Category: Zinester Profile

For the upcoming fest, we are reviving our “zinester profiles” in a slightly different way: zinester interviews! This first interview is with a self-identified first time zinester, Devon Spencer. She is a current Gender Studies and Anthropology student at Purchase college using zines as part of her senior (zine-ior?) thesis project! Here’s what she has to say:

Jordan Alam (JA): Give us a short description of yourself and the work you do (including any zine samples if you have them!).

Devon Spencer (DS): I’m native to Washington, D.C. but love New York! The idea of leaving post-graduation makes me sad because I’d like to experience the city without the madness of being a student and campus employee. I also want to be a part of the camaraderie at nonprofits and zinesters collectives more fully by being the city.

JA: How did you get introduced to zines? Were you influenced by anyone? And what was your seminal zine moment?

DS: Although I can’t pinpoint one precise moment in which I was introduced to zines, I recall reading them at Bluestockings in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I was also encouraged to read them by one of my best friends, Rani, an avid zinesters, feminist, dog lover, and generally wonderful person. I would have to say that my “seminal” moment was when I was discussing zines with you (Jordan)! I’ve always thought that it would be cool to make a zine, but never seriously pursued it. When I realized that zines could be a canvas that blends my anthropological studies and crafty ambitions, I was so thrilled. The idea of sharing this intellectual and artistic mixture with friends, family, and academia at my school is also very exciting. The only restraints are the paper or digital dimensions–I love that zines are quite aesthetically limitless.

JA: What does it mean to do “feminist zine-making”? Does feminism appear in your work (explicitly or implicitly)?

DS: I think that feminist zine making is about creative collaboration and progressive conversation. These two things (collaboration and conversation) exist in a new way because feminist-identified people are not only talking about desired improvement within the movement, but are they are writing about it, drawing, and photographing their visions of it for others to see. By compiling these ideas, people are comparing and contrasting their perspectives. I think this is a healthy and productive way of maintaining relationships and promoting discussions of intersectionality and diversity in this artistic and radical medium.

JA: If you could sum up your zinester life in a kitchen appliance, what appliance would it be?

DS: I classify my zinester experience as the nice food processor that you’ve been waiting to use. I say this because I have been doing creative projects, such as collaging, poetry, socially-conscious writing, drawing up tea remedy lists, etc. for as long as I can remember but have now found a fun means of stockpiling them. If I continue to make zines past my senior project zine, I have a feeling they will always be a chopped up mixture of one particular theme.

Hey everyone – on the morning of the zinefest itself, we present you one final zinester!

Here’s Dre’s bio:

Dre Grigoropol, who sometimes goes by Dretime, is an illustrator and writer who makes homemade comic zines.  Her comics portray a quirky perspective about living a life style filled with hi jinks, mischief, satire, and surprises.  Story topics include ironic pop culture, movie theater etiquette, extreme rock-star idolization, conflicts with menacing fashionistas, and trying to stay true to oneself.  She is an alumni of Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, first and only visual arts college for women in the United States.  Dre Grigoropol’s comics and illustration have been seen in the Dirty Diamonds Anthology, the Secret Prison tabloid, Philadelphia City Paper,  Philadelphia Weekly, Art House Co-op’s Sketchbook Project 2011, and the Covered blog.  She conducted a on going a comics and zines writing workshop at the non profit organization Mighty Writers.   She also co-organizes the Philly Comix Jam, a monthly meeting where Philadelphia cartoonists make collaborative comics.

Dre and their comics:

And another sample:

Kate Angell – along with fellow Pisces/fabulous cartoonist Elvis Bakaitis – is one of the organizers of the NYC Feminist Zinefest. She is an academic reference librarian and a former zine librarian at ABC No Rio. She would like to take this opportunity to thank pie, Diana Ross, Gertrude Stein, and knock knock jokes for their support during the Zinefest’s planning. Her criteria for buying clothes is often, “Would this  qualify me to dance in an ABBA music video?”

Kate is the creator of the zine “My Feminist Friends,” in which she interviews five of her friends on various aspects of feminism. She credits much of her motivation to working on events such as this zinefest to her grandmother, inspiration and close friend, Evelyn (Evie) Angell, who passed away last year.

Are you into queer, “total-art-freaker” comics, zines and art books?
Then you’ll be a fan of the ambitiously prolific Caroline Paquita, and their publishing house, Pegacorn Press!

Here’s Caroline’s bio:

Caroline Paquita is a Brooklyn based visual artist,musician, beekeeper, and amateur herbalist. After self-publishing for nearly fifteen years (Brazen Hussy, Zine Libs, Womanimalistic), Paquita officially began Pegacorn Press, which is a feminist, queer, and “total-art-freaker” publishing house that specializes in small-run art books, zines and comics. Using stencil duplicators and some good old fashioned elbow grease, Paquita is all about DIY publishing/processes, so feel free to come by the table and talk it up with her!

