Along with Plazm you will find magazines art directed or created by Herb Lubalin, General Idea, Tibor Kalman, Shaz Madani, Clay Hickson, Liana Jegers, and countless contributors.

A cool thing about this show is that you can actually page through the magazines using white gloves.

The theme for the night was Survival.

I talk about surviving a bike accident resulting in a traumatic brain injury and about how a magazine that has never made any money can survive for more than 20 years. 

If you are not familiar with the format—it’s 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide.

Enjoy.

Apparently that includes Trader Joe’s. Niko saw a stack there recently and took a photo of some sweet handmade type on this sale sign.

When we were first brainstorming ideas for this project a, we suggested to Fort George that we put a copy of each issue of Plazm magazine into the brew. We figured it’s printed with soy-based inks and what better way to get “a little bit of Plazm in every can.”

To their credit, the brewers at Fort George would have none of it. Anything that does not make the beer taste better, does not go into the beer. Fair enough. We stuck to what we do best—in this case, designing the outside of the can—and they stuck to what they do best—filling the inside of the can with delicious beer.

Another of our brilliant ideas was to pour a bottle of the original Plazm ale into the brew (also, thankfully, shot down by the quality control mavens at Fort George as a gimmick).

I’d saved a couple of bottles of the original beer since 1994, and figured they were probably aged to perfection by now. The first Plazm ale (above) was a home brew by Niko Courtelis. He designed the label also and bottled a few cases of the beer for the issue 4 release party at Galleri 8.

A unique thing about this beer was that each bottle contained a plastic doll arm in response to the art by Panacea Theriac that we featured on the cover of the issue (below). Niko assures me that “the doll parts were all properly sterilized” before going into the beer. I don’t doubt that, but I do remember them as being a very real choking hazard.

I dug up a few other ephemeral items related to the issue since I was taking this trip down memory lane. I collaborated on the cover design with my friend Jerome Schiller. He came up with the “Enjoy Plazm” concept and his wife Juliet Ching hand lettered the typography.  Her original drawings are below as are his early conceptual sketches. 

It’s always nice to walk down memory lane. It’s even fun to see some of the lines of copy we didn’t select for the cover. For example, “regular or decap” is pretty funny. On the other hand, “piss in a cup” is pretty bad.

But let’s not live in the past. Experience the here-and-now by going out and getting yourself some of the delicious Fort George Plazm Farmhouse Ale. I can assure you, there is nothing but beer in the beer. And it is delicious. While supplies last.

This version takes about two minutes to watch. If you’d like to enjoy the full-length version, please visit the post prior to this. That one takes about two hours to watch. I guess it’s like a Hollywood movie preview. It shows you the whole movie in about two minutes.

A few months ago Alfredo asked me if I could fill the lobby of the Liquid Agency offices in Portland with a history of Plazm. Some of you may have stopped in during the Design Week Portland open house and got to see the exhibit along with a bunch of other Liquid work. We plan to have a public event around the Plazm exhibit in January.

One of the things we created for this show was this video. Katelyn, my intern over the summer, turned every page of every issue of Plazm magazine. E*Rock made a very cool score for the video. It’s on display in the lobby and visible from the street as well. Now you can view it from the comfort of wherever you are comfortable. It’s odd how time compresses. I don’t know what the math is, but in real time it took 22 years to make this work. You can watch it in about two hours.

Thanks to Liquid Agency for making all this happen!

Plazm editor Tiffany Lee Brown at The Cooley Gallery
Reception & one-day video installation:
Saturday, June 15, 1–4 p.m.

Conversation with the artist, 3 p.m. Reed College Library Lobby

Anakena: The Easter Island Project
Anakena: the Easter Island Project is the culmination of an interdisciplinary artwork spanning five years, seven cities, and the island of Rapa Nui. The project explores the human urge to create and procreate, and our potential to transform through art, collaboration, and ritual.

The installation and event:
The Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College, is presenting a one-day video installation by Portland artist, author, and PLAZM editor Tiffany Lee Brown in conjunction with her installation—Anakena: The Easter Island Project—housed in the Cooley’s CASE WORKS project space, Reed College Library.

At 3 p.m. the artist will speak about the work with Cooley Gallery curator Stephanie Snyder.

The CASE WORKS installation will continue to develop throughout the summer.

The Reed College Library is open summer hours, consult the schedule here. The artist’s June 15 video installation is free and open to the public, and takes place in conjunction with Reed Reunions 2013.

Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery
Reed College
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd., Portland, OR 97202
www.reed.edu/gallery

About the project —Tiffany Lee Brown:
First I was a happily child-free woman. Next, a happy step-mom. Then I was walloped by the biological clock, a surprise attack that plunged me into deep grief and existential meltdown. Questioning my life path and belief in the sanctity of art and creativity, I invited audiences in the Northwest, New York, at the Burning Man festival, and elsewhere to join me in exploring what it means to create. The “seeds” of creativity they made—tiny sculptures, writings, dances captured on video—are the true stars of “my” project.

A slow, arduous change occurred as I integrated the participants’ creations into the work and the generative urge into my life. Eventually I reached Rapa Nui transformed and very pregnant. A suitcase of “seeds” came with me.

Anakena: the Easter Island Project documents the transformative process and shows the “seeds” themselves. I’ll be changing the installation at Case Works every few weeks and telling the story on-line. The project’s 80-hour soundtrack, improvised in collaboration with Eric Hausmann, will also be available free on-line. I hope Anakena furthers the cultural conversation about childlessness and parenting in our culture, the human urge to create, and the ability of art to make meaning.

More at Tiffany’s website.

Anakena: The Easter Island Project is supported, in part by RACC, the Regional Arts & Culture Council; Viator Travel’s “travelblog” website; and New Oregon Arts & Letters.

Museum of Contemporary Craft
Tuesday through Saturday 11 am to 6 pm
Open 11 am to 8 pm

The twenty-year retrospective show of Plazm’s art and design work will close on December 10th. There are hundreds of pieces of ephemera, posters, and one-of-a-kind pieces of art. Hope you can make it out to the ‘couv this week.

We will have a closing reception on December 10th from 6 – 8 pm, please join us.

Gallery hours are:
Tuesday – Thursday 10 am – 7 pm / Friday 12 – 5 pm / This Saturday 12 – 8 pm

Gallery location:
Archer Gallery @ Clark College
1933 Fort Vancouver Way, PUB Building
Vancouver, WA 98663

Additional images of the installation can be found here.