March 10, 2010
Calling all Professors of the zine world!
(This is the unofficial poster, so wait for the real poster before re-blogging!)
Zine School is going to be a fantastically fun afternoon of zine makers preaching the words of their zine making practice to innocent children at Wollongong Youth Centre April 15th 2010. If you are zine maker under 25 years old and think this might be something you’d like to get involved with e-mail Maddy Phelan & Natalie (Licky the Cream) via licky.the.cream[at]gmail[dot]com.
As a wise and well travelled zine maker you will present a 5 minute presentation accompanied by 20 slides about how and why you make zines, what your process is and so on. You can do this however you please, interpretive dance, a mine, or a straight speech! You’ll also be involved in some great one on one zine workshops at the library in Wollongong.
This project has been put together by the lovely ladies of Totoro’s Tea Shop (Maddy & Natalie) who have put on Wollongong’s previous zine fairs, so you know you are in good hands and are in for a good day.
February 28, 2010
Hello!
So I thought it would be ridiculously and shamelessly self-promotional to mention this. And then I thought, if I can’t be self-promotional on my own blog where can I be? And then I thought, why do I keep arguing with myself, I must look crazy.
Anyway, Emma at Flying Machine has written a lovely blog post that mentions my zine Sutures. And it’s lovely because I too have been wondering about the place that zinemaking has in my life, even as I haven’t been able to stop writing them. I’ve only been involved in zines for two and a half years and already they’ve taken over so much of my time and energy that I’m not sure they haven’t just become another escape from making any kind of meaningful decision about what to do with myself. But then finding such a nice response to something I’ve written, especially from a zinemaker that I admire and respect, is pretty much all it takes to convince me to start secretly photocopying on the office photocopier again.
x Amanda
February 25, 2010
Well I know we always say we will do a write up about excellent zines we find on our travels but somehow it never happens, kind of like when Tyra said she was going to have a successful singing career but then didn’t. Well we are one up on Tyra now (as if we weren’t already) because this post will be about zine trades.
*round of applause*
Click the link to see them all!
Keep reading →
February 22, 2010
Format Festival is an amazing D.I.Y lovefest put on every year in Adelaide. You really don’t know what you are missing out on until you go, as Amanda and I found out last year. We still think of the Academy of D.I.Y and the zine fair very fondly and rate it as one of the best festivals and zine fairs we’ve attended ever and we’ve decided we can’t keep away and are going to pop down for the zine fair! Ok, I’ll stop gushing and proposing marriage to Format Collective now and tell you the details.
Key Dates and Times:
Opening night: Sat Feb 27th from 6PM.
Street Dreams Festival: March 4th-7th
Renew Adelaide forum: Friday March 12th at 6:30
The Lisa Dempster Literature Experience: Saturday March 13th
Zine Fair: Sunday March 14th, 12 till 5
Check out their excellent website Format Collective which is updated regularly.
Facial Book Event
There is still time to book a table, although spaces are limited. E-mail the awesome Sam Rodgers at samwise27 [at] gmail [dot] com by the 27th of Feb.
Ciao!
Fetus
February 20, 2010
Back in May 2009 we received a fantastic e-mail from Blacktown Arts Centre asking us if we’d like to be part of the zine fair for 2010. We never replied, not because we a giant jerks (I’ll leave that up to your own discretion) but because we were crazy busy starting a fashion label for J.Lo (Flannelette pj’s for evening wear). Well the fashion label failed, so I guess we should now tell you about the fantastically awesome Coded Zine Fair happening at Blacktown Arts Centre in March!
Blacktown Arts Centre (BAC) has been running a zine program over the last 12 months, featuring workshops by Leigh Rigozzi, and now they are putting on an excellent Zine fair on the 13th of March.
Details:
When: 10 am – 3 pm Saturday 13 March
Where: Blacktown Arts Centre, 78 Flushcombe Rd, Blacktown NSW
Map!
Come to BAC’s Zine Fair to see the latest in creative DIY publishing. Zines are typically low-cost and limited circulation publications that feature original writing and illustration. Buy or trade original zines, softies, badges and any creative thing your heart desires at Blacktown’s first ever Zine Fair.
If you haven’t already booked your stall then visit BAC’s website or call (02) 9839 6558.
So there you go, we’ll be there as well as many other excellent local zine makers and distros.
Catchya!
Fetus
February 16, 2010
Miraculously, the first zine trip made by me and the fetus to Melbourne went remarkably well. Her artwork was installed without a hitch, despite some unexpected flooding in the Degraves St subway on Thursday, and is up til the 27th February if you’d like to have a gander.
The finished artwork!
A giant thanks to Melissa Reidy who organised the exhibition, everything looked amazing and the Friday night opening (or what we remember of it) was filled with good times.
Opening night
We may have also been a little bit overexcited following RZA’s signing at Wax Museum Records opposite Sticky earlier that afternoon and, personally, I thought the impromptu skateboarding challenge that followed lent an interesting flavour to the night. Keep an eye out for a series of zinemaker interviews conducted that evening for Channel 31 (of which Mary-Helen was one of the interviewees) – we’ll put up a link when we get more information.
Last minute photocopying, folding and stapling aside, the zine fair on Saturday was a bit excellent – made more excellent by deliveries of food and homemade ice-suckies to our table. I much prefer indoor zine fairs anyway, I often find the trade-off for non-zine people foot traffic when outside is unpredictable weather wreaking havoc with your zines.