And you can check out the latest groovy art/comics here:
www.carolinepaquita.com
http://carolinepaquita.blogspot.com/
http://pegacornpress.blogspot.com/

Or get a lil’ glimpse here:

Here’s the whole selection:

Only two more days until the NYC Feminist Zinefest – which leaves plenty of time to become familiar with the wonderful work of Rebecca Migdal!

Check out Rebecca’s bio to learn more about today’s zineblog superstar!

Rebecca Migdal draws pictures and writes down words, sometimes all on the same piece of paper. The picture and the words come out of her own head. That is amazing! Rebecca Migdal would like you to look at the papers with the words and the pictures.Look at the papers! Rebecca sometime gets to have these pictures and words printed on lots of pieces of paper, appearing in Comics Magazines like World War 3 Illustrated. Also in zines she makes herself, and soon even in some real books, maybe, that are sold in bookstores.
Support you local bookstore, and buy some books! Lots of Rebecca’s pictures and words can be seen on the web. Some of them are only for grownups. If you are old enough, you can read some grownup comics from Rebecca’s head at www.rosettastonecomic.com. If you are not old enough, no peeking!

Here’s another sample of Rebecca’s work, “NYC Aerial:”

Today we at NYC Feminist Zinefest have the pleasure of profiling DC-based cartoonist extraordinaire Katie Omberg!

Here’s a bit about Katie in her own words:

I live in Washington DC and have been here since college, where I went to Mount Holyoke College in Western MA. I have been drawing ever since I could pick up a pencil, and started doing comic books in elementary school, all of which have now been lost to the sands of time. My current work is mostly auto-biographical, ranging from the mundane (working bad retail jobs) to the personal (about realizing I was gay before I knew the word for it). I self-publish most of my work in minicomic format, and just finished a two year-stint doing a weekly comic for thenewgay.net (now defunct). I am really excited to meet all the awesome people at the Feminist Zinefest!

Here’s a sample comic from Katie’s zine “Gay Kid” (I can’t wait to get my own copy!)

Today the NYC Feminist Zinefest is proud to present the zine “ours to tell,” edited by Elizabeth. According to Elizbeth:

Ours To Tell is a narrative project dedicated to providing a safe space for individuals to tell their first-hand stories of abortion experiences. We believe that, although the pro-choice debate has reached a household level, we still hear remarkably few stories from the individuals who actually elect to have them. There is still a stigma against women who have exercised their right to choose and have come down on the side of abortion. The strongest voice we have is our own and it will be the most crucial weapon in the war for equality, respect, and acceptance. We have the right to live in our own bodies. We have the right to love on our own terms. We have the right to sovereignty, respect, and equality.We have the right to decide our own fate. Tell your story.

Elizbeth’s bio on the project’s site reads:

Elizabeth is a feminist, vegan, urban planning student living in Detroit, Michigan. She is 26 and had an abortion when she was 15. She does not regret her decision. She regrets that other people regret her decision.

We are so excited to present the amazing and talented…Cristy Road!

Her powerful illustration work is featured in all the radical projects around town… Plus, Road is the author of two novels (one a graphic novel, one illustrated),  with another one on the way (to be published by the Feminst Press this Fall, 2012)!

Road has also been a longtime zinemaker, producing her punk rock zine “Greenzine” for 10 years.

For more amazing, intense art, and much more, check out Road’s website: http://croadcore.org/

Here’s her extensive bio:

Cristy C. Road is a 29 year old Cuban-American Artist and Writer. Blending the inevitable existence of social principles, sexual identity, and mental inadequacies- Road thrives to testify the beauty of the imperfect. Her endeavors in illustrating and publishing began when writing a punk rock zine, Greenzine, for ten years. She resumed to illustrate countless record album covers, book covers, political organizations, magazine articles, and more. Road has published an illustrated novel entitled INDESTRUCTIBLE, a postcard book entitled DISTANCE MAKES THE HEART GROW SICK, and BAD HABITS, an Illustrated love story about a faltering human heart’s telepathic connections to the destruction of New York City. Roads work has also been featured in the Baby Remember My Name: New Queer Girl Writing Anthology, Live Through This Anthology, Reproduce and Revolt, and countless other published works. She’s toured nationally and internationally on her own, and with SISTER SPIT, an all-queer spoken-word road-show and is currently working on SPIT AND PASSION, a graphic novel about coming out, religion, culture, and chronic obsession with Green Day. She hibernates in Brooklyn, NY.

