The Richard Canard Museum is Now Open

By Appointment Only

A year ago I decided to create a Richard Canard “museum.” This consisted of me making mini-broadsides that I added to my collage packets announcing the grand opening. Basically the piece of paper said that I was starting a “museum” and that people should send me things to add to the collection. It was brash thing done in a moment’s notice…like most of my projects. It was meant to be somewhat silly, somewhat tongue in cheek, but something I knew could become something bigger. For the first year no one sent me anything, nothing at all. No problem, I continued to put the tiny piece of paper with my collages. 

In December, within a week, I got two large donations. I received a big package from Katerina Nikoltsou in Greece and a couple packages from Coco Muchmore in Kansas. Now that I had these items, I felt like I needed to give them the respect they deserved. Both packages were beyond generous. They didn’t have to send me anything, no one forced them to do anything. Katerina, in a quick message, said she “had to "declutter" and down-size lots of the mail art [she had] gotten over the years.”

The first donor wing of the museum.

 The motivation for setting up a “museum” in honor of Richard C. was simple. Through his consistent and thoughtful work, he provided me with a mail-art framework. Basically, how you interact within the network. I chose to follow his model even if our ways of creating mail-art were very different. I wanted to be supportive and enigmatic. Somehow in all of this, I started having some face to face hangs. First at a coffee shop in Winston-Salem and then at various storage units in Thomasville NC and Charlotte NC. He handed over wonderful items from his collection, some of the pieces dated back to the 1960’s. This was in addition to the mail he had sent to me, mail that I meticulously put into plastic sleeves and then sat on a shelf.

Clearly the “museum” will look a little different than other museums. It’s not going to be a museum with ropes and entry fees, it’s going to be at my house. Visitation will be by appointment only. No fee taken! I will take you through the collections scattered around my home. If the idea grows, if people send me more things and I collect more things (I once found an original Richard C. artwork in a thrift store) the museum will add new wings.

The goal is to continue to spread the word about the “museum” through my mail-art. I made new broadsides and I even put together a short video showing parts of the collection.

If you’re so inclined, I’d love to have your Richard Canard items. I can understand people wanting to hold onto them, I wouldn’t ever get rid of mine. But if you can, if you feel the project is worthy, your donations will be loved. I will mention your name as a contributor. I will respect your items and will gladly show them to anyone who wants to see them. So yeah, I guess that’s a museum.