Started on: 24-01-1995

RJ: Welcome to this mail-interview. First let me ask you the traditional question. When did you get involved in the mail-art network?

Reply on: 17-02-1995

JP: Since you asked this question I've been trying to remember dates. Since I became aware that the network exists I've jumped in with both feet and it's hard for me to remember a time that I wasn't involved.

I've determined that I was introduced to the network in 1991 by arto posto in Atlanta, GA (she was in Chicago, IL, USA at the time). I had been looking at posts on bulletin boards on Prodigy, a computer service network, and found the ones on rubber stamps especially interesting. Some of the discussions weren't, but when I asked a few questions I was immediately drawing to mail art. In fact, I issued my first mail art call within a few months from a documentation list arto had gotten from A1 Waste Paper in London, that she shared with me. My first call was THE SHOW MUST GO ON and I hung it in the rehearsal space of a theatre I worked with.

I've always loved checking the mail (I've done arty things to mail since about 1967 when, as a kid, my family moved and I began corresponding with the friends I'd left behind), but when I was receiving mail for THE SHOW MUST GO ON I couldn't wait to get to the mailbox! I still feel that way.

RJ: You undersign your mail with several aka's like "ex posto facto", "Anne Maybe", etc. Did you use these names before you entered the mail- art network already? What is the story behind the many names?

Reply on : 17-3-1995

JP: I do have a thing for new names, don't I? No, none of the names I use for mail art are any I've used anywhere else. Well, except for one that was a childhood nickname (I don't use it for anything anymore and wish I never had!). Each name has meaning for me and I think demonstrates flux in my life. As I got involved with mail art I was also very involved with e-mail and a network of rubber stampers on Prodigy (*P*). Many people there had given themselves mail art names and I found it charming. arto postostruck me as a perfect nickname for a mail artist and when I was doing some reading I ran across the phrase ex post facto. This was me! I'm always late (after the fact = ex post facto) and I liked very much that it had the word post in it. I announced on *P* that I had finally found my name. I got a response from Willy Nilly that it sounded good to her, but didn't I want to add an "o" to "post" in honor of arto posto? Yes, I did. She has truly been my mail art mentor and I was delighted to be able to incorporate a little thank you into my name. ex posto facto is the name I've used the most in the Eternal Network. Besides all of the sentimental stuff, I find that it's useful to be sexually ambiguous now and then. I think there has been a certain amount of "good ol' boy" networking and a name that is not sex specific can be a good thing in breaking in a bit.

I went through a time that felt very tenuous and uncertain. I became Anne maybe. I got divorced. I became Nobody's Wife! I became very close to a friend who was also an active mail artist - together we were the Fake Socorro Sisters, Fate and Destiny. When she dropped out of the movement I assumed both identities. (This was an idea JEM and I had that never really went anywhere.)

I don't know if I will continue with all the different names or not. I was amused by it when I saw Rudi Rubberoid's odd list and thought it would be fun, but didn't think I could come up with names I'd like well enough to want to claim. As it turns out, I could probably rename myself almost monthly. Fluxus is with us. Certainly it is evident to me in my little life.

RJ: Could you tell a bit more about that "good ol' boy" networking. Is there a difference between your mail art contacts with males or females?

Reply on : 31-3-1995

JP: This could be a loaded question.... Very different. And as I type that I think it's likely that someone somewhere is getting defensive. I want to say right off that because something is different doesn't mean it's better or worse. The good ol' boys only have as much power as we give them. I wanted to be part of the movement in a big way when I was beginning and I thought I had to be in touch with the powers that be. Now I'm feeling much more settled in. The power thing is definitely over-rated.

I'm not sure how much one's gender has to do with how easy it is to get involved in the network, but I've heard both men and women say it's tough. I didn't find that to be the case at all. Some suggested that it was because my mail art name didn't tell that I'm female. Since I could see many more active men, I thought they had some control over it all. I now believe that mail art is truly what you do with it. No one has CONTROL. Isn't that the point? Some people like to think they're "leaders of the movement" and spend time and words to make it so. They are whatever they perceive themselves to be, as we all are in this eternal network.