Below is some of Road’s artwork: if you’d like more detail, just click on the pictures to make them bigger:

Here’s Medusa:

Today it gives me (Kate) great pleasure to introduce my dear friend, collaborator, and rah! rah! replica – Kate Wadkins! One of my fondest Brooklyn memories is sitting outside of a Williamsburg laundromat in the rain with Kate listening to (and intermittently singing along with) “The CD Version of the First Two Records.” Kate, along with Stacy Konkiel, is one of the co-editors of International Girl Gang Underground.

Here’s a description of the IGGU project in Kate’s words:

THE INTERNATIONAL GIRL GANG UNDERGROUND compilation zine is a collection of stories, artwork, and critical work about DIY feminist cultural production and punk rock today, twenty years after the riot grrrl movement, and in the wake of its legacy.

The print zine features contributions from Osa Atoe (Shotgun Seamstress), Hadass Ben-Ari (Fallopian Falafel –אשת חיל), Carla Duarte (Histérica), Billy Cheer (This is Fag City), Katie Crutchfield (P.S. Eliot, Bad Banana), Lo (HEARTSREVOLUTION), Mimi Thi Nguyen (Evolution of a Race Riot, Punk Planet), and thirteen other writers, activists, musicians, and artists from ten US states and five countries; with original cover art by Philadelphia-based artist Sonrisa Rodriguez-Harrison.

Online, International Girl Gang Underground has published exclusive articles not available in the print zine. In the interest of relevance, information-sharing, and community-building, IGGU online has created a directory of feminist cultural projects; all are welcome to submit new or recent additions to the directory. Further, the editors encourage submissions of music reviews and original content related to the zine’s mission  to be released on the IGGU website periodically.

Here’s some more info about Kate – or KW, as she is often called 🙂

Kate Wadkins is a Brooklyn-based artist and writer who recently graduated Sarah Lawrence College with an MA in Women’s and Gender History. She is the co-editor of International Girl Gang Underground, a compilation zine about feminist cultural production twenty years after the riot grrrl movement and in the wake of its legacy. In 2009, she co-founded RE/VISIONIST with four other Sarah Lawrence students. Kate is a contributing writer for Hyperallergic (the New York art blogazine), and has written for Maximum Rocknroll, Sadie Magazine, and Hoax zine, among others. She was the gallery manager of Storefront in Bushwick for its two-year lifespan, and has proudly interned for the band Le Tigre. Of late, she curates Brain Waves, a zine and print collection, and assists for The Punk Singer, a documentary about feminist artist Kathleen Hanna. Kate is a founding member of For the Birds Collective as well as a classic virgo, coffee enthusiast, bass player, and rabble rouser.

Today we’re introducing not only a set of zines, but a whole glittery roadshow!

Presenting, the Heels on Wheels Roadshow!

They just co-organized the event “Beyond Visibility: Illuminating and Aligning Femmes” in January, and are constantly instigating wonderful community performance events.
The Roadshow is touring in April, 2012, so keep your eyes open for this radical brand of femme expression in your area!

Here’s their bio, and a photo of the stunning crew below:

Heels on Wheels Glitter Roadshow tours the US annually with a dazzling cabaret of performance art works by queer folks on femme/inine spectrum genders. The tour consists of five performers and our femme roadie, always includes local acts, and travels in a van full of magic, living the dream via live performance, local discussions, and guerilla political interventions as we go!

By actively complicating what it “looks like” to represent femininity, dandyness, fey, femme and queer lady, and so confronting misogyny and sexism, the Heelz are on a feminist agenda that uses cultural works to sabotage the hegemonic status quo of gender, sexuality, and appearance and replace it with many visions and ideas of what thriving and surviving as femme folks can be.

All kinds of femmes are invited to the Heels on Wheels party, and the troupe works from an active anti-oppression, intersectional focus, both in who is touring and what they’re doing onstage. The tour includes working class and poor folks, sex workers, immigrants, QPOC, mixed race folks, genderqueer and GNC folks, survivors and, most importantly, fiercely political feminist artists whose work weaves punk herstories, ineluctable facts, and wild costuming into escape artistry.

As artists and zine-makers, some of us have been capturing our writing and artwork in zines for years, some of us just made our first zine for tour. The Heels on Wheels are going on their third tour April 2012, details are available at www.heelsonwheelsroadshow.com

And here’s a photo of their zine table at a past event (with roadie):

The Roadshow will be displaying these zines (with or without roadie) at the Feminist Zinefest:

– Vanifesto  by Damien Luxe
– Building Up Emotional Muscles by Shomi Noise
– What the Brain Forgets… by Heather Acs

Here’s the cover of Vanifesto, to give you an idea…