Like most other things in 2021, the auction of Mail Art Cards, received by the Union of Maine Visual Artists Portland Gallery inside the Portland Media Center, 516 Congress St. in Portland, was delayed in both December and January, because of COVID.

But beginning Feb. 17 and continuing through Feb. 22, UMVA will be offering an online auction of the cards from not only Maine artists but artists in other states and countries.

The auction will be available at www.charityauctionstoday.com/auctions/UMVA–Mail-Art-Fundraiser-2022-29180.

Money raised will go toward keeping the gallery open through 2022.

Since one of the founders of the Union of Maine Visual Artists was also a renowned mail artist, Carlo Pittore, it was decided to go with a mail art show when the January 2021 show couldn’t go forward at the last moment. Last December, UMVA asked artists to create postcard-sized mail art and photograph them for the online show on the blog, https://umvaportlandgallery.blogspot.com, from Jan. 1 to 29. The theme of the January show was “Your Vision of the Year 2021.”

The cards were then mailed to the gallery and saved for a fundraising auction, later in the year, but that never happened in 2021. You can get a preview of the auction by going to the blog https://umvaportlandgallery.blogspot.com/2020/12/visions-of-year-2021.html.

If you’re lucky enough to be the high bidder on a piece of mail art, you will pay through the website and let UMVA know if you can pick it up in person or if you’d rather have it mailed to you. If auction winners are local, they can arrange with Lesley MacVane by either calling her at 207-272-5792 or emailing her at lesleymac@portlandmedia.org to pick up the cards on the following dates/times: 9 a.m. to noon Feb. 23, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 24, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 28, or 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 1. Remember to bring proof of vaccination and to wear a properly fitted mask.

Participating artists include Amy Bellezza, Andre Pace, Anne Strout, Ann Tracy, Berna from Brazil, Chris Allen, Dave Wade, Janice Moore, Joanne Tarlin, John Ripton, Joyce Ellen Weinstein, Kris Onuf, Lesley MacVane, Robert Matejcek, Roland Salazar, Susan Smith and the elusive Victor F.

Learn more about UMVA at www.theumva.org.