Chapter 1: A new zine enters the Eternal Global Network

On 2nd September 2018, I announced the first call for submissions to Attic Zine: The International Book of Colour. I decided to launch this analogue publication with the colour yellow. The photograph below shows my first draft design for issue one of Attic – Yellow:

I wanted to begin my zine with one of the brightest and most energetic colours in our spectrum – yellow fitted the bill perfectly! Plus, the very first edition would go out around the world in January 2019 – one of the coldest and gloomiest months for many of us. One of my aims was to bring the light and energy of yellow into people’s lives in the middle of Winter, a time when many of us can feel lethargic, despondent and exhausted. Participants really got behind the launch of Attic and the focus on yellow caught people’s imaginations just as much as mine: many artists remarked that it brought them great joy to know that a book filled with yellow art from all around the world was coming to their homes at the beginning of a new calendar year. Just before I posted individual copies to everyone, I gave people a sneak preview of what was in store:

As Attic started to arrive in people’s mailboxes, artists began to send me photos of their copies. I loved getting these insights into their own interactions with the zine – it was one of the most rewarding aspects of running an international assembling zine celebrating colour:

Chapter 2: Eternal Global Network

I first came across the term “Eternal Global Network” when I began to send and receive Mail Art around 2017. It was my dear friend and fellow artist Dawn Nelson Wardrope who first made me aware of the magical world of Mail Art: I was captivated by the pieces she had made for artists in Germany, France, USA etc. I was also entranced by the art others sent to her. Here was a true living, breathing, working exchange of international creativity, taking place through the marvellous framework of domestic/international postal systems! I saw and felt a freedom here, not just in the pieces of art themselves, but also in the mode of circulation. For Mail Art could happen relatively cheaply – postage costs were pretty reachable for most of us back in 2017, plus the materials for our artworks were fairly accessible too, since Mail Art celebrates the humble fabrics of our world (collage, found objects, paper, rubber stamps, textile scraps, needle/thread, homemade stickers).

It was Dawn who then introduced me to two more special friends – Picasso Gaglione and Darlene Domel – who were assembling and distributing the amazing Stampzine at the time! I remember Dawn had taken part in Stampzine some time in 2016/2017 and she posted pictures of her copy on her social media account through Facebook. I could not believe how excited her art for this zine made me feel, plus, the whole design of Stampzine by Gaglione and Domel absolutely thrilled me, since it was so striking, dramatic, beautiful and powerful. I was also drawn to the format: an assembling zine containing art by 10 to 15 international artists, pages roughly A5 size and a limited run of 20 unique handmade copies. I remember getting in touch with Picasso and Darlene to tell them how much I admired Stampzine and to ask if I could send them my own set of 20 pages. This marked the start of 2 more incredible friendships for me. I absolutely loved making my first set of rubber stamp art pages for Stampzine. Here are some examples of what I created:

The main rubber stamp focus of these 20 pages was letters. I had been looking at typewriter art at the time and it struck me that there was a parallel between the way a traditional typewriter printed letters and the effects created with small printing stamps of letters. Also, when I was a kid, I had a small printing set that I loved to play with. I used to make myself small printed books with it, and also badges, labels and tiny broadsides with poems on them. My inner child very much came to the fore of my consciousness when I created these pieces for Stampzine. I willingly got lost in making patterns and shapes with printed letters and ink pads in a multitude of colours.

As I got more and more involved with Mail Art, envelopes began to appear in my home mail box with the phrase “Eternal Network” or “Eternal Global Network” on them. Many international mail artists had made their own rubber stamps with these phrases on them – they had then decorated the envelope addressed to me with these rubber stamp impressions nestled amongst homemade stickers etc. One of the many beautiful aspects of Mail Art is that the envelope is also considered a site for art making: therefore, when you hold a completed envelope in your hand, it is as much a work of art as the creations hiding inside. I am pretty sure that one of the first envelopes that came my way with “Eternal Network” on it was from Picasso and Darlene: it was made with their own unique rubber stamp design, rendered in hot pink ink. I found it exhilarating and uplifting. I ran my fingers over the neon letters and felt I had touched infinity.

To be continued…