Artistic envelopes

Mail Art is a not-for-profit international community art and design project, run by father and son duo, Kevin and James Gillen.

Launched in 2013, Mail Art encourages people around the world to create original postal artworks and post them on, generating a collection of global works. The continually growing network of global ‘Mail Artists’ is a positive celebration of both art and the postal service.

Kevin exhibited his first creative envelopes at Ferens Gallery in Hull in 1973. His work was reviewed in Hull Daily Mail with the memorable headline 'It’s nicely framed, but is it art?’. Having recently retired from a teaching career of 40 years, Kevin has now committed his time to the Mail Art project, working with his son James.

Together, they’ve held three international Mail Art exhibitions in Folkestone’s creative quarter, displaying postal artwork from around the globe that arrived through their letterbox.

In December 2019, artists from five continents and more than 15 countries sent postage stamp designs to Kevin and James, in response to a global invite call. You can see some of the vibrant global stamps they received in the picture above.

Their Facebook page acts as an online gallery space for people to share their Mail Art with the world.

To get involved in the project, create an artistic envelope/package/postcard, such as these two examples, and send it to: Mail Art, c/o Kevin & James Gillen, 1 Maple Drive, Kent, CT18 7NP, United Kingdom. Your postal artwork will be uploaded online and exhibited to thousands of people around the world. Also, you can send your postal art to a friend or family member. The project is very inclusive and encourages people of all ages and backgrounds to get involved in making Mail Art.

Find out more about the project and view the array of postal artworks here: Facebook.com/MailArtWorldwide.