Zinemaking Workshop

Catfish Club Saturday (August 13th)

We invited all the kids and kids at heart at to Portland Museum to let their independent artistic spirit sing. Tables were set and materials were gathered for zinemaking.

The set stage

Not sure what a zine is? Here’s how our friends at Printed explain it:

“A zine (pronounced “zeen”) is a self-published, handmade work of original or appropriated texts and images. A zine can be hard to define because there aren’t a ton of rules, though typically they take the form of small magazines, hence the title! They originate from 1930’s sci-fi communities and, throughout the years, have been popular in informal, underground, or niche creative communities.”

Printed are some fun folks who happen to experts in zinemaking, having earlier this year put out their first edition featuring the art of 70 Louisville creatives, and we were thrilled to have Shannon Delahanty from their team (and a regular Portland Museum contributor) leading this workshop! Joining Shannon was her workshop assistant, and husband, Forrest Pass!

Plenty of families came out and added their own special touches to Shannon and Forrest’s prepared zines. Pipecleaners, crayons, colored pencils, and even felt all added that all-important personalization to the products of the workshop.

An example of one of many panels from the event zine

Want more information on the zine, or to print one yourself at home? Well stay tuned to our social media channels for future updates!

It would be a shame to host such a hands-on program though without utilizing our printmaking shop Beech Grove Press, right? Thankfully, Shannon and Forrest are experienced printmakers, and helped workshop attendees print their zine’s cover using our hulking, yet graceful, machinery and huge collection of blocks.

AHOY!

Being the Catfish Club, we also got tons of valuable feedback and big ideas on our AHOY project. The surroundings of “I Bet We Can Build That” Weber Group Past, Present, and Future provided both a point of reference and source of inspiration.

Just a few great ideas to come out of the catfish club so far!

Oh, and one more thing: even nature showed up to the event! A little baby bat somehow made its way into our women’s restroom, and with the help and belief of our visitors, we managed to get it back outside to safety!

Safe and sound, little guy!

Couldn’t make it this time? Don’t worry! This is just one of many children’s events we will be hosting in the coming months thanks to a generous donation from the Zeta Iota Chapter of Psi Iota Xi. Stay tuned!

The AHOY house!

P.S. Printed is currently accepting submissions for its second edition! For more information, check out their website here.