Saturday, November 23, 2010 === Derek Beaulieu === Nov. 23. Poet Derek Beaulieu stands outside of his art piece, which he spent three days putting on the window of the Pages bookstore. Pages is currently hosting a small gallery of Derek's artwork. Photo by: Andrew "Indiana Jones" Crossett

It won’t be long before derek beaulieu – poet, artist, publisher and anthologist – can no longer come by his chosen art medium.
Beaulieu uses old-fashioned letter transfers, Letraset, to create optical poetry. In doing so, he allows each tangible letter to express a physical meaning, free of its pre-assigned sound. And in early November, beaulieu completed a permanent exhibition on an upstairs window of Pages bookstore in Kensington.
But Letraset, used before computer technology to standardize the look of graphic design, is no longer produced, and soon it will be impossible to find.
“In a lot of cases, technology we no longer need, whether it be photocopiers, Letraset, outdated computers or typewriters, they often become the realm of the artist before they’re disposed of to the garbage dump,” he says.
“They move from having a business purpose into having an artistic purpose. Once they start breaking down, then you start looking at a loss of that item as a cultural tool.”
This evolution into obsolescence was illustrated when beaulieu went to an art supply store where he’d always found Letraset in the past. Where there once stood a six-foot pile of Letraset sheets, there was an empty space. He asked where they’d been moved and was told only one guy ever came in to buy them, so the thousands of sheets of Letraset were tossed out with the garbage.
“The guy was me,” says beaulieu, obviously frustrated that a human-sized stack of usable Letraset is not taking up room in his kitchen instead of a landfill.
Due to lack of material availability, beaulieu can’t make infinitely more pieces like the one now displayed at Pages. Perhaps it makes his addition to Calgary’s oldest bookstore more meaningful.
Beaulieu says he is honoured to be a permanent fixture in what he calls Calgary’s “cultural hub.”
His reverence for Pages is reciprocated. Bookstore co-owner Simone Lee describes beaulieu as the godfather of Calgary’s poetry scene. Not because he is a cruel boss willing to prove a point using a disembodied horse head, but because he brings new people into the “business” of artistic expression.
“I try to create as many spaces for other writers as I occupy myself, because I think that’s how a community grows,” says beaulieu. “It’s our job to sponsor what we have in Calgary and allow that to flourish.”
To see the stop motion video of the creation of beaulieu’s piece in Pages Bookstore  visit vimeo.com/16912454.

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