0:00

the prelude to international art post

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came when i was i was learning the

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process of full color printing working

0:07

at intermediate press in vancouver

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and

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they’re two owners one of them was ed

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varney who was already making

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artist stamps and had produced one or

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two additions in which he he invited

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people in the network to participate in

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as the owner of intermediate press he

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didn’t have to charge people for that it

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was like his addition and his gift to

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the network

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but i figured out that if i charged a

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certain amount per stamp for 500 copies

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that i would be able to cover the

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expenses and and also

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eventually i realized i have to pay for

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my own time and labor you know sometimes

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this gift economy is really wonderful

0:48

but at a certain point you sort of

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get worn down by it so i worked out a

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formula by and i started out very

0:55

inexpensive i think i charged 35

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or something for 500 stamps so then i

1:00

went to the network

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and put out with the banana rag the call

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if people wanted to have their own image

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done i gave and i started out with

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asking them for an image about that size

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which was proportional to what i was

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going to be doing because at that point

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what people were sending me were

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photographs or little artworks

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not digital files

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that sort of process came along

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i don’t know exactly when but and i was

1:30

assembling those things in the computer

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except no i wasn’t in the beginning

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because the pieces were that size i

1:39

wasn’t manipulating them so my layouts

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were huge

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and i pasted them all up and then and i

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had to paste up the title you know like

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the international art post on layers of

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acetate i mean

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when i think about what i was what i was

1:54

doing and how easy it is by comparison

1:56

like i would walk into the print shop

1:57

with like four layers of acetate with

2:00

the photographs the text you know and

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the color separation

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it was it was amazing that i kept it up

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but i i don’t remember at what point i

2:09

got computerized it was after i had left

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intermediate but

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they were doing a group

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purchase of computers for the press and

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one of my friends who was working for

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the press let me know

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and so i applied appealed to ed and said

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can i be included in this group purchase

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so i was able to get my first mac i mean

2:31

they didn’t pay for it but it didn’t

2:32

cost me the arm and leg it would if i

2:34

went to the you know computer store so

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from that point on

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then became a matter of assembling doing

2:42

the layout in the computer and importing

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the things so then i reduced the size of

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the image people had to send me and i

2:49

also asked for them as digital files

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and so that was the evolution and i

2:54

don’t i i really have not got a good

2:56

memory for what year that

2:59

that transition but i do have the

3:01

acetate with the overlays from the

3:03

original issues of some somebody told me

3:06

well you know for archival purposes i

3:08

should have all that stuff and i’m going

3:10

i wonder the first i must tell you the

3:13

first issue that the intermediate press

3:15

printed of mine i get a phone call

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from the pressman who’s telling me

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this paper is not very good the image is

3:23

kind of spreading and maybe we better go

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to the high gloss paper i said well

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whatever you better do that and it

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wasn’t until i used the paper from that

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they had run through the press that was

3:35

spreading

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i was using it as make ready and very

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often

3:40

when i’m handling paper i would like my

3:42

thumbs and so on and i

3:44

this paper is gummed they printed it on

3:47

the wrong side they printed it on the

3:49

gum side

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so

3:52

so that was an interesting thing then

3:54

the first issue and i think maybe the

3:56

second issue i

3:58

hand perforated on ed varney’s

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line perforator which is a device that’s

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like an old sewing machine with a

4:05

treadle on it

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and you simply put the sheet

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three or four sheets at the most because

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his pins were dull because they were

4:14

very old

4:15

so you put it in line you stomp on the

4:18

treadle and the

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row of pins comes down and up and that

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hole is punched in one row on say four

4:26

sheets of paper so imagine an addition

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of a thousand which is what i did in my

4:31

first couple of additions

4:33

to do

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what there’s 36 stamps on a sheet so

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there’s like six

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rows of three or something i can’t

4:41

remember exactly what the layout is but

4:43

a lot of time perforating those stems

4:46

and then of course once their sheets are

4:48

perforated the individual orders have to

4:51

be separated by hand

4:53

fold and tear fold and tear package

4:56

package package

4:58

it was an enormous labor of love which

5:01

is why it kind of burned out very

5:03

quickly because it was just too much i

5:06

mean i still do the hand separation

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but after the first or second edition

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ed reported that this

5:15

rotary perforator was available through

5:17

vancouver book binders and we decided we

5:20

went in on it together and bought it

5:22

well then he had it at his house under

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the deck and he wasn’t doing anything

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with it and i said well because i would

5:29

going over to his place to do this

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stomping business

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and he said well i really don’t want it

5:34

and i said well i do so i bought him out

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and had it unfortunately where i was

5:38

living there was a garage that i could

5:40

keep it in because i was upstairs you’d

5:42

never get the thing upstairs it was huge

5:45

so

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then a friend of mine helped me

5:48

basically refurbish it we re-pinned it

5:50

each wheel each perforation wheel has

5:52

500 pins

5:54

that go into a

5:56

die wheel that’s below and so there as

5:58

they rotate

6:00

together that’s where the where the

6:02

little holes are popped out anyway my

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friend douglas was active in

6:07

going over the machine he he was really

6:10

great he really you know i couldn’t have

6:12

done it myself and he took it apart took

6:14

the wheels off the off the rod that then

6:17

and i took them out and we together we

6:20

put these 500 pins back in the wheels

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and then he put it together again and it

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and it worked

6:27

the celebration of mail art

6:30

and the passing the flame is an

6:32

important addenda to that statement

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because

6:35

for one thing i think male art has

6:39

within the circle of male artists well

6:41

known and well established but outside

6:43

of this particular network it’s it’s

6:46

still not

6:47

hasn’t really reached

6:49

you know

6:50

general public awareness that this is a

6:53

phenomena that’s going on so

6:56

the celebration is because it’s been an

6:59

amazing influence in my life

7:02

and that the passing the flame is my

7:06

hope that by

7:08

showing the works that people are doing

7:10

here in this show that i will get a few

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people at least

7:15

fired up as i have been fired up about

7:17

mail art

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