> contents / Jas Warren Felter - Canada / interview by Sztuka Fabryka (2000) /

1. How and when did you become involved in Mail-Art?

My first foye into what has become to be known as Mail Art was at the age of 15 when I drew and collaged designs for two different 'First Day Covers' for two US Postage Stamps. I was an avid collector of postage stamps at the time, and after collecting the commercially produced 'First Day Covers', decided I could make my own. It wasn't until many years later that I became aware of the 'Mail Art Network'. This discovery occurred while I was researching artists who could be invited to participate in the exhibition "Artist's Stamps and Stamp Images" that I was organizing for October of 1972 at The Simon Fraser Gallery at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, where I was Director/Curator at the time. Ken Friedman (Fluxus West) visited the Gallery and introduced me to Fluxus and their work with the postage stamp format, and Dana Atchley (Ace Space Co.) made me aware of other such artists. Michael Morris (Image Bank) at the Western Front in Vancouver was also helpful. After the exhibit opened and the catalogue distributed many more artists came to my attention, including Herve Fisher (Sociological Art) in Paris, who was able to arrange a showing of the exhibit in Geneva. While in Geneva for the opening I met John Armleder and other Swiss artists.

2. Can you give us a short C.V. of your Mail-Art activities from the beginning till now?

Although my first exhibit was held in 1961, my initial activity in the Mail Art Network was under the names of Kirk W Varga and FIVE/CINQ Aesthetics Limited during the 70's, and documentation of this activity in not complete. FIVE/CINQ Aesthetics Limited was an actual Company registered in the Province of British Colulmbia. It was designed to act legally as an entity to create art, and carried out numerous mail art many projects and mailed them out around the world during its approximately 10 years of existence. Several other people were involved in the Company and its projects.

My own records indicate that the first Mail Art exhibit I contributed to was perhaps the 1st New York City Postcard Show, held at New York University, New York City in 1975. In 1976 I contributed to numerous mail art exhibits, such as 1976 The Seventies, organized in Argentina and exhibited also in , Art in the Mail, Manawatu Art Gallery, New Zealand, The Mask/Show, Mildura Arts Centre, Victoria, Australia, The Last Correspondence Show, Califorian State University Art Gallery, Sacramento, California, The Venetian Tools Project/Groupe Ecart, 37th Venice Bienna1e, Venice, Italy, Door-Art, C.D.M., Middelburg, Holland and the International Rubber Stamp Print Exhibition, Arts Centre, San Francisco, California. During this time I was also exhibiting my so-called Mail Art in other venues and a print of my "Greetings from Canadada" Rubberstamp was accepted for inclusion in the 1977 6th International Miniature Print Exhibition at the Pratt Graphic Centre in New York City. Some of the Mail Art exhibits which presented my work during 1977 included the Not Clay International Mail Art Show (Herter Gallery, University of Massachusettes in Amherst), Stamps in Praxis, International Postal Art (Art Center Gallery, Univ. of Waterloo, Ontario), Post Art Card (R. Mutt Galleries, North Ridge, California), Christmas Card Mail Art Show (Cultural Arts Centre, Los Angeles, California), Broadway International Postcard & Mail Art Show, 1st Aalst Correspondence & Mail Art Exhibit (New Reform Arts Centre), Definitions (Other Books and So), Bisbee International Postal Art Show (Totas Las Casas de Bourca Gallery), Mailing Stamp Exhibition, International Rubber Stamp Exhibit (Fine Art Gallery, Univ. of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado), Earth Healing Exhibit, Parachute Centre, Mail Art lnternational (Atelier Bonanova, Spain), Space Window (Bell Gallery, Brown University), and Last Rites (Wichita Art Museum).

