Events

The Armory is eager to present our first ever Zine Fest on Sunday, August 25th from 11am-4pm! The 25+ participating zinesters of the fest similarly engage by intimately contextualizing their histories, resurfacing ancestral knowledges, sharing teachings from nature, queering the publishing industry, creative imagining, and much, much more! The fest is presented in conjunction with our current exhibition From the Ground Up: Nurturing Diversity in Hostile Environments, part of PST Art: Art & Science Collide.

We welcome you to buy, trade, and meet these artists as well as participate in interactive workshops for all ages. Bring packaged seeds to trade with the Urban Soul Farmer’s mobile Seed & Zine Library! Or, from 12:00 to 3:00 PM, make your own zine using our Risograph printer, plant material, and collage with Armory Teaching Artist, Rachel Curry. Our galleries will be open throughout Zine Fest, so be sure to check out From the Ground Up and Present in the Moment.

What are zines?
Zines are self-publications that can take many forms and cover a range of topics such as art, culture, politics, food, etc. “Zinesters” are often motivated by the love of creating or desire to share knowledge and experiences over profit. Zines can provide low-cost platforms for artists to share their diverse narratives and connect with community.

Participating Artists

Arya: is an illustrator and zine-maker based in Los Angeles, California. Her most salient core-memory of nature is when she saw a hermit crab for the first time as a child, and it’s what sparked her love for science … probably (if we forget about the driveway rollie-pollies). Most of the things she writes and draws about are related to nature in some way. Whether dispelling snail-myths, compiling book-recs, or spending a full month raving about frogs, she's pretty consistently stumbling into and sharing about new pieces of nature that delight her via her zines. She'd also love to hear about your favorite cool/weird nature fact — reach out to her anytime at [email protected]! @seastarya

Aviatrix Press: I am a Los Angeles based bookbinder, letterpress printer and illustrator who has been self-publishing artist books and zines under the moniker Aviatrix Press since 2018. My books feature my horror-fantasy illustrations as well as found ephemera and photographs. They cover topics like marbled paper, free little libraries, ancient ruins, feral cat colonies, postage stamps and haunted houses. When I’m not making zines, I work as a studio technician at Otis College of Art & Design’s Lab Press, where I get to spend my time working with historic type and printing presses.

Blancis the Creative (she/her/ella): Blanca Carla, better known as Blancis, is a creative artist from South East Los Angeles, California. Blancis uses visual and performing arts as a method of self-expression and healing. Her creative endeavors revolve around journaling, digital illustrating, music making, photography, and most recently, zine-making. While her first zine dates back to 2018, her zine-making journey took off in 2022 when she was tasked to create zines as a way to share art activities facilitated by the South Gate Museum and Art Gallery. Blancis loves making zines that share her creativity, connect with others in her community, and facilitate a space to be present.

Cindita's Tiendita: cindy "cindita" macias (she/her/ella) is a mixed media interdisciplinary artist and owner of Cindita's Tiendita, inspired by candy, canciones & xicanx culture. She has self-published a collection of photography zines and has been published in collaboration with Walang Hiya Magazine, Drifter Zine, #CultureFix, and Period, The Menstrual Movement.

Dakota Blue: is a comic book artist and musician from Los Angeles. He writes and illustrates stories about the mundane and surreal, drawing upon deeply personal experiences and inspired by the landscape of Southern California. He has self