STAMP IT!
Led by Artist Henry Chung, Artists Make Their Marks While Building Community
Humankind’s leap into mark-making for visual communication reflects an evolution into the burgeoning radiance of civilization, and was typically pictographic and done as cave paintings and as petroglyphs on rock walls around the world for tens of thousands of years. As humans developed their communicative mark-making, sophisticated uses of visual form further evolved roughly 5,000 years ago into early writing as pictographic cuneiform on clay or stone tablets. Humans quickly progressed from using straightforward pictographs in pictographic cuneiform into assigning meaning to abstract marks with what we think of today as standard cuneiform. With the rise of stable villages and commerce, specific visual identification marks first appeared with cattle brands and on pottery to denote a pot’s maker. Once humans in village societies were keeping records on clay tablets for commerce, specifically for land grants and grain expenditures, creditable and forgery-proof visual signifiers reflecting authenticity were required, hence the invention of Mesopotamian cylinder seals, which could be stamped or rolled in wet clay. Ancient Egyptian culture relied on a sophisticated use of symbols with hieroglyphics, which were used everywhere including in the world’s first written and illustrated manuscripts on papyrus scroll Books of the Dead and on cylinder seals for visual identification. The use of engraved identifications seals, or stamps made by carving calligraphic characters into hard flat surfaces which were printed with red ink, occurred for thousands of years and emerged in a widespread way in China by the Han dynasty, along with the major invention of printing on paper.
Thus follows a mind-boggling and relatively recent time for humans regarding advances in visual communication, in which within just a few thousand years alphabetic writing systems using small sets of easily-learned abstract forms, woodblock printing, codex format books, Johannes Gutenberg’s development of the type mold, metal movable type, and the printing press which led to typographic printed books, Ottmar Mergenthaler’s mechanized typesetting and an explosion of mass communication and advertising (and subsequent corporate logos) linked to the Industrial Revolution’s factory output, and the recent digital revolution which exploded ease of communication for every human. Through all of this, and by this I mean the history of humankind, it has been rare for any specific community of artists to develop a set of individual symbols or marks for each artist. Human memory is fallible, and our lives are short. One mark or insignia says, “I was here.”
At a small community of art studios, known as TI Art Studios, in 2024 in Brooklyn, New York, the artist Henry Chung asked his fellow artists to participate in a stamp project for the Gowanus Open Studios event. Henry described the project: “In this project each participating artist designs a custom rubber stamp that represents their studio practice. Visitors to the Open Studios are invited to pick up a stamp book at the welcome desk. As visitors explore the various studios, they can collect stamp imprints from each studio, with each unique stamp symbolizing their visit and interaction with the artist.
For the visitors this serves as a personal record of their journey. It creates a meaningful connection with the creative spaces they experience, and the resulting stamp book becomes a personalized keepsake of their visit.
For the artists the project serves two purposes. First, it is a way to encourage more visits to individual studios and reinforces the memory of the visit.
Second, it is also a way to build community, as all the artists who are participating have to work together to get all the moving pieces to come together for the project to succeed. The resulting meet-ups became purpose-driven social and educational gatherings.”
Henry was inspired by eki stamps in train stations in Japan, in which each train station has a unique rubber stamp somewhere in the station. He wrote, “Children and adults alike seek out these stamps whenever they visit a station that they have not been to before and get a stamp. For some, the collection of these stamps become a documentation of their life’s journey.
It’s also similar to the US National Forests or National Parks “passport”. The idea is similar where visitors can get a booklet with pages for each park. Each national park will have a stamp in the office where visitors can get their “passport” stamped, with the goal of getting all the stamps to complete the book.”
Organizing a group of artists can seem as challenging as herding cats, but thanks to Henry Chung’s efforts, the development of the stamp project seamlessly occurred in several steps.
Henry described the process: “Development of the project was in several phases. First was the stamps. For the artists who wanted to have their rubber stamps fabricated, a discounted bulk order was arranged with a stamp maker. For artists who were interested in carving their own, a “carving party” was organized where we could get together, sit around a table and chit-chat while we carved rubber stamps. Pink erasers were offered for $1 each for anyone who wanted to carve one. It was a fun and educational experience for everyone involved! Of course, anyone could provide their own stamp as long as it fit within some size requirements of the book.
Next was the stamp booklets themselves. Since this project was self-funded by the individual artists, there wasn’t any budget to get the books made. I decided to do the bookbinding ourselves and set forth planning “bookbinding day”. I already had most of the equipment. So that we could quickly and perfectly align the pages for binding, I did have to design 3-D printed jig for my long-arm stapler.