Activity continued in 1978 and gradually dropped off by the end of the decade. In 1988, after my return from 8 months in South America, I was made aware of the CVAA by Ed Varney. Anna Banana was also a member of this Vancouver artists' Society. I was invited to join, which I did. The CVAA was producing a fairly regular mail art publication called Mixed Bag, which consisted on contributions to each issue by the members and I began to contribute also. Exhibition activity resumed in 1989 when I organized the International Artistamp Invitational for the Davidson Galleries in Seattle. That year I also participated in Filatelia Alternativa (Stato di Naon, Pordenone, Portugal). In 1994 I spent 6 months in Barcelona, where I met one of the Spanish Artistamp creators, Pere Sousa. His mail art activities (Merz Mail, P.O.BOX) drew me deeper into the network and I participated in The Mail Art Show - Hommage - Kurt Schwitters (La Papa, Barcelona), The First Man on the Moon - 25 Year Commemorative Exhibition (The Big Red Dot, Vancouver) and Artistic Embargo Stamps (Happy Gallery, Belgrade). In 1995 I contributed to Networking (Galeria Cinematica Uruguay, Montevideo), KUNSTENAARSPOSTZEGELS (Galerij Begijnhof-Centrum Voor Kunsten, Belgium and Poorthuis Openluchtmuseum, Genk, Belgium ), Havana '95 International Mail Art Show (Museo Nacional Palacio de Bellas Artes, Havana), International Artistamps (Stamp Art Gallery, San Francisco), 1st Bienal Internacional de Arte Postal, Cologio Universitas, Santos, Brasil) and The First California Artistamp Exhibit (University of Calfornia, Berkeley, San Francisco.

The Stamp Art Gallery in San Francisco gave me a solo exhibition in 1996 entitled "Jas W Felter - Artistamp Activist". Other exhibits in the last half of the '90's included the 1996 Post Denmark's Mail Art Exhibiton (Post Denmark Headquarters, Copenhagen), Eutopia Mail-Art From the West (Maastricht, Holland), Remembering Assisi - earthquake shocks (Umbria e Marche, Italy), Copy Art Mailing (Jornades de arte postal conference, Barcelona), International Exhibition of Artistamps (XVI Marato de l'Espectacle, Barcelona), Past, Present, Post: The Mail Art Show (Columbia College Chicago Centre, Chicago), Artist Book Mailart (dougal.derby.ac.uk/1poets/gallery.html, England), Propia Copia (Facultad de Bellas Artes, Barcelona), Ireland Today (County Mayo, Ireland), III Bienal Internacional de Arte Postal (Collgio Universitas, Santos, SP, Brasil), ARTISTAMPS (Bar Barbara Ann, Buenos Aires), Arte Postal hacia el nuevo milenio, (Museo de Filatelia de Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico), Art and Artists of the 20th Century (Vancouver East Cultural Centre Gallery, Vancouver), and A tea for two at two forty (Eclagazan, Andorra).

More recent exhibitions which have presented my mail art work include the Exposicion de Arte Postal (El Taller de Zenon, Sevilla, Spain), Artistamps (Galerie Galerij, Zierikzee, Holland), International Artistamp/Mail Art Exhibition (Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, ON, Canada) and the Peace Island Jeju International Mail Art Show 2001, Jeju Folk Town, Jeju Island, Korea.

3. What are your specific activities within Mail-Art?

Well as you may have gathered, I favor artistamps, followed by envelopes and letters written in the Mraurovian script. My activities as a Mail Artist should not be separated from my activities as a Visual Artist. I have worked with various media and consider Mail Art (especially the Eternal Network) as simply another means of distributing my art. In brief, I guess I would say my specific activities within Mail-Art have been to organize exhibits of material (artistamps) which might be considered Mail Art; to create, distribute and exhibit art works which might be considered Mail Art, to research and document the artists who have contributed to this particular medium and to encourage whenever possible, individuals to make and exchange artistamps with other artists.

4. Can you tell us something more about "Mraur" which we see a lot on your envelopes and now I read there is also a Mraurovian script? 

