posted by: Garrett Queen

Use it or lose it? Postal systems are under attack. Many countries have never quite gotten one really off the ground. In the United States the USPS is a centuries-old institution…long revered and trusted since its creation by the Continental Congress in 1775 with Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster. Now snail mail seems to be merely a servant of American commercialism, bringing print advertising to our homes everyday but Sunday.

The VABC will join a long line of artists in investigating the intricacies and mechanisms of a postal system with their next collaborative project. In the project entitled “Postmark,” artist-members will create handmade editions of postcards which consider the mystery of distance, place, communication, memory, and nostalgia. (Among other topics!) All participants will receive a complete set of the postcards produced by the group for their personal archives.

THE PAPER IS IN. Artists can pick up enough paper to make their 65 cards. It’s cut to double size, for work-and-turn, or to trim to the 4 x 6.5 size. You must be a member of VABC to join the project.

Sets of cards will be auctioned off to the public at this year’s Raucous Auction on 11/11/11 which will also feature a show of all of the pieces.

Join a long line of amazing postal artists: Saul Steinberg, Ray Johnson of the New York Correspondence School, Bruce Licher of Independent Project Press, Charles Peale, Henrik Drescher, and most famously in the world of trade books, Nick Bantock author of the Griffin and Sabine series. You can participate by contacting Garrett Queen at gsqueen@comcast.net.

There will be a brainstorming and informational meeting at the VABC on Wednesday night, August 31, (Block Night) from 6:00 until 7:00 PM. If you’re curious about membership, come that night to see what we’re all about.

Yours truly will also host a display and discussion of postal art and its possibilities at Block Night on September 7. I will also lead a tiny workshop on carving rubber stamps suitable for use for cancelling your mail at Block NIght on September 21.

-Josef Beery

Postmark Project Specifications

A project open to all VABC Members! Completed artwork due
October 15, 2011. Each participating artist will receive one set of all
cards. Our gallery show of the edition will be the Raucous Auction, November 11,
2011.

If you would like to participate, contact Garrett Queen
(gsqueen@comcast.net). We would like to gauge how
many postcards will be produced.

Guidelines

Participants will do each produce an edition of 60 postcards (print 65)
(trimmed to 4” x 6.5”), emphasizing

-the distance or travel mystery that postcards present (sent
from places we are at one moment, but usually are not; received when we the
sender may even be elsewhere)
-the two modes of communication on each
side—one primarily visual, one verbal
-memory and meaning and nostalgia of a
place and the separation from the postcard’s destination
-travel and
correspondence emphasis; not the sort of “business” postcard meant to remind,
etc.

Paper: Double-size stock is available at the shop (Lennox 100, 250 gsm). This can be used to print 2-up,
or single prints with full bleeds to be trimmed to size. Other papers may be
substituted at participant’s expense, but should meet the trim size (see below).

Process: All work must be printed in the shop,
with bookarts presses and methods; no clipart or inkjet for work that could be
otherwise done with press; if inkjet is used it should be for original works
only (photographs, etc).

Features: Complete postcard, written-on or not;
if mailed should include stamp and be cancelled; consider creative ways to
postmark 11-11-11 (we may create a cancelling stamp or stamps for this)

We will start a collection of postcards to use for
inspiration at the shop. If you have posts of interest to the group about any
aspect of the project, please comment below (“Leave a Message”).

Press-Time Scheduling: Please contact Garrett to schedule your press time (this includes key-holders) In planing your press usage, please remember to allow for sufficient drying time if printing on both sides of your card.

Additional Notes & Questions…

Photopolymer Plates: We use KF152 plates that can be ordered from Boxcar Press.

Full-Bleed Printing: When printing bleed on the stock we’re providing (8 x 6.5″) you can only print one-up (2-up on the supplied stock is possible with no bleed.).

The bleed area can be any amount in excess of the trim size of the card (4 x 6.5″) usually .25″ all around works fine (a 4.5 x 7″ image area before trim).

Printing on a single 8 x 6.5″ card (and trimming to 4 x 6.5″) provides ample room for gripper, bleed area and registration marks (for those doing more complex color).

Printing the second side of the untrimmed card (on the Vandercook) will require some planning as to align the card (image/text) front and back prior to printing.

Filed under: Group Projects, Hot off the Presses on August 20th, 2011