zine scene

kansas city art institute // 5-week foundation workshop // spring 2024

zines [aka “fanzines”] are small-circulation, self-published magazines that make design, art, and storytelling accessible to most anyone using simple materials and covering most any subject imaginable, whether [sub]cultural, personal, or historical – no niche is too small! for those interested in graphic design, illustration, photography, storytelling, printing or printmaking, paper and physical objects, zines are a great entry point into these creative disciplines. we’ll identify specific subjects of interest that can serve as our subject matter and take a playful and exploratory attitude with text and typography; image-making; the elements and principles of design; sequence+narrative; grids, hierarchy, and composition; printing; digital documents+webzines; paper, folding, and diy bindings. we’ll make mini-zines, analog zines, online zines, and every zine in between, culminating in a collaborative, large-format, professionally-printed newsprint zine for everyone to have! 

view online course documents: course syllabus // lecture: how to collaborate // lecture: zine/book page anatomy // handout: printing to the foundation printer

view course evaluations

course notes
this was my first time teaching foundation students and i learned a lot and gained a lot of respect for my colleagues in this department. keeping in line with my inquiry-led approach, the majority of this course was self-directed. students began by writing out questions about zines and were encouraged to make things that attempted to answer those questions as a basis for starting their explorations. questions of alternative folding, scale, dimensionality, and storytelling immediately arose. self-directed processes are difficult for students used to being given assignments, so it took most students a while to gain some momentum in their making. i peppered in a few “micro projects” to provide some structure.

OBJECTIVES

you will be graded on how much/well you…

1. enhance acuity in nuances of composition, type, and image [aka elements – form, line, texture, shape, color, space – and principles – emphasis/dominance, balance/alignment, repetition, contrast, unity, movement, proportion/hierarchy – of design]

2. leverage sequence and narrative/storytelling in effective and memorable ways

3. consider multiple ways of seeing and depicting including recognizing our assumptions and bias in seeing and depicting

4. improve expression of identity, culture, experience, and/or general knowledge through visual and written means in your projects

5. develop meaningful and memorable concepts for your work

6. communicate clearly and concisely about your work, verbally and in writing in all classroom settings

7. increase skill in physical craft such as cutting, folding, binding, measuring, printing, and making in general

8. take calculated risks in expanding your range of materials and methods in making

9. process: demonstrate a strong and consistent work ethic, the ability to teach yourself, and to follow an organized and thorough path from concept through refinement to completion.

10. participate actively in your education through attendance, focused attention to all classroom activities, critique discussion, and classroom cleanup.

course structure

• workshop-long self directed project[s]

• plenty of in-class work time and one-on-one check-ins

• required micro-workshop projects

• weekly verbal learning summaries in small groups

• field trips

• one full-class collaborative zine project

micro-project 1: a six word story on a one-sheet zine.

micro-project 2: forced connections zine. students were divided up into “team word” and “team image” and had to make a six-part narrative of their choosing. they were then randomly paired with someone from the other team and taught to use the canon copier color settings to overlap colored text and image for random meaning-making.

field trips

“a midwest zine archive, the exhibition” at the university of missouri-kansas city gallery of art: students were given a zone in this collective exhibit to showcase one zine each. the class visited the ending stages of the exhibition setup, delivered their zines, and heard about the exhibit, the archive, and “why zines” from curator and archive creator, zachary frazier, also an assistant professor at umkc.

neither / nor zine library at goofball skates: we visited this free community-access space for zines curated by neither/nor zine distribution owner jaydream, where they shared their relationship to zines, zine making, and how it fosters community for unheard voices.

final exhibit

i secured a space near the entrance to foundation west building to allow for a two-week exhibit of some of the final works.

select student work