Harley (Francis)

Harley (1940-2017; birth name: Harley Francis II) is an American mail artist, painter, set designer and artistamp creator. Harley earned a Bachelor of Arts from Indiana University in 1965 and then held a graduate assistantship at Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH) for two years. Harley began making artistamps in 1974 and in 1975, he established Tristan Local Post. In 1987 he curated the “Corresponding Worlds International Mail Art and Artistamps Symposium” at the Allen Memorial Art Museum (Oberlin College), the first artistamp exhibition at the Allen. According to Harley, “This was the first museum-level exhibition curated of artistamps and mail art in the United States.” (terracendella.org) It was around this time that Harley established Terra Candella, an independent state as opposed to a local post. In 1995 he sold his archive composed of works collected from 1975-1995 to the Clarence Ward Art Library at Oberlin College.