(Some details of the trip Ruud Janssen (TAM) made October/November 1996)
In October 1996 there was an exhibition of the TAM Rubberstamp Archive at the Stamp Art Gallery in San Francisco. This brought Ruud Janssen to this city as well, and here is the online version of the first report he wrote.
WWW-text-version : 22-1-1999
Yes, I was in the USA, my first trip to this country. Lots of people ask me about details; who did I meet, what was it like, what did you do, how was the lecture, who was there to attend, etc. I did keep a travel-diary during the trip. This book contains my private writings, and I will see if I can tranform it into a publication. Besides these 115 pages of text, I also took about 300 photo's in the USA, and as you might guess, people took photo's of me as well (why?). I bought souvenirs, books, got gifts from friends, and just so many details that there are to tell.
So, for those people who can't wait to get the final publication or who I can't write all details in person, for those I am writing this short overview of my trip with some details about it, so you have a first impression of how it was like. If there will be a final publication of this trip I will have to see. It depends on the free time that I have. Too may things are happening in these months, so I don't have the time to just sit down and write a book about this trip that would fit all impressions I got. But here are some detail......
Cities I visited:
20-10 till 26-10-1996 : On the 20th I arrive in the evening in San Francisco. John Held picked me up at the Airport. I stayed at Netlandia in San Francisco. Actually I was the last inhabitant of this place since John Held Jr. and Ashley Parker Owens already had moved to their new addresses. But the apartment of Netlandia at 24th Street in Mission district, was still available (and empty besides a bed and a kitchen) so I had my own place for this first week thanks to John Held and Ashley. I visited the Stamp Art Gallery often, where it is always a surprise who you meet (like Steven Leiber passing by, Marcy Freedman with her concept-version of a CD-ROM) or talk to (phonecalls with Bill Willson from New York, Patricia Tavenner from Oakland, Tim Mancusi from Rohnert Park). One night I even landed at a poker-game at R. Seth Friedman's place (the editor of Factsheet5) and lost $ 5,- (not bad since it was my first real pokergame)
26-10 : On this saturday I gave the talk/lecture about the exhibition and the TAM Rubber Stamp Archive just after Zack did the performance 'WET'. About 30+ people showed up (see names at the list later). Lots of old and new friends....! After the pizza I drove out of San Francisco....
26-10 till 28-10 : With Barbara Cooper I drove up north to visit San Rafael, where she lives. The next day we drove to Bolinas and watched the ocean at Stinson Beach , ate a turkey Sandwich and drank a vodka-juice, drove through Terra Linda and listened to the concert of Aaron & band downtown in San Rafael
28-10 : John Held Jr. picks me up in San Rafael, and we drive over the Golden Gate Bridge to visit Robert Rocola at Geary Street. After that we pick up Picasso and visit the Art Institute to hear a lecture by Tom Marioni about performance art in the Bay Area in the 70's.
28-10 till 30-11 : In the afternoon I take the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport) to Oakland, where I meet with Patricia Tavenner. She lives near Berkeley, and I visit this place when Patricia had to work in the morning. Patricia is doing video-interviews with mail artists, and I am one of the 'victims'. I am currious of what the result will be...... I also visited one of Patricia's silkscreen-classes at the University California-Extension Courses.
30-10 : A surprise (?) party at Diana O. Mars's place, where I meet the people from the Stamp Art Gallery again. Patricia drove me to Diana's place in San Francisco, and as arranged I travel back with Tim Mancusi to Rohnert Park. The crowded city is left behind and the beautiful landscapes of California are all around me.
30-10 till 2-11-96 :I am staying with Tim Mancusi at Rohnert Park. We talk a lot, and in the afternoons we drive around in this beautiful California and see places like Petaluma and Santa Rosa. It is Haloween, and for an European like me this is something strange. At PSX I see how the people can dress up for such an occasion, and I do know now what 'trick or treat' means. On one afternoon we drove up to visit Jeff Berner at Dillon Beach, the landscape surprises you every time again. On November 2nd I take the bus back to downtown San Francisco.
2-11-96 : The last days in San Francisco. The new exhibitions at the Stamp Art Gallery start. Dogfish from Seattle was there, and also I meet with Harley. My chewing gum was needed to fix something of the exhibition from Tui-Tui, and is there now on display during November. Also the exhibition by Pawel Petasz was opened on this day. And again I meet with Bob Kirkman. Is he there every Saturday maybe.....? Had a short phonecall with David Hunter, who just moved to San Francisco. The last night I stay at John Held's place. He has helped me a lot during my stay in California, and early next morning he drove me to the airport of San Francisco, where my plane leaves early in the morning. The last evening in San Francisco we also have time to visit the 'day of the death' parade at the Mission-district.
