Collection Guide
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Fish (Pat) mail art collection
Printers Mss 81
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Title: Pat Fish mail art collection
Identifier/Call Number: Printers Mss 81
Contributing Institution:
UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
Language of Material:
Multiple languages
Physical Description:
20 linear feet
(13 cartons, 6 flat oversize boxes)
Creator:
Fish, Pat
Date (inclusive): 1970s-2000s
Date (bulk): 1970s-1980s
Abstract: Mail art collected and created by Santa Barbara tattoo artist Pat Fish during the 1970s and 1980s.
Physical Location: A portion of the collection is located at the Southern Regional Library Facility (SRLF).
The collection is open for research. A portion of the collection is stored offsite. Advance notice is required for retrieval.
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Research Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Research Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the Department of Special Research Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.
[Identification of Item], Pat Fish mail art collection, Printers Mss 81. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa
Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Gift of Pat Fish; transferred from UCSB Arts Library, 2012.
Mail art created and collected by Santa Barbara tattoo artist Pat Fish. The collection, dating mainly to the 1970s and 1980s,
includes work by artists such as Ray Johnson, Pawel Petasz, Henning Mittendorf, Carlo Pittore, Jurgen Olbrich, Michael Scott,
Ryosuke Cohen, Vittori Baroni, Joki, and Pat Fish, among others. Media include recycled objects, postcards, "artistamps,"
cardboard, paint, pen-and-ink, and collage.
Pat Fish attended the University of California, Santa Barbara from 1975-1979, studying art and film. Her participation in
mail art began with the publication of a submission of dada art to
Vile Magazine in 1972. In 1997, an exhibit of her mail art, "Art Through the Mail: The Eternal Network" was put on display by the
Arts Library at UCSB.
In addition to mail art, the collection includes zines, newspapers, and mail art exhibition catalogs.
The collection has been divided into nine series: 1. Domestic Correspondence, 2. International Correspondence, 3. Miscellaneous,
4. People Files, 5. Mail Art Exhibitions, 6. Serials, 7. Zines and Newspapers, 8. Art/Writing by Pat Fish, 9. Oversize.
A number of books have been separated from the collection for inclusion in the UCSB Library catalog.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Mail art
Artistamps
Collages (visual works)
Exhibition catalogs
Fanzines
Mail art
Newspapers
Postcards