Wednesday, November 10, 2004

One small step for mail kind.


tiparks
Originally uploaded by wastedpapiers.
This was the poster I got back from Ti Parks, the organiser of the first mail art show I ever saw back in 1980. I can't tell you what a revelation it was for me to see all these envelopes, postcards and objects etc. hung up ( in polythene bags) in the stairwell and foyer of the Greenwich Theatre in South London. Here were people all round the world who communicated with rubber stamps and playful collages and decorated envelopes that I thought I and a few close friends were soley responsible for!(This was before the internet became established ofcourse). This poster was my start - the few addresses on here lead to others and soon the postal ball was rolling and couldnt be stopped!

squint37
And here we are nearly 25 years later. This is the cover of an assembling 'zine that grew to 49 issues and finished last year. Floss has taken up the assmbling baton now. I wonder how many issues it will run to?

8 comments:

Jonathan said...

Michael... nice to see where your start came from...
I'd known about mail art from reading in the early 70's... but didn't have an address! It took untill 1985 or so, when an ex-wife put me in touch with Kate Laxner and Rubberstamp Maddness... now look at the mess I'm in...

Wastedpapiers said...

Yes, it was quite hard at first to find addresses. I'd stupidly neglected to write any down whilst at the Greenwich show being rather over-awed by it all. It only struck me later when the promised documentation turned out to be this poster.

Wastedpapiers said...

It really was oneof those "life changing moments" for me because a few years later my old chum Tony said one of his students was interested in mail art and was making ingenius "letter racks" to hold stamps etc. This was Hazel ofcourse and we corresponded a while before meeting and the rest is history. So i have a lot to thank Ti Parks and the Greenwich Theatre gallery for. I actually met Ti parks in Greenwich market a few years later where he was selling his hand made "artists books" (most were sewn all the way round so you could'nt Open them) He told me the mail art exhibition in 1980 was his first and last venture into the world of networking and he's concentrated on his books from then on. I don't even know if he has a website. I'll check later.

Scrapatorium said...

Fascinating history. How cool that you met Hazel through the network.

Jonathan said...

Swap... Sylvia and I met in a chat room !!!

sylviasometimes said...

Interesting how some moment
truly can be a "turning point"
in our lives...you may not know
where it's going, but you know
you want to find out.

Roger Stevens said...

In answer to your question - 87.

Met in a chat room, eh?

Jill and I were introduced by my first wife.

Jonathan said...

Cheers, Roger... that's pretty good...