Is Letterboxing a Hidden Art Movement?

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Is Letterboxing a Hidden Art Movement?

January 9, 2012 by Lone R

I’ve been thinking about this since the summer when I found a letterbox in the handrail on an urban bridge. Finding a block print hidden from view so that only those-in-the-know know about it, feels like a social art form. A form of graffiti with out the unacceptable consequences of marring a location with paint. Plus a kinder and gentler form of artistic expression and sharing. Graffiti tends to be a political form of expression and often disturbing. Hidden block prints, for me, are a craftspersons’s form of artistic expression. A way of sharing art and locations. Is letterboxing a hidden social arts & crafts movement? Are there other forms of hidden art that are discretely hidden away for people to stumble upon or for those-in-the-know to find?

Two forms of street art with another secret art form hidden nearby

Two forms of street art with another art form hidden nearby

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Posted in letterboxing | 3 Comments

3 Responses

on January 10, 2012 at 2:01 am | Reply Bumble

“Is letterboxing a hidden social arts & crafts movement? Are there other forms of hidden art that are discretely hidden away for people to stumble upon or for those-in-the-know to find?”

If there are, someone sure need to tell me where they are!
on January 10, 2012 at 1:57 pm | Reply Elizabeth Huxford

Absolutely! A very interesting albeit commercial one is the Cinderella fountain at Disney World…there for all to see but at a child’s eye level (and at that level only!) she appears wearing a crown! Leave it to Disney to take “”hidden” art to a new level…hidden mickeys all over the parks too.

In Boston at the market there’s an art piece which you walk on. It’s trash that’s been bronzed and embedded into the street. Never knew it was “art” until someone pointed it out.

The Victorians had fun hiding “naughty” art inside acceptable statues.

Can anyone else come up with others?
on January 10, 2012 at 6:05 pm | Reply Lone R

There is one geocache in Richmond Virginia, whose artist cache owner experimented by placing a box of small art pieces for trading. Here’s a link to the container with little canvases of art: http://img.geocaching.com/cache/f90673ee-2ce3-40eb-b014-5f3fa9fa6a07.jpg and here’s the link to the Real Small Art League’s blog: http://www.realsmallart.blogspot.com/
It’s a random acts of artistic kindness and creative awareness project.