I don't think I'll get into this topic any further. I value my male and female contacts very much and I'd hate to over-generalize and annoy any of them. I'm not involved with mail art to bicker and fight.

RJ: Since you began in mail-art the amount of mail you get must have been increasing all the time. Are you still able to answer all the things you get in mailbox?

Reply on : 18-4-1995

JP: I believe that SENDERS RECEIVE. Since I like receiving so much I figure I need to send, so getting things out is a priority. I document my Fluxus Bucks project when I accumulate ten participants and that has happened every week and a half to two weeks lately. I try to be especially timely with that documentation so that it doesn't build up and totally overwhelm me. Besides, I'm getting some very interesting things due to that and I want to keep it rolling along. It has really expanded my network in a huge way.

As for the other mail I get, it all gets some sort of response eventually. Sometimes the stuff that I'm most impressed with is hardest for me to respond to. Then my answer can be very slow (I'm waiting for genuine inspiration or something).

RJ: Can you tell a bit more about your Fluxus Bucks. How did you think of this project, how did it start, and how is it developing?

Reply on 28-8-1995

JP: Whew! Quite comprehensive questions, my friend! Since Fluxus Bucks have taken over much of my mail art time, I think about why I'm doing them when I get frustrated that I can't do something else. Lately I've been figuring out a more efficient documentation system that will allow me to keep the record on the computer and hopefully not take so much time to produce and reproduce. Since I generally get about 10 responses a week, I'm doing a Fluxus Bucks documentation weekly. This seems like a lot sometimes, and not nearly enough other times. Documentation seems to take longer all the time because I've started writing notes to some (many) of the participants and I want to be able to continue to do that but it can hold me up when I want to get mail out. The responses are coming from all over the network -- most of the time I get 6 responses from the USA and 4 from other countries (people in Italy, England, the Netherlands, Mexico, Canada, France, Belgium, Malta, Czech Republic, Korea, Ireland, Uruguay, Japan, Denmark, Yugoslavia, Guatemala, Germany, Ukraine and Finland have sent the bucks home). To date (18 Aug. 1995) I've received about 290 responses! Just incredible. I'm thinking I may do a little zine thing on the back of the documentation. This is still an idea more than an actuality so I reserve the right to change my mind!

Ok, your questions. How did I think of this project...hmmmmm. It had a lot to do with my day-to-day money concerns at the time. Let me grab the ol' journal.

On 27 October 1994 I wrote that the idea of a mail art currency had gotten my attention. "I ought to get a Ray Johnson image on there maybe. Or something Fluxus, DaDa -- I want my address on there somewhere, too, but I don't think it needs to take front and center. I've cut 150 bills. My idea is that they need to circulate amongst the Mail Art Community. I want artists to carry them in wallets or purses, doodle on them, add their addresses, send them to other artists and then redeem them with me. Or not."

On 1 November 1994 I wrote" "Fluxus Bucks, make them show the changes around you, them, etc."

On 10 November 1994 - "My fluxus buck is happening. They're rubberizing my buck while I'm not there at Acme. I've cut and bundled 150 more (sheets of paper). In lieu of a dollar sign I want a fluxus buck symbol. For Global Mail? -- ARTISTS! Tired of worrying about money? Request any amount -- it will be filled in Fluxus Bucks. Ongoing project -- Documentation and Bucks to all."

13 November 1994 - "I've done 550 Fluxus Bucks. I'm mailing a whole bunch of them out. I'm pretty happy about how they turned out, but when I gave them out at the 3'O clock mail art Choir meeting I got a very subdued reaction. I think they were sort of confused...."

Well, there's some of the stuff I was thinking when I started mailing Fluxus Bucks. The response I've gotten has been so good that it's really encouraged me - which brings me to the last of your questions" How is it developing?