3-11-96 till 4-11-96 :The airplane leaves 45 minutes late, but what is 45 minutes when I know that the trip back to Tilburg (via Washington, where I have one hour left so I still had time to buy another T-shirt for my collection, and Amsterdam, where I arrive early in the morning of November 4th) will take over 26 hours on my clock. But time goes fast, especially since twice I have to turn the clock foreward.......
People I met:
Well, here is the list of all the people I have met on all those days:
John Held Jr, Picasso Gaglione, Diana O. Mars, Darling Darlene, Miriam Wolf, R. Seth Friedman, Mike Dyar, Patricia Tavenner, Carol Carson, Steven Leiber, Steve Hitchcock. Michael Harford, Marcy Freedman, Barbara Cooper, Anna Banana, Judith Hoffberg, Zack, Steve Caravelt, Geoffrey Cook, Irene Dogmatic, Ted Purves, Eleanor Kent, Gregory Fiorini, Juulee Peeslee, Bob Kirkman, Jennifer Rodrigue, Tom Marioni, Tim Mancusi, Jeff Berner. Robert Rocola, Harley, Dogfish, Chris (from Factsheet5) and Aaron (who plays his guitar perfectly). I just hope I didn't forget anybody.......
I could tell you lots of things about some of the meetings, but this text is just meant as a small list with all the details for people who can't wait for a personal letter or a proper publication about my trip.
Places I visited:
Well, Of course I visited the Moma-museum in downtown San Francisco. Also I was at the 'Young Museum", where they had the new 'Beatnik-show' , where -to our surprise- were also three works by Ray Johnson at display. I visited the Golden Gate Park, walked through China Town, visited Chinese, Vietnamese, Italian, Thay and Japanese restaurants, and even once ate an american hamburger. Bought some typical american rubber stamps , and saw hunderds of homeless people walking everywhere. The contrasts are big in the USA..........
Interviews in progress:
Besides the exhibition I had at the Stamp Art Gallery and the fact that I wanted to do some touristic activities in San Francisco and surroundings, I also had some activities for my mail-interview project. Some examples: When I met Mike Dyar at Tom's place I invited him for an interview. Because we met each other at more occasions, we were able to exchange some questions and answers during these two weeks. I forgot to ask John held Jr. the next question for the PART-2 of our interview, so I will have to send that to him later this month when I find the time. I met again with Anna Banana, who I already interviewed one year ago. I met with Robert Rocola, who's interview will be a visual one. he gave me some more illustrations when I visited him together with John Held Jr. I discussed with Picasso (Bill) Gaglione how to go further with the interview. But I forgot to take allong the next question, and could find the copy of the question. It reminds me of the found stamps he sent me that were lost then, and were found again lateron. I visited Patricia Tavenner, and could give her the next question on the last day I was with her. When I visited Tim Mancusi, he gave me the next answer for the interview. I still have to retype his answer and will send him the next question when that is done. At the lecture I gave at the Stamp Art gallery on the 26th October I also met for the first time with Judith A. Hoffberg. She promised to send the next question when she finds the time. Also I met Ashley Parker Owens and had diner with her and John Held Jr. Ashley's interview is already published, and I can now tell you that Global Mail will continue, but has a different editor. Ashley will still be doing the listings of projects.
So, believe it or not; in this short period I had meetings with 9 mail artists I am interviewing, have interviewed, or started interviewing. Yes, an intense trip.......
some addresses:
STAMP ART Gallery
Bill Gaglione & Co.
466 8th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
John Held Jr. & Ashley Parker Owens
Netlandia - San Francisco
P.O.Box 410837 , CA 94141
Barbara Cooper
811 Las Colindas Rd.
San Rafael, CA 94903
Tim Mancusi
153 Verde Circle ,
Rohnert Park,
CA 94928-2071
Patricia Tavenner
P.O.Box 11032 ,
Oakland, CA 94611-0032
Mike Dyar
1913 Ellis Street
San Francisco , CA 94115
PS. For those who are interested in photo's, here's a photo that was taken earlier, in 1989, taken in Belgium, where Charles Francois, John Held Jr. and me met before (I got the digital photo via Charles' homepage)
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