With a small army of volunteers and some generous help from TI Artists Studios supplying the paper, we set up the production line for the books. I had designed and printed out all the pages and covers to make 500 books ahead of time so we could hit the ground running. The first station was folding the interior pages. Since this was the bulk of the effort, most volunteers were doing this. Next was folding the covers. The following station was binding the books with the stapler. This is where the jig came in handy as it allowed assembly-line expediency in the binding step.
The final steps were trimming the edges so that the books have clean sides and uniform sizing. Then came corner-rounding, which added some polish to the finished pieces.
It was a great bonding experience with artists who otherwise would not have had the opportunity to meet. We ended Bookbinding Day by sharing a celebratory bottle of Prosecco out on the deck.”
One exciting aspect revealed by the artist stamp project is that it is not tremendously hard for anyone to make their own personalized stamp. Henry continued, “Aside from designing it and sending it out for fabrication, a stamp can be carved out of almost anything that can pick up ink! In East Asia, “chops” or “hanko” are usually carved out of stone, bone or hardwood. For the “rubber stamps” that we’ll be making, lino blocks, rubber sheeting, or stationery store erasers are good materials to use for carving stamps. Personally, I think pink rubber erasers are an easy, inexpensive and super fun way to carve stamps.
I’ve also made stamps with a 3-D printer. If there is flexibility in the level of detail in your stamp, this is a good DIY option if you have access to a 3-D printer.”
Another positive attribute of the artist stamp project is that it fosters community-building for artists, which Henry Chung feels is critical because, “I think building a healthy community is important for any grouping of people. For artists, I think that is particularly important because there often aren’t many ways to connect on a regular basis with other artists once you leave art school (or other structured environment). I think most artists are most successful when they can share ideas and receive constructive feedback from their peers. It fosters social belonging that encourages communication, collaboration and innovation.
A healthy artists community also fosters other areas of support, like sharing resources, lending a helping hand or providing support in times of need.
Artists and their cohorts in a community can grow together. Not only growth in their studio practice, but in their careers as well. For example, an artist you collaborate with on a project today can be curating a show in the future that includes your work. The art world in New York is both big and small at the same time. Belonging to a healthy artists’ community plugs you into a network that can bridge the “bigness” of it.
Community at TI is great. There is a level of camaraderie among the artists here that I haven’t seen in other studio buildings. We help each other out. We support each other. We exhibit together. We socialize together. We celebrate our successes together. I have made lasting friendships here that have persisted both in and out of the studio building.
I’ve recently started a series of studio visits within our community so that we can see each other’s art practice, which is something that most of us can’t do during Open Studios. Hopefully this series will endure and encourage the kind of dialog that will help grow our art community and keep it thriving.”
The artist stamp project, which is remarkable in that there are very few historical examples of artist communities collectively developing a set of individual marks, will be shared for the first time the weekend of October 19–20, 2024, at TI Art Studios as part of Gowanus Open Studios. In addition to having their books stamped with the artist stamps, visitors, according to Henry Chung, can expect the following: “In an open studios event, artists open up the doors to their studios to the public. Visitors can come visit various studios and see art in various stages of completion. Some studios will set up their studio like an exhibition. Others might simply be in their studios actively working on a piece during Open Studios. There will likely be studios that will be somewhere in between. Visitors can engage with the artists one on one and learn about their art and their studio practice.
Not only is it an opportunity to see the range of artwork being created by contemporary artists, it is also a rare glimpse into the environment where the art is created. Visitors can see and learn about the process, the tools, the equipment, the raw materials, etc. that individual artists utilize in their creative process.
In addition to seeking exposure for their art, many artists during Open Studios will also engage visitors to workshop ideas and get valuable feedback from a wide and varied audience.
The hope is that this would be educational and inspirational as well as enjoyable for both artists and visitors.”
Henry Chung added, “This was a great project to organize! It was an opportunity for many of us to meet and collaborate with others whose paths we might not otherwise cross. I think we all had fun in our communal efforts for the project (like “Carving Day” and “Bookbinding Day”). For all you visitors: don’t forget to grab a booklet at the welcome desk. Supplies are limited! There is a space on every page for you to take notes to help you remember the artists and their artwork. Hopefully this will not only be a unique take-away from your visit, but also a way for you to enhance your experience!”
To take part in the artist stamp project by collecting all of the artists stamps in a hand-bound book, please visit TI Art Studios at 183 Lorraine Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231, Saturday & Sunday, October 19 & 20, 2024, from noon to 6 pm EST.
TI Art Studios will have extended hours until 9 pm on Saturday, October 19, for a party with art, music, a photobooth, and more surprises.
TI Art Studios is part of the 28th Annual Gowanus Open Studios (GOS 2024) in which hundreds of art studios are open to the public. Please visit www.artsgowanus.org for further information, such as a list of participating artists and maps.
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