This post, written by Megan Pastore, recaps Zine Time with Kristen Renee Miller, a hands-on workshop held in mpark during ODU’s 48th Annual Literary Festival.
On Tuesday, October 7th at 12:30pm students and faculty gathered in mpark on the 2nd floor of BAL for a Zine workshop led by Sarabande Books Director and Editor-in-Chief, Kristen Renee Miller. Zines have been around for decades. According to the Amon Carter Museum of Art, Technical Services Librarian Carolyn Croley shares, “Art and design zines trace their origins to the radical magazines created in the early 20th century [and] focused on Dada and surrealism.” These self-published, mini works of art allow creators to hone in on a topic or subject they enjoy or feel passionate about, and participate in multi-textural creative exploration.
This particular workshop offered a safe space for artists to let go, and let flow. Conversation and laughter amongst workshoppers hummed in the background. The tables were artistically littered with textured magazines, brochures, maps, books, and puzzle pieces. Multi-colored paper, markers, scissors and glue sticks were shared amongst us as we entered a collective meditative space. Creating something on a whim with the freedom to explore what’s in front of us can be both empowering and (for recovering perfectionists like me) a bit daunting. But, creative spaces like this workshop help us to challenge our preconceived notions on perfectionism as we redefine what it means to create something imperfectly perfect. Process can’t be quantified or qualified by bullet-pointed check-lists, and like writing, the creative process is recursive. We began by choosing images that struck us as beautiful, moving, inspiring, or alarming. Before we realized what was happening, we were choosing items according to a theme as it was unfolding in real, present-time. This presence is crucial to any act of creation. The paint brush in the painter’s hand, the pen in the writer’s. The way the scissors glide though magazine pages, or drudge through board books–the sounds as they match the sensation in your hands. There’s real beauty in watching something authentic and unplanned grow before your eyes. Just like that, words began to form in our minds and jump from the page. Zine-making is creation in real-time.
Kristen Renee Miller’s love for micro-writing, mixed-media, and mechanics are a driving force in her newest project, the Zine Machine. Kristen was generous enough to bring one of her zine machines to our 48th Annual Literary Festival during the week of October 5th-10th. Each student that created and turned in a zine was given the opportunity to have their zinc copied and produced in small batches. These zines were then folded into their intended booklets and placed in random order in the machine. Visitors entering author readings at University Theater used a token and turned the gumball machine knob to receive a published zine created by someone in the workshop! And just like that, our little slices of limited edition zines made their way into the hearts, minds, and pockets of others in the world.
