updates!

After a beautiful summer in Detroit, I moved to Chicago for graduate school. I was working on Paris of the West in my gorgeous studio on Grand River, and had to relocate everything to a cubicle space on Wabash in the South Loop-- everything got a little jumbled.

Now that I'm in the Center for Book and Paper Arts in Chicago full time, I can finally get back to Paris of the West!

After a bit of trial and error with the cover:


I have finally decided to print the zine with combination hand-set letterpress and a hand-cut stencil technique on Paper Source enclosures.

Here's a process-preview of the front:


The front cover will be the stencil of the Great Lakes, with letterpress impression of a star to indicate Detroit. Other text will be printed on the inside cover.

More updates will be posted in the coming days as the project becomes complete!!

copy, print, post, share

Submission Date Change!!

In my haste to get Paris of the West off the ground, I only gave a month from the announcement of issue one until the deadline. I realize that is a short time span for artists, so I've decided today to extend the deadline to Monday, JUNE 15th!

The drop-off / mailing address for your submission is still
Paris of the West c/o E. Isakson
Studio 310
4731 Grand River Ave.
Detroit, MI 48208

I look forward to all the submissions, and please post any questions or comments to the facebook page here.

Thanks!

Defining Mail Art

Images borrowed from http://www.mail-art.de





Here is a link to the wikipedia article about mail art, though it's not the most complete, it's a jumping off point on the concept.

Also, check out this great german site, mail-art.de,
that has a wonderful group of definitions about mail art and it's history.

Submission Guidelines at a Glance

To Submit to Paris of the West Issue 1:

Include
-100 copies of your submitted work of art, writing, or other media. Work must be postcard-sized (5.5 by 8.5 inches or smaller) and mail safe.
-A copy of your address or a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Submissions for Issue 1 should be received no later than June 1, 2009 to be considered.

Mail to:

Paris of the West/E. Isakson
Studio 310
4731 Grand River Ave
Detroit, MI 48208

All included participants in Paris of the West Issue 1 will be mailed a free copy of the completed Issue in exchange for their work.

Direct any further questions to Paris of the West on Facebook.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Paris of the West – Culture Post from Detroit

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS of drawings, photography, design, prints, prose, poetry, collage, chapbooks, non-fiction, nonsense, and anything else for a new ZINE: Paris of the West, a multi-media representation of any and all Detroit culture. Anyone with a DIY spirit is encouraged to submit post-card sized, 4 in x 6 in or smaller, art or writings to Paris of the West for publication. Paris of the West will package these small cultural posts into one folder, and make them available for sale four times per year, with an overall goal of distributing Detroit creativity to the masses. The submission deadline for the inaugural issue is May 15, 2009.

Issue 1 of Paris of the West will be true to the form of mail art. We ask each artist to submit 100 copies of their ‘post-card’, printed and designed in the most creative way they see fit, in a mail safe, 2-dimesional form. Each artist will receive a copy of the entire edition in exchange for their submission. Due to limitations of the form, only 30 artists will be represented in Issue 1, with the opportunity for more artists to be represented in subsequent issues.

Paris of the West is inspired by the 1968 post-Dada, pre-Fluxus publication, Shit Must Stop. The brainchild of artist William Copley, S.M.S. was a “was a lavish, idealistic effort to circumvent the gallery system by sending art directly to subscribers through the mail (Art on Paper, March/April 2009),”and included works from Marcel Duchamp, Yoko Ono, and John Cage.

With Detroit’s “decline” making national news, Paris of the West will be published in part to prove that our culture is again on the rise. As home to diverse groups of artists, musicians, actors, and writers, Detroit is a city brimming with culture and a host to endless possibility of DIY endeavors. Detroit was dubbed “the Paris of the West” in the 1800s when Edison first lit Jefferson Avenue with his electric lights, transforming the city into a place of celebrated invention and innovation. This spirit still persists, and the time has come where it needs to be broadcast.

Paris of the West will be published in Detroit by Bubble Machine design firm, with the first limited edition issue released in summer 2009.

Mail or drop off submissions to:
Paris of the West/E.Isakson
Studio 310
4731 Grand River Avenue
Detroit, MI, 40208