Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Artistamps
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title supplied from series contents.
Level of description
Series
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
1975-2019 (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
15 cm of textual and graphical records and 3 binders: 15 cm of graphical materials
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Custodial history
Scope and content
In the mid-1980s, Anna Banana began to seriously consider ways that she might be able to create income outside of performance art. Using skills she learned while working at printers and publishers in San Francisco and Vancouver, Banana began to create and sell artistamps, and collected multiple artistamps created by others. Artistamps are a kind of Cinderella stamp used often in mail art, which differ from forgeries or other illegal stamps in that they do not intent do defraud authorities or stamp collectors, but rather are created with the intent to be art. They make up an important aspect of the mail art genre. Banana’s activities often included the production and use of artistamps, especially after she gained access to perforation machines and colour printing in the 1980s.
This series is made up of many of her artistamp sheets, as well as various sketches, final drawings, and printer transparencies created during the process of artistamp production, as well as stamps collected from others.