I had a fantasy as some point early with the Bucks that people would like them well enough that I would need a couple thousand eventually. And that has happened already (there are over 2800 bucks in existence so far). I love the way my network has grown and broadened. I'm consistently surprised and delighted by the variety, talent, depth and silliness of the people in the network. The work/play I get in my mailbox inspires, distracts and informs me. Fluxus Bucks may come and go, the network just goes on and on and on.

RJ: You probably have heard of the statement "mail art and money don't mix" which tries to explain that in mail art you shouldn't ask for (the official) money. What do you think of this statement?

NOTE: Via e-mail I got a message from Tim Blackburn (Zetetics) telling me that he asked Julie about the progress of her interview. She told him that she lost the last question, and asked Tim to send me this info by e-mail. So I printed the latest question again and sent it to Julie together with another sample of a finished interview.

Reply on 6-12-1995

NOTE: Together with Julie's answer again some Fluxus Bucks and the documentation-sheets. Also included was a nice gift, a rubber stamp about her Fluxus Bucks project. Julie has sent me before such nice gifts.

JP: I LIKE IT! Money seems to take over in too many areas of life. What you can and can't afford even determines who some think you are. Even though mail artists are people (and people are the ones who make judgements based on $) I find it delightfully refreshing that for the price of a stamp anyone can enter and participate in an international, eternal network. For me the network has been a warm community of generous, talented & amusing individuals. There's gossip, romance, controversy, feuds, ART & anything else you might find in a group of intelligent people. We enjoy entertaining each other and ourselves. Fluxus Bucks came about to do that.

Unfortunately, the realities of life are that we need money. I can't fault people who try to make money in areas related to mail art (rubber stamps, artistamps, zines, etc.) but I think it is important - and sometimes difficult - to avoid taking advantage of the network for personal gain.

An unrelated aside: Fluxus Bucks have been around for a whole year! In that year, I've seen over 400 responses to the project & sent out as many replies. Wow! That's it for now. I gotta run to work and earn some actual currency so I can continue to afford to play in the network.....

RJ: Yes, mail art is an expensive thing to do, and most mail artist I know have always some kind of job of study they do besides it. I have found out that sometimes the things people do besides their mail art is quite different in comparison to the mail art they send out, and sometimes it combines perfectly. How is this for you?

Reply on 3-2-1996

JP: For me mail art is a distraction from the regular day-to-day stuff that threatens to wear me out. I was so enthused about rubber stamps when I was first getting into the mail art thing I went into the fun rubber stamp biz with a partner. It was going o.k. when I sold my half to her, but I needed to get a job with a paycheck. And I did! Working for an actual rubber stamp company where they made business rubber stamps. In a lot of ways this was a very good thing, but it was also something that took a lot of fun out of rubber stamps. But! I learned a lot about the whole process and I'm glad to know it! It may even come in handy in the future.

Anyway - these days I work as a cashier at Bingo for a couple of different charities. In fact, handling all that money - especially the PAPER money sort of inspired Fluxus Bucks. I loved the feel of bundles of paper money! Still do. Since it's pretty unlikely that I'll have bundles of real cash laying around to fondle, well, why not come up with my own? Even better - get my friends in the network to help make these slips of paper valuable. That's the genesis of the idea, but it's developed in other ways that have surprised me.

The best: I think I've mentioned before how my network has grown by leaps and bounds and while some folks send bucks once or twice and fade away, many others have become good, dear postal friends.

The worst: Since I recirculate the bucks I receive I rarely have enough bucks around to bundle - they go away much faster than they come in - just like real cash.

To get back to your question, I don't think I've got a job that "combines perfectly", but I manage to blend the two wherever possible.

RJ: To my surprise there is yet another mail artist living in your P.O.Box under the name Atmospheric Cookie. What does he/she do there?

Continue with Interview . . .