I found this among archived pages. Unless it is revamped with a new name, I can't find it still active. Too bad. It would have been very creative and quite something to learn to create a good map. They may have been hand drawn. But, would likely all be digital, made with software, now. Kind of a shame. Nothing digital can be as unique and creative as hand drawn. In my opinion. You don't really need to be a great artist for a hand drawn map, just pick out the locations and draw the shape of the land around them. As easy as that, not quite, but kind of.

The OSMMC originated in the Geography Department at Trent University in 1969. Professor Al Brunger was the Director of the competition from 1969 to 2009. On his retirement, responsibility for the competition was taken by a group of Guelph Geographers. That group, under the direction of David T. K. Dagg, conducted the competition until a new home was found at Laurier in 2011.

In 2011-2012, the OSMCC was relocated in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. Thank you for your patience during this transition.

Ontario Schools Map-Making Competition

Posting and saving information about mail art and artists. It doesn't seem like it will be around in another generation or two. Like so many interesting art forms which evolve or devolve with technology. I used to collect postcards and write letters to pen pals from all over the world. At that time I was making mail art and finding interesting things which could be sent in the mail to friends. I haven't created any mail art in awhile. I liked learning the limitations and finding what could be done to work around them or find a new idea to work with them. Like a puzzle.

MailArt 365 - Twitter - Facebook - Flickr

International Union of Mail Artists

The site for the Envelope Collective is gone and so is a page which had been on Wikipedia.

The Envelope Collective is an ongoing collaborative art project that uses mail as a medium. The Envelope Collective was founded by Garrett Miller and Adam Morse on November 3, 2005. Anyone can send anything to the Envelope Collective; people from all over the world have sent in everything from boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese to handmade paper envelopes.

Source for the post below: Lisa Vollrath

The Art is in the Mail

The simplest definition of mail art is that it is any art that's created with the intention of sending it through the mail. Mail art can include postcards, faux postage, decorated envelopes, friendship books, and the ever popular naked mail. If you have to mail it to complete the creative experience, it's mail art!

Mail Art Culture

When it comes to the making of mail art, there are very few rules. However, most mail art projects have these similarities:

• No money exchanges hands. In general, mail art is exchanged between artists, not bought and sold. There aren't usually fees involved to participate in mail art projects.
• Mail art is given freely, without the expectation of something in return.
• No judgements are made about the artwork or its quality. You get what you get.
• Once the envelope has been dropped into the mail, forget about it.

Postcards

Postcards are probably the most popular form of mail art. Handmade, altered, or trash postcards are often exchanged between mail artists, either one on one, or in organized swaps or exchanges. Perhaps postcards are so popular because they are already a type of mail, and are so easily sent, without packaging, and with minimal postage.

Postcards are often used in mail art exhibitions, with are organized through mail art calls. The project organizer puts together a theme and a venue for display, and posts the call to creative groups focused on mail art. Interested artists mail in a postcard, to be included in the exhibition. Sometimes, they receive another postcard in return, or a visual listing of the pieces in the exhibition, known as documentation.

One of the most well-known postcard projects is Post Secret. Since 2005, the project organizer has asked readers to mail him an anonymous postcard with a secret written on it, to be posted on the Post Secret blog. Hundreds of postcards have been sent in and posted, and the project has spawned several books.

Postcrossing is a site designed for those interested in sending and receiving postcards. Rather than matching senders and receivers, the site is set up so that your postcard is assigned a number, and when your card is received and logged by the recipient, your name is put into the queue to receive the next postcard sent.

Artistamps

Artistamps go by several different names: faux postage, postoids, or cinderellas. These terms are used to describe an artist-created stamp that is not used as real postage. In fact, one of the rules of using artistamps is that they must not be substituted for real postage, or used in any way that attempts to defraud the Post Office.

Faux postage stamps are created in a variety of ways, but the most popular method to create them is using a computer for design and layout, and then either printing on paper that is pre-perforated, or perforating the printed sheets afterward. Stamps can be created in sheets or individually, or even to mimic the commemorative issues put out by the Post Office.

Decorated Envelopes

The tradition of sending decorated envelopes has long been practiced by mail artists. The envelopes themselves have evolved into their own form of mail art, often sent through the mail with little or nothing in them. Integrating the sender and recipient addresses, and the postage required to send the envelope, is often an integral part of the envelope's design.

