Mail Art & Challenges

Santa Fe BAG is currently hosting three different challenges. Please click on the links below to go to each one:

Mail Art | Anything Goes! | Round Robin Art Journals | Artist Trading Cards

Mail Art 2026: A Scene or Detail From My Life

Each month you will create a 4×6 postcard (using cardstock) that focuses on a scene or detail from my life.

Then email Linda Zwick (nmwildflower@pm.me) with your address before the third Saturday of the month. She will email you the name and address of your recipient the next week.

You have the entire month to work on your card. Please mail it to your mail art recipient by the end of the month. (For example, if you sign up in December for the January mail art, please mail your card by the end of January.)

Also email a photograph of your card to BAG (santafebag@gmail.com). These images will be used on social media, the BAG website, and occasional BAG slideshows. If you would prefer not to have your card exhibited in any of these venues, please just skip sending in an image.

Anything Goes! Adventures in Art: Famous Artists

Create a piece of art, any size, shape, and with whatever materials you choose.

There is no assigned exchange involved in this project, so send to anyone you like or keep for yourself.

Please photograph and email an image of your creation to BAG (santafebag@gmail.com) by the end of the next month. As with Mail Art, your image may be used on social media, the BAG website, and for a Zoom presentation. Emailing an image serves as your permission for BAG to use this photo of your art.

The themes are just suggestions; create whatever suits your fancy!

Click the links below to see examples of the artists’ work.

January – Dimitri Kozyrev was born in Leningrad and moved to the US in his mid-twenties. According to his website, his various bodies of work can be described as an attempt to understand and manage change; to capture it by holding change in a single visual moment so that it can be remembered. Suggestion: create an image of a time or event as you remember it. https://dimitrikozyrev.com/

February – Sigmar Polke, a German painter and photographer, stated that he wanted his art to be the basis of a conversation between himself and the viewer. His painting Hope is: Wanting to Pull Clouds follows a 16th Century German woodcut, the earlier image appearing to be based on a combative interaction; but Hope Is offers an image allowing for positive interpretation by the viewer. Suggestion: create an image that suggests a positive outcome is occurring or will occur.
Painting “Hope is: Wanting to Pull Clouds”. https://www.nga.gov/artworks/82992-hope-wanting-pull-clouds

March – At age 88, Palestinian artist and resident of Tribeca, New York, Samia Halaby, won a 2025 Norwegian Munch award for artistic freedom. This followed a December 2023 cancellation of a retrospective of her work at her alma mater, Indiana University. Halaby’s work is considered to be analytical rather than emotional. She says, “Art is a craft. I take it very seriously. I know the science of light, the physics of light, as much as I can, the physiology of the eye, how we see the attributes of colour, now to manage colour.” You can see images of her paintings here: https://samiahalaby.com/ Suggestion: create a composition of various colors and shapes. Thanks to Ashisha for recommending this artist.

April – Per Wikipedia, English artist Edward Alexander Wadsworth (born October 19, 1889, died June 21, 1949) was initially associated with the Vorticism movement. This modernist art movement was partially inspired by Cubism and was introduced to the public via the publication of the Vorticist manifest in Blast magazine. This art movement favored a geometric style that tended toward hard-edged abstraction. In the First World War, Wadsworth was part of a team involved in the transfer of “dazzle camouflage” designs to ships for the Royal Navy. After the war, his maritime landscapes and still-life compositions were infused with a surrealistic mood. Suggestion: create an image of geometric abstraction.

May – Spanish watercolorist Nuria Riera paints images that are described as “deeply contemplative,” with a focus on the particular image she wants to illustrate without distracting detail. The Sea is a perfect example of her approach to painting only the essential elements of a scene. https://www.nuriariera.com/sea Suggestion: create an image of elemental images only.

Round Robin Art Journals

To participate, you must be a BAG member in good standing (i.e., your membership dues are current).

For this swap you select an art journal that will pass from artist to artist. You will not see your journal for about four months; but when it comes back, it will be filled with art! Those who participated in previous rounds have been thrilled with beautiful artwork our partners created.

When you sign up, the coordinator will send you all the instructions. Briefly, here’s how it works.

  1. Select a book (handmade or purchased).
  2. Select a theme (or you can have no theme).
  3. Write your guidelines, if any.
  4. Create your sign-in page(s) and at least one art journal spread of your own.

We will exchange our books monthly on the first day of the month. There are two subgroups:

A. Those who live locally will arrange a place to meet and exchange.

B. Those who live outside of the Santa Fe area will mail their book to the next person so it will **arrive** by the first of the month.

To participate, email the coordinator, Cymantha Higgins, at cymanthahiggins@gmail.com with the following information:

Your Name:

Your Email Address:

Your Mailing Address:

Your Phone Number:

Which Round-Robin Swap(s) You Wish to Participate in:

A. Round-Robin Art Journal via local contactless delivery only

B. Round-Robin Art Journal via U.S. Priority Mail

If you do NOT receive an email confirmation from the coordinator within one week after you’ve emailed her:

  1. Check the spam folder of your email program, then
  2. Email her again or call/text (check the membership roster for their phone number)

Artist Trading Cards (ATCs)

To participate, you must be a BAG or Libros member in good standing (i.e., your membership dues are current).

This is a monthly swap. ATCs, or Artist Trading Cards, are little pieces of art that people send to one another. It’s fun to see all the different techniques people use to create in a small space (2.5″ x 3.5″, horizontal or vertical).

ATCs can be created using any medium or technique. Any embellishments used on an ATC should allow the ATC to be stored in a baseball card album page slot–so fairly flat. Your design can extend off the design area as long as it can be folded into the ATC for storage and transport.

Patsy Surette is the ATC Trade Coordinator. Please email her at surette@earthlink.net with the following information:

  • Your Name:
  • Your Email Address:
  • Your Mailing Address:

Patsy will add you to the list of ATC trading members and confirm your participation. At the end of the month, you will receive a list of people to send ATCs to.

If you do NOT receive an email confirmation from Patsy within a week of emailing her:

  • Check the spam folder of your email program. If there is no confirmation email in spam, then
  • Email her again at surette@earthlink.net
  • Each month, you will be placed in a group with three to five other participants. Make cards for the others in your group and send them out so they arrive before the end of the month. In return, you’ll also receive cards. It’s happy mail!

Some more info:

  • Unless you say otherwise, Patsy will assume you want to continue swapping each month and will include you in the trading groups.
  • Make one card for each person in your group. Make one for yourself at the same time.
  • Your ATC must not be larger or smaller than 2.5″ x 3.5″. If you have things that extend beyond the edge, they must be foldable into the ATC.
  • You can make each ATC different or work in a series. Editions are okay but DO NOT simply paste a photocopy on a background. Each card must be handmade or cut up a larger work of art to make separate cards.
  • ATCs should be created on something firm like watercolor paper or cardstock.
  • Embellishments are great but shouldn’t extend more than 3/8″ off the card. Using pop-up squares to create depth is fine.
  • Draw, paint, collage, whatever. No particular style is expected except your own. Let’s avoid nudity, politics, religion, and profanity so we can all get along.
  • On the back of the card, put your name, email, and “SF BAG ATC Swap.”
  • When mailing, protect your card by wrapping paper around it or put it into a trading card plastic sleeve.
  • Mail your cards no later than the 20th of the month to ensure that they arrive on time.
  • These are just basic guidelines. Complete rules will be mailed to all participants after joining the group.