The Editor of Texts

As an “editor” of texts, I recently replied to a post by a friend about the issue of retaining two spaces after a period–or not, as prescribed by the Chicago Style Manual No. 17. I weighed in on that, favoring the single space because it is now considered “official.”

Someone noted that “it’s all bullshit,” and I realized that I basically agree. But here is the irony of my position as an editor–that I uphold all these standards through my “service.” And I will continue to do that, as part of my job. (Note: there have been times when I have recommended that a client ignore Chicago [or whatever] Style rules, especially when it comes to capitalization).

Yet. Today, after receiving a very nice reply to my Substack note from the artist/designer Paul Soulellis, and looking up his website, I saw that he had written: “Typography and power are intimately entangled.” And I think that applies to editing and type spacing, and all the visual elements that go into written language.

So that’s just circulating around in my brain right now, even as I prepare some Mail Art to go . . .

Berry Ink Asemic

A friend gave me big sheets of old Arches watercolor paper. After doing mostly small art for several years, I decided to try doing something larger, though I have no room in this cottage for this kind of thing. Oh, well. It felt good to stretch out, anyway. Berry Ink #Asemic, 24 x 22 in.

Black ink asemic writing painted over a purple-blue background with the bottom 1/3 of the image in red berry ink, with splotchy English alphabet letters running horizontally across the image.

Mail Art / Arte Povera

In my latest issue of Eulipion Outpost, I write about Arte Povera. Some aspects of mail art also relate to that art movement. I wrote the following in a previous issue of Eulipion Outpost, but only recently thought of it in terms of Arte Povera:

Receiving all this correspondance3 art has been a kind of “immersion” learning process in an art practice that has its roots and influences in Dada, Oulipo, Pop Art, and Fluxus—but it also seems to be a wide-ranging and tricksterish art movement that I’ll probably never know in depth. So I’m just starting at a little corner and sort of nibbling on that.

There are a few aspects of mail (or correspondence) art that I gravitate towards, and they are:

  • art that, at its basis, is about community, gifting, and sharing (as opposed to monetary and patron-centered)
  • art as play and even choreography and “dance” (Ray Johnson’s “correspondance”)4
  • art that is subversive and anti-elitist, operating (mostly) outside mainstream art institutions
  • art that relies mostly on the material at hand, transforming it and circulating it as artistic expression
  • art that anyone can do, and does not require a lot of expense (i.e., framing, gallery and promotional costs, membership fees, etc.)
  • art as both relational and flexible, beginning one-on-one, but potentially expansive to a great degree; it can be utterly simple, or quite complex.

Is There Money for Artists?

Considering reports of federal funding cuts for humanities programs, I explore what’s available in Pacific Coast and (U.S.) for and . In the future I’ll also consider mutual aid resources: https://jeanvengua.substack.com/p/is-there-money-for-artists

Ink brush drawing of old brick 3-story apartment building in San Francisco Chinatown. There is a red awning on the first floor with the sign "May Shun Trading Co."

Dear Sister . . .

Check out my latest Issue : A 1953 letter from one sister to another. Also, collaborative and community-based art, Lyla June, Andre 3000, Lisa Angulo Reid, Vida Cruz-Borja, Ursula LeGuin, and more! Intersections of history, art, and culture.