Aug 18, 2021
Great Grey Owl
Photographer: Rob Stephens
seen from Türkiye
seen from Canada
seen from China
seen from South Africa
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from Germany
seen from Türkiye
seen from South Africa
seen from T1
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from Türkiye
seen from Türkiye
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from Chile
seen from Germany
Great Grey Owl
Photographer: Rob Stephens
Meet the Zinesters
This weekend is Zinefest in Des Moines! It will be nuts <3
Drove south to Ottumwa and taught a workshop on making zines. I rewrote the lesson plan and, despite having forgotten the new lesson plan at home, was otherwise well-prepared and the sessions went great.
Rob critiques the kids’ work. Sitting in on that was great, especially hearing the students give honest descriptions of the thought that went into their works. (“The elephant is a symbol for me. I feel alone. Elephants travel in herds. I am always reaching out to people but I am so very alone.”) (GIRL I want to HUG YOU <3)
I said "my girlfriend" in each class in a totally natural and relevant way. That felt like a milestone for me.
The critique was held in a cathedral-cum-college library and I shit you not was in my dream about moving to Madison this weekend. I can’t explain it but it was.
Drove home and went to yoga a little road-brained and fairly unable to deal. I hurt myself somehow???? But I did the best closed-eye tree pose of my life so far.
Worked on taxes with Ken, which ended in tears, but only after a leisurely dinner break with Adrienne at Mi Patria.
Tomorrow morning a little work, then going on a trip with Alex.
The wind chimes are working out great by the way.
Today I am teaching a zine making workshop to high schoolers.
I always pick out a selection from my zine library to show students what a zine is.
These are the books I’m taking tomorrow.
I SEE ALL by Deth P Sun DPS is my favorite artist, in that way that what I feel like I’m reaching for with my art is to make art like his. Narrative, imaginative, stylized, fecund. This zine is a collection of drawings, including things he’s eating, adventures that cat character has been on, and plants.
FOXFIRE is a glossy mag with zine spirit. Indie publishing, finer finishing. There are lots of hands involved in making this publication. Its content is sort of homey. Storytelling. I have another issue of FOXFIRE that’s all ghost stories.
MEMORY by Isaac W. This is a zine made in one of my workshops. It’s macabre and funny. Excellent execution, given the time allotted.
PENTIMENTO: A TALE OF HORROR This is a text-heavier zine with maybe 15 pages. A bit longer than most, still pretty lofi. A great little fable/scary story. I plan to read this one out loud to my students. I have no idea where I got this zine. I googled for it, but got nothing.
MAKE YOUR OWN BIBLE Vol II -- By me! I collect quotes and am building my own life laws of them. Sometimes I make these quotes into illustrated zines (we’re now working on Volume 4).
INDECISION 2016 by Dani Awesome and Cat Rocketship One night we watched a Republican debate. I drew caricatures and wrote down things Dani said. It went out in my monthly zine mailing.
LET’S TALK 2012 by Esther Hong Part of show and zine exchange I participated in put on by Light Grey Art Lab. Esther asked people to share memories made in 2012, and she illustrated and screenprinted them.
MEGA FUN MEGA YUM by Good Kid Rob Rob is a friend of mine. He regularly makes zines and I love them. Love them. They are largely about being a queer kid, but also not at all about being a queer kid, and also entirely about being Rob. This one is about Captain Crunch. I’m planning to read it out loud to students and I think they’ll love it.
APPLICANT by Jesse Reklaw Once long ago Jesse Reklaw found a stack of discarded Harvard application files in a dumpster. Each one bore a headshot of the student, and notes from the admissions interviewer. He assembled them into a zine that makes me feel bad about people in power. I bought this years ago, when it was featured in an email from FFFOUND! Magazine.
GOOD KID ROB!!! Almost forgot this first picture I took of my haul... Picked up these amazing comic TRUE STORIES from Rob Stephens... The other person I was lucky enough to table next to (ROB’s on both sides)... Kept me entertained and we went and got a shot of whiskey to survive the last hour of the event... Really cool dude!
Rob Stephens at Ritual Cafe
Playing around in Photoshop and all of a sudden . . . . voila!
More Game of Thrones Madness Playing around in Photoshop and all of a sudden . . . . voila!