By Faith Jarrell
Student Life Editor
On Saturday, March 2 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., the Art and Art History Club hosted a zine-making workshop in collaboration with RiverArts. The workshop was held at RiverArts KidSpot at 310 High Street in downtown Chestertown.
As described by Purdue University, “A zine…is short for ‘fanzine’ and is usually a small-batch, independently published work that circulates less than 1,000 copies…and most people make zines for the love of creating rather than for seeking a profit.”
The workshop was led by Washington College alum and Senior Poetry Reader for “Cherry Tree” Lindsay Lusby ‘08.
“I’m a newer convert to zines. Ever since falling into that world, I just really love them. I was like ‘I am not really a zine maker, but I am a poet, I love visual poetry, I love book arts, I can put something together that is zine-adjacent.’ And so… I did zine-in-a-blender and it was just a lot of fun,” Lusby said.
While there were 18 spots open for the workshop, and though most were reserved, only three participants showed up to the workshop. Two of the participants were Art and Art History club executive board member junior Anna Treadway and Director of Public Services and Faculty Librarian in STEM at the Miller Library Alex Baker. Despite the low turnout, Treadway described the event as “fun.”
“We thought it would be a really nice, relaxing thing halfway through the semester. It’s also kind of multi-discipline in a way like with the poetry and it would attract a wide variety of people who maybe aren’t always into art. It’s just a fun way to kind of experiment around and have a relaxing afternoon and get people creative,” Treadway said.
The event occurred due to another executive board member having a personal connection with RiverArts. Elm staff writer senior Sophia Lennox worked at RiverArts previously.
“[Sophia Lennox] was the perfect hinge. From what I understood, Sophia was an intern at RiverArts in the Fall and I was planning to do a zine workshop then, but we didn’t have enough registration for it. She mentioned to [Kris Kelly] that if the club was able to get funding from SGA, the club would be able to come to the workshop, so we just picked a date,” Lusby said.
At the event, participants got cardboard and paper, as well as access to tools such as a bone folder, exacto knives, scissors, glue, and magazines. While the process was inherently artistic, the few participants said they felt as though the workshop was multi-disciplinary.
“It does feel very interdisciplinary in a way and a lot of what I do professionally and personally feels like its at an intersection of these many things so I knew it would be an opportunity for me to kind of blend worlds of art and even the technical side. When I saw the invitation, I thought about how this could be something that I put into practice as another form of catharsis,” Baker said.
Photo by Faith Jarrell
Photo Caption: Participants gathered at RiverArts KidSpot on Saturday, March 2 to attend a “zine-in-a-blender” workshop taught by Lindsay Lusby.