MRAUR - Theocracy which governs the commonwealth on the mythic sunken Pacific continent of Mu (the Motherland) on the planet Earth. ART is recognized as the supreme civil ruler on Mu and ART's laws are interpreted by ecclesiastical authorities who claim a divine commission. During Earth's antediluvian era Mraur established Missions in many regions of the planet, such as those areas now known as Iraq, Egypt, Tibet, Central America, Peru, and Bolivia, to name a few. In these regions, as well as many others, the remains of the Mraurovian Missions can still be seen as the megalithic structures and stone statuary of supposedly 'unknown' origin. Today the authorities which govern Mraur are more commonly known as 'Artists'. These 'Artists' are found on all parts of the planet, often playing an evangelical like role by spreading the word of ART according to one or more of Mraur's high priests or priestesses. Visiting Mraur is difficult, though rewarding, requiring a special knowledge of 'time-travel' and underwater breathing. The most notable visitor in recent years is the Canadian underwater archaeologist, Kirk W Varga. His many visits over the past 30 years have led him to be named as the Chief Transcriber of the Mraurovian Glyphs, a system of visual communication used by the 'inner circle' of Mraur's ecclesiastical authorities. A Gallery devoted to Mraurovian works can be found at http://jas.faximum.com/jas.d/jcm_tgm.htm.
From Webford United Worlds Dictionary, page 30255.

Documentary photographs exist of Kirk W Varga's visits to some of the Monuments of Mraur, including Bolivia, Mexico and Jeju Island (Korea).

My reading of various text on Mu, several by the reknown scholar and archaeologist James Churchward, brought to my attention references to an ancient system of visual communication used by the 'Star People' who had passed the system on to the High Priests of Mraur on the now sunken continent of Mu. This communication system was formed of perfect compositional arrangements, balancing the dual forces of the Universe: positive-negative, black-white, good- evil, 0-1, nothing-something, Ying-Yang, etc. Results of my research of the Mraur (or Mraurovian) Glyphs, which began in the early 1970's in British Columbia and ending in 1976 in Switzerland, are on display in the Jas Cyberspace Museum's Gallery Mraur. Additional underwater excavations have revealed several important manuscripts and codices. Although some attempt has been made to translate these works, thus far they have only been transcribed.

During the 70's and 80's most of my art works (paintings, prints, drawings & sculpture) were created using Mraurovian Glyphs as their compositional structure. The Temple of Wont, which was exhibited in Canada, Ecuador and France, contained a recreation of a wall from the Temple, as well as other works found in and around the Temple. The first documents in Mraurovian Script were transcribed in pen and ink, then after I acquired my first computer (a portable Osborne), I used a spread sheet software called SuperCalc to transcribe various Mraurovian documents. A daisy wheel printer allowed I was able to make prints of these documents, including a set on thin copper sheets. Eventually I found a software program that allowed me to recreate the entire Mraurovian Glyph system as a TrueType Font. Now official documents can be produced by the Mraurovian High Commission as necessary.

5. After so many years within Mail-Art, have you seen some change in the Mail-Art Network.

Mail Art has not been my principal artistic activity, and therefore I have not followed it extensively (except for Artistamps - which extends its range beyond Mail Art). My impression is that there used to be more experimentation in the use of the postal system, such as mailing to a factitious address and having the mail art 'returned' to the sender (the actual intended destination). I don't get many (if any) invitations (or calls) by mail any more - now they come via e-mail. Many of these exhibits allow the participant to return their 'mail art' via e-mail, which I have done. So I guess the biggest change is that there is a new method of distributing 'mail art' and it seems to be gaining in popularity, as well as a new form (digital). For a while Fax art was happening, but it didn't seem to last long. Perhaps Mail Art is just the beginning of a movement that may eventually be called something like 'Free Art' or 'Sent Art'. Mail Art started out with a few committed artists, and grew tremendously until there was 'overload'. Now it is being carried on by a few dedicated artists on one level and another level by a huge body of ever changing artists (and non-artists) who participate for a year or two before moving on to other art forms or dropping out altogether. Each artist develops his own 'Network' and occasionally some of these 'private' networks come together in the larger Mail-Art Network. Actually the Mail Art Network is a means to an end - it includes using the commercial postal systems, private delivery systems, and electronic delivery systems to deliver and (hopefully) exchange art for 'free'. Another change is the movement is in the exhibition (public presentation) mail art. Public exhibition of Mail Art was never part of the original intent of Mail Art, but we have seen it start out in a bookstore window in Belgium and move to the Culture and Arts Foundation on Jeju Island, Korea, and from the notebooks of Dana Atchley (ACE SPACE CO.) to web sites in Europe, and the Americas. The free documentation has expanded from the mimeographed address list of parcipants to the 100 page full colour catalogue with hundreds of reproductions. It's fun to be a part of a movement of such extremes. I only hope it continues at both ends (and in the middle), remains 'free', and never become exclusive.

6. Why do you do Mail-Art?

OK, the time has come, I must get an answer to you - I've been trying to polish the scratches out of the hood of my car that my wife made when trying to remove some spots (sap from the trees?). It is a long process and of course, my mind wondered - "Why do I do Mail-Art?" Long, long ago in a far away land I promised myself that I would never consider the question Why? It's such a deep question - and there are always many answers; but you force me to consider it - ok, first there are reasons for starting to do mail-art, then there are other reasons for continuing to do Mail-Art. Neither of these is the question you asked - it is much broader - much deeper. There are also other answers to the question of "Why do I 'make' Mail-Art?", and this too, is a different question. Your question involves the process of doing, which would include making the object, packaging the object (when necessary) and posting the object. The reason that I do this is to cause the distribution of my visual ideas (concepts) to as wide an audience as possible. Considering the alternatives - exhibitions in public and private commercial and non-commercial exhibition spaces, it is by far the most inexpensive way to cause such distribution. Doing Mail-Art is more satisfying than simply (or not so simply) creating a web site which exhibits and promotes representations of my work. Representations are not the same as the real thing - and what I post as Mail-Art is the real thing.

Mail-Art appears to me to be the purist form of art - it is not dependent upon the market structure of the so called Art World, it is not dependent upon filters, such as gallery directors, jurors, critics, etc. It is a direct 'communication' between the artist and the audience. This, of course, does not mean that it is 'good' art. Good and bad have no meaning in Mail-Art.

So, before I get carried away and add more trivia to your question, let's just leave it as is and hope that I haven't said too much and made my response too complex. Just to be sure, I will go back and restate my answer to "Why do you do Mail-Art?"

I do Mail-Art to cause the distribution of my visual ideas (concepts) to as wide an audience as possible.

7. What happens with the Mail-Art you receive? Do you have a Mail-Art archive?

This question is easier to deal with than your previous question - doesn't require much 'deep' thinking. It is a good question, and one which interests me to. The answer to your second question first, is Yes, I do have a Mail-Art archive.

After opening (if necessary) the Mail-Art and looking at it, it usually goes on top of my desk or on top of my filing cabinet for a while - eventually I look up the database record number for the artist and write it (in pencil) on each separate piece of paper, i.e.; the envelope, and the contents. These items are placed in a "TO FILE" stack. Then, after I have a small collection. (This should be done once a week, but it isn't, which causes real log-jams in the system.) I open my database and with the 'update' program I have written (in dBase III), I respond to the following:

Enter date received ..... <mm/dd/yy>
Letter? ...................... <Y/N>  
Postcard for archives? ....... <Y/N>  
Envelope for archives? ....... <Y/N>  
Number of stamps enclosed? ..... <#>  
Number of stamp sheets enclosed? <#>  
Number of other items inclosed? <#>  
The current Note reads: "on col. sht.327" 
Do you wish to change it? <Y/N>  
Was your mail returned? <Y/N>

My database overwrites the previous date received - so I only have the date of the latest mail art item received - not a date for every Mail-Art item.

If the questions about Letter, Postcard, Envelope are answered yes, 1 is added to the number in the current database, so I always have a total for each one. In the case of number answers, that number is added to the number in the database. If I wish to change the Note, the new note overwrites the previous note. If I respond to the last question positively, then the STATUS of the record will change from ACTIVE to MOVED. This means the artist is dropped from the active list until a new address is entered and the status changed to ACTIVE again.

The Mail-Art is then placed in a "Ready to File" pile. When I get the chance (again, this should be once a week, but isn't) I place the Mail-Art letter, postcard, envelope (if it is indeed Mail-Art' and not simply an envelope), etc. in the appropriate numbered file folder in the 'archive' filing cabinet. The Artistamps and Artistamp Sheets (my main interest) are placed in archival sleeves, which are then placed in three-ring binders according to the Record Number (which could be called the Artist's number).

And there they rest.