel plans, let's get back to my snail mail art club. My second important reason to join is that this isn't just an average, run-of-the-mill mail art club. This club of mine receives hand made original art (not printed or reproduced). So when you join, you are effectively securing original art made by a professional working artist at a very affordable entry point. I typically aim to make pieces that fit in standard frame sizes to be easily hung up in your space. Another aspect will be my art on blank greeting cards (with envelopes) that you can use to send your own snail mail to friends or loved ones or use for a party gift, or however you'd like. These retail for $7 and my small original paintings are typically between $50 and $100, so for $15/month, you're getting a lot of value. I always aim to overdeliver, so there will be other goodies included as well every month.

Why am I doing this? Well, like I mentioned at the beginning, I want to keep myself creating. I want to ensure I'm working in my studio while inspiration comes. I believe creativity is not a talent, it's simply a dedication to creating and actually LISTENING to the ideas when they visit you. I find that quite often they only visit me when I'm in the middle of playing around with my paints or experimenting with shapes and lines, materials and light. And if I've promised multiple monthly pieces of original art to my mail art club members, then there's a really good chance I'll be in my studio a lot more. And then I'll catch more ideas as I've made myself available to them. This, I believe, is how the magic of creativity works in the studio! Have you read "Big Magic" by Elizabeth Gilbert? I highly recommend it, as well as season 2, episode 3 of the Telepathy Tapes which feathers Gilbert and Rick Rubin and is all about creativity.

And a third and final reason to join my mail art club, hmm, it would have to be the money. Just kidding, ha! Although, being a small local artist is challenging me to be creative in how I earn a living - it's all about multiple income streams in this day and age. I teach workshops, I show my work in galleries and local exhibits, I sell at markets and online, I do commissions, and now, I have a mail art club. But for you, the members, I'd say another great reason to join the mail art club, is that you are investing in your own collection, getting delightful surprises delivered right to your mailbox, and you're supporting a genuine artist, working in earnest to bring a little magic into our lives, at a really reasonable price. You're supporting genuine human creativity and not AI - effectively keeping your money in the community of small businesses. Oh and you'll also be privy to exclusive studio news and giveaways. Join here: https://mailclubly.com/@fay-savage-arts-snail-mail-club

Thanks for reading, and stay artsy, friends!

xx