Sinhalese New Year Mail Art Show 2001:

This year the international community of Mail Artists have again joined the young artists of the Thames Buddhist Vihara in the celebration of the Sri Lankan New Year. I chose butterflies as a theme because of the Buddhist symbolism of this insect with its many transformations. Participants of a Mail Art workshop conducted by Julia Tant at the Carnegie Library, Camberwell, London, have also joined in with their butterflies, a very successful first time effort. The hall in Croydon hired for the day seated 1000 people and many more were standing around. About 100 beautiful butterflies were displayed on the glass screen wall that separated the hall from the foyer. The photographs were taken with the curtains closed, but with them open the front and back of the butterflies were seen which was good as many were painted on both sides. Everybody praised the art show and they were happy that so many artists from so many countries had participated in their traditional celebrations, I believe that by now we have also become part of the tradition ourselves... I was proud of our project, all done in the spirit of friendship and collaboration which characterises the Mail art movement.

Eat Your Art Out:

Julia Tant, mail artist and good friend, has been organizing regular art shows at what was then the Café Prov, at 16a Coldharbour Lane, Camberwell, London, for years. It occurred to me that, if she could persuade the owners, it would be a great venue for a Mail Art show. Besides, since David Dellafiora moved to Australia it seemed that Field Study was in danger of disappearing from the English scene. So I contacted the only two other London based Field Workers that I knew: Alan Turner and Patricia Collins. Artworks too on the theme by Pat, Julia, Alan, a few local artists and myself accompanied the Mail Art show when launched in October 2000. 'Eat Your Art Out' was a great success, thanks to you all, so much so that the owners of the cafe decided to keep it on and even helped to pay for some of the cost of the documentation. So the Mail Art postcards from around the world, like a snake, did weave their way around the walls until the Cafe was sold.

Throughout the year 2000 the STG has carried the work of twenty-five mail artists as a group show to and from the Beckenham supermarkets and High Street shops. The Shopping Bag Gallery, for those places that the STG cannot reach, went with the Curator to France in September on a walking and beach holiday and to Bruges in December. The SBG also met Angela and Peter Netmail at a Stamp Fair in Newbury, England, and was taken on many shopping trips.

But that was not all

The STG and the SBG both appeared in February at Candid Gallery, Islington, London, side by side with fine art paintings and sculptures, where it loudly preached the merits of Mail Art. It may have given the visitors a bit of a shock at first, but it did make new converts.
In complete contrast in September the STG joined an 'anti art exhibition breaking the borders between art and modern life' organized by Vic Scott at the Riverhouse Barn Gallery, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England.

New Millennium Resolution:

The response to the New Millennium Resolution project was great. It was shown on the STG and SBG during 2001, which was, as everybody knows, the true first year of the New Millennium.