And contrary to the photo above, the zine fair was still incredibly busy with lots of Melbourne and interstate zinemakers filling the subway.
Above is our table, you can just make out the felt doppelgängers made by Mary-Helen.
Look at all those zines! There’s nothing like fluorescent lighting to bring out the best in people. Thanks to everyone who bought off or traded with us, and once again massive kudos to the lovely people at Sticky for organising and setting up the fair, especially considering that they seemed to be constantly sandblasted by the forces of nature. Also, we don’t have a photo of the Melbourne Tramways Band but they were truly excellent.
I also left some of the new zine Sutures at Sticky at the end of the night, so it is now available from there and from Etsy.
Ok, that’s it!
x amanda
P.S. To the girl who indulged my rant about Pee-Wee, thank you, you made my night.
February 16, 2010
National Young Writers’ Festival for 2010 is looking for proposals. You can find more information and the submission form here.
February 16, 2010
SmARTarts is looking for artists, entertainers, performers, designers and more!
This years festival is held on Saturday 17th April 2010, as part of National Youth Week (10 – 18 April 2010). The event will feature:
- designART market – free stalls available to young designers & artists!
- live music – bands & perfomers wanted!
- art exhibition, film screening & outdoor installation – any mediums welcome (including object/jewellery design)!
- free workshops – learn new skills in our great studio spaces!
- fashion parade – Young designers welcome! We accept all original works, from wearable art to screen-printed t-shirts – anything that can be strutted down the catwalk!
Find application forms at their website: http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/pinestreet/YouthProgram/smartArts.html
For more info please contact Christie Torrington, PH: 02 9245 1503, or email: ctorrington [at] cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au or Tamara Killick: tkillick [at] cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au.
Amanda and I have both been involved in SmartArts events for the past two years and we have thoroughly enjoyed it, so get involved!
Spread the word!
February 9, 2010
Hey kids!
It’s been a little barren on the zine landscape the last couple of months but this is the week it’s going to change. Firstly, Mary-Helen has her amazing artwork up in the Degraves St subway in Melbourne RIGHT NOW as part of the Undiscovered Press exhibition courtesy of the Platform Artists Group. There are some amazing zine artists involved so I highly recommend you check it out. If not tomorrow, then definitely at the opening this Friday 12th February from 6-7pm. I don’t want to make undue use of hyperbole but I saw the aforementioned artwork with my own two eyes, and was left a changed woman.
Secondly, Sticky’s annual zine fair is being run this Saturday 13th February in City Square from 3-8pm. Now reliable sources tell me that this is not the same as Federation Square but seeing as I have no idea about Melbourne landmarks either way…
Anyway, I’ll finally have a new zine for the fair which has been in the making since last July.
A5, 40 pages, b/w
I’m not going to lie to you, this is a personal zine of the most self-indulgent variety. Inspired by my mother’s recent move back to Lebanon, it’s a record of my parent’s memories of Beirut during the Lebanese civil war, a meditation on the role nationality has played in my life, an attempt to reconcile all the little parts of my life in light of her departure, and lots of other things as well. You can also play “See if you can find the mistake in page numbering” thanks to my butterfingers.
Of course, if you’re not going to be in Melbourne this weekend I am, as always, down with trades. Address details are to your right, otherwise I’ll put it up on Etsy as soon as I can!
And also, if you’ve read our zines and want to say hello this Saturday, please do! We (by that I mean I) may look incredibly socially awkward but we’re actually good people. Really.
x amanda [panda]
February 1, 2010
PIE is a new Sydney based zine and they want you. Check out the blurb below and get in contact with Maisie via e-mail to submit pie_zine [at] hotmail [dot] com. The theme of the first issue is WASTE, interpret as you will. Deadline is for the first issue is Feb 16th so get your creative juice… juicing?
PIE wants your:
stories – poems – recipes – articles – artworks – designs – photography – musings – riddles – questions – answers – reviews – lyrics!
PIE is a new Zine based in Sydney that will feature local and international contributors. PIE will be an independent, not for profit publication. It will feature art, photography, articles, reviews, illustrations and more from various people in the community. There will be a concept suggestion for each issue which contributors can take and interpret in any way as inspiration, however this is optional. It is intended simply as a jumping-off point for ideas. PIE supports sustainability and will be printed on recycled paper. There will be a limited number of copies printed and distributed each month. This is a personal project of passion for me. With your help, I hope to make it an intriguing and stimulating new collection of creative and intellectual debris, brought together between the pages of this modest, young Zine.
There will be segments including film, music, gig, exhibition reviews and Q&A, where you can ask any question that’s on your mind and answer other people’s queries. If you have an idea for your own personal segment in PIE contact me with the details, i’d be more than happy to have you as a regular contributor.
If you know about or are involved in upcoming events (music, art, performance) and want them advertised in PIE contact me with the information and attach an image or flier.
If you have something to sell or there’s something you need; furniture, a housemate, a room- anything! You can advertise it in PIE.
We are also initiating a community sharing forum, promoting recycling and re-using objects. If you have something to give away out of the goodness of your heart, tell us about it and hopefully it will be just what someone out there is looking for!
PIE # 1: WASTE
PIE #1 will be launched in March. Email me with contributions and be a part of the PIE.
Check them out on Twitter: http://twitter.com/pie_zine
Spread the word, re-blog, get involved
Fetus
(This is the unofficial poster, so wait for the real poster before re-blogging!)