One of the longest running decorated envelope project is The Graceful Envelope, sponsored by the Washington Calligraphers Guild. Each year since 1995, artists have decorated envelopes according to the annual theme. The best envelopes selected in several categories are put on display in Washington, DC.

Naked Mail

Sometimes known as extreme mail art, naked mail is the sending of odd items through the mail without any packaging. In my years as a mail artist, I've received beach balls, flip-flops, a plastic severed hand, a giant plastic crayon bank, a large pink piggy bank, baby bottles, and liter and two-liter bottles filled with all manner of items.

One of the objects of naked mail is to surprise postal employees. Taking the items to the post office window to be weighed and have postage attached, and receiving the naked mail items from your regular postal carrier are part of the naked mail experience.

One of my favorite types of naked mail is the plastic bottle mailgram. A clear plastic bottle is filled with items the recipient might enjoy, and mailed without packaging. Instructions for making plastic bottle mailgrams that fill easily, and will pass through most US post offices are posted here at Go Make Something.

Artist Trading Cards

Artist trading cards, or ATCs, are small-format artworks exchanged between artists. Unlike other types of mail art, artist trading cards do have a few rules. They must be created on a 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" surface, and must fit into a trading card sleeve, which is a clear pocket designed to hold baseball trading cards.

Although artist trading cards originated as a way for artists to meet face-to-face to exchange work, with the rise of the Internet came endless numbers of groups where artists can exchange cards by mail. One of the largest groups online focused on exchanging artist trading cards is ATCsForAll, where you'll find dozens of open swaps at any given time, and thousands of people willing to do a one-on-one exchange.

Trashpo

Trashpo is short for trash poetry, a concept that originated with visual poet Jim Leftwich. In 2005, Leftwich dumped a wastebasket onto a scanner, and posted photos of the random poetry this created. Trashpo is a form of visual poetry, based on random, found arrangements of letters, words, and images. In its very broadest sense, trashpo is art made from garbage.

The trashpo community has its own words to describe the types of work this concept has spawned, and they are as unique as the artists who create them. For example:

• Cerealism is trashpo made from cereal boxes.
• Listpo is list poetry made using found lists, like shopping lists.
• Scannerbed composition is a method of creating trashpo by dumping trash on a scanner and scanning it.

IUOMA

The International Union of Mail Artists (IUOMA) was founded in 1988 by Dutch artist Ruud Janssen. IUOMA has been the center of the online mail art universe for many years, moving from site to site, but keeping many of the same core members and ideals. There are currently over 3,500 members online, and the web site is one of the largest repositories of mail art calls and images of mail art. New members are welcomed heartily, and there is no charge to join or participate in the many projects going at any given time.

Mail Art on the Internet

Examples of various types of mail art are abundant online, but seem to move around and disappear quickly. This collection of sites represents the links I was able to capture the last time this page was updated:

• Mail Me Art is a mail art documentation project. Viewers send mail art, and the recipient blogs what has been received. The project has spawned several exhibitions.
• The Mail Art Pool on Flickr has gone silent in recent years, but people are still adding their photos to the pool.
• The Electronic Museum of Mail Art has several galleries of mail art, including a small collection of artistamps by various artists.
• Com`post Mail Art displays the work of German artists who have participated in mail art projects for over 20 year. There isn't much text to describe the collections, but there are lots of photos.
• 1000 Journals was an art journal project that happened by mail. The project's originator sent out 1000 blank journals, and they were passed around using an online queue system. The project is finished, but the photos of journals remain posted.
• Mail Art Projects is a blog maintained by 100 members of IUOMA. It posts mail art calls from all over the world.

Part of getting old seems to be seeing the things you love become extinct. Tea cups and saucers, clocks, books, hand sewing and embroidery, hand written letters, postcards, birthday cards, silver sets, so many things disappearing or becoming unwanted by the younger generations as they come along with new technology.

But, I notice the old things I love still last longer than the new things coming along. Maybe not in purpose but in strength and durability. New technology is made to break and be replaced. Can it be loved like the old things when it isn't made to last? I don't think there is enough time before a new one is needed and the old hits the landfill.

I read the title "3 Ways to Keep a Naturalist's Notebook" and felt that buzz of inspiration. But, reading the post, it was just about other people's projects, people long gone and famous for their other writing. It wasn't what I was hoping for. I wanted something, fresh, something on the scale of in my own backyard versus famous places and perfect settings. So, what was there to do but collect my own ideas for a backyard naturalist, like myself.

First of all, if you don't have a backyard, there is a whole world out there. Take a look at a local public place like a church, cemetery, park, or get creative. Being a naturalist isn't just about walking around in a forested area. Studying urban areas is important too. Even if you walk on paved ground instead of grass, nature can be found. Not even just outdoors!

Make notes about what you see. Including illustrations. Don't try creating masterpieces with your drawings. They can just add to your words as you find more to be curious about, or make note of. If you make a digital notebook you can add digital photos. Later you can look into a magnifying glass and fancier equipment. But, the main thing is to see what you discover while its still out there to be seen. Technology and more equipment can be distracting and time consuming. To start with at least, stick to a pencil and notebook for quick notes.

What can you find in your immediate, local ecosystem? Learn to identify different plants growing in your backyard. What types of grass are in your lawn? What are the "weeds" you see? Watch for animals in your yard, not just birds. What do they find to eat and how do they eat? Do they interact or avoid each other? Add details like the location, season, the weather, time of day, colours, texture, how they move (or blow in the wind), so many details you can think to add once you get started.

Consider all your senses when making observations and notes: sight, sound, smell, hearing and touch. Include your sixth sense, your feelings, too. Avoid touching poisonous plants. Try not to disturb animals and plants in general. That doesn't mean you can't touch things around you, just learn to understand them without endangering or upsetting them. You don't want to harm life while studying life - be responsible for your actions, not a bumbling professor uncaring/ thoughtless about the chaos your actions can create.

How does the environment affect the natural world? The environment can include the location, traffic from vehicles or people, buildings, sidewalks, fences, a river, trees, everything. I think of the odd weed poking up in an otherwise pristine sidewalk. There is the natural world surviving in the environment it finds itself in.

Take time and return. You may see something interesting while busy and make quick notes before moving along. But, plan ahead and choose a time and location where you are not rushed and can return to again and again. Things change in the natural world. You need more than one visit. Try a sunny day and later a rainy day, even in the same week.

You could make a study of just one weed growing where it manages to get a start. What changes day by day? What struggles does that weed have? Does it grow to full height or remain stunted? Does it produce flowers or seeds? If someone pulls it out, does it have enough root to grow back? Endless questions and observations.

Don't forget the motto (used by urban explorers) "take only photographs, leave only footprints". Whatever you bring with you should leave with you, no littering. On the other hand, don't remove things from their environment. Instead hope you will see them/it again next time you visit. I make an exception for seeds and clippings from plants which you could add to your notes. But, don't harm the plants, make sure there is enough of it to keep thriving. In some locations you may need to stay on trails, especially in fragile ecosystems. Think of it as the butterfly effect without the time machine.

Dress appropriately. Think about insects (bees and mosquitos). Think about the weather. Bright colours or anything flashy will make it harder to watch animals, no matter how patiently you wait. Bring everything with you in an easy to haul around backpack or something else that works well for you.

Give yourself credit for what you have learned, progress you have made in understanding the ecosystem and new discoveries you make. Celebrate your discoveries. Add to your research by looking into history and lore about the plants and animals in your own backyard. Which plants are edible? Find out about foraging and cooking/ baking with wild plants. Learn tracking skills for seeing where the animals came from and where they go.

Here are some reflection questions to help you choose your next outdoor adventure: What am I excited to learn outside? What would be easy for me to do in the amount of time I have? What would be easy for me to do in the locations I have nearby? What areas of nature study am I most passionate about? What areas of nature study have I not done in awhile? If you ever get stuck and unable to go deeper in a particular area of naturalist curricullum… simply take a break and go study something else for awhile!

Quoted from Brian Mertins, Nova Scotia.

• Discover the World Around You: Your Guide to Becoming an Amateur Naturalist
• Citizen Science 101: What It Is and Why It Matters
• Backyard Naturalist podcast (US based).
• Backyard Naturalist (Australia)

Tom Carter, artist, in Vancouver, BC. His style reminds me of the old postcards, hand drawn looking with that sort of range of colours. I would call it muted, for lack of a better word. They look like something you could find (if you were lucky) in a thrift shop, a little time worn and dated but a treasure still.

I made screenshots of two of his set of Christmas cards, posted to Facebook, this year. I am far too late to order a set of cards. If I can afford a set, they would be great for next year.