“Make something neat or write something nice,” we are told, in the pages of “With Love, From Me to You!,” and indeed, it seems that a lot of people, throughout the world, are doing just that: sealing their words and images in Ziplock bags, in balloons, in flimsy envelopes with barely legible addresses meant to confuse postal workers, masterpieces sent, every day, through various postal services and … and … and … it is overwhelming, how much mail art is being created every day, and I love every single piece, by every single artist-I break into cold sweats thinking of how letter writing and the very concept of “mail” are being altered by the Internet, by modern life, by people choosing speed over style. It seems that Melanie Coles shares my passion: she has created a zine that is a tribute to mail art, a celebration, an ode to this wonderful-and highly sharable-art form. “With Love, From Me to You!” is a precious little zine, a collection of letters and postcards, envelopes and postal stamps and all things original and creative, and mail-related. It is colourful and vibrant and charming and loving and worth picking up and enjoying time and time again-every page holds so much detail as to occupy one’s mind for a lifetime! Do not be selfish, however-share this zine with your friends. It’s easy: take it, seal it in a Ziplock bag, add a name, an address, stamp it-or not-and send Melanie Coles’ art to another part of the planet. It would be wrong to keep it to yourself. (Andree Lachapelle)
Melanie Coles, zine, free, ms. m. coles, 3420 West 7th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V6R 1W1, [email protected]