Forward

The publishing of this 2nd Edition of the International Directory of Artistamp Creators marks the 20th anniversary of Artistamp exhibition activity. Much has happened since that first public exposure to this contemporary art medium at Simon Fraser University in 1974. And since our first publication of this Directory in 1990, the activity in Artistamps has increased impressively. More than ten documented Artistamp exhibitions have been presented in Europe and North America and several more are planned for the near future.

This recent activity has also produced several lasting documents specific to Artistamps. Banana Productions published the Artistamp Collector's Album in 1990 and started publishing and distributing ARTISTAMP NEWS in 1991. A full-colour catalogue of Jean-Noel Laszlo's Artistamp collection was published under the title timbres d'artistes for the 1993 exhibition at the Musee de La Poste in Paris and the PMTTTD Corporation's The Standard Artist Stamp Catalogue, edited by Dominique, the Bugmaster General is now in its 4th Edition.

These and other documents in the form of exhibition catalogues and inventories of Artistamp collections supplied by curators and collectors have provided us with a great deal of new data. The enlarged database forced us to upgrade our software and re-format the Directory. This led naturally to the production of the Directory's 2nd Edition. We hope you will find it even more informative and more useful than the First Edition.

We have, as in the previous Edition, divided the Artistamp Creators into two categories: Artists and Producers. Artists are individuals who create their personal Artistamps. Producers are groups and organizations who produce Artistamp editions designed by more than one artist, or at the instruction of another artist. In some cases this division is not completely satisfactory, as in the case of the artist who collaborates with another artist to jointly create a sheet of Artistamps (or even a single Artistamp), but give no unique name to the Producer (the combined efforts of two or more artists). In such a case each artist is credited with one work.

Two new sections have been added to the Directory to more completely represent the current state of Artistamp creation. These are listings of additional artists and producers whose Artistamp works have been included in at least one documented collection and/or exhibition.

Finally we take this opportunity to express our appreciation to all the collectors who responded to our requests for information on their holdings and to the creators who have been and continue to be most helpful in their discussions and correspondence with us regarding this publication and the subject of Artistamps in general, particularly to Anna Banana, H.R. Fricker, Jean-Noel Laszlo, Gunther Ruch, Pere Sousa, Ed Varney and Chuck Welch.

Jas W. Felter, Editor, FIVE/CINQ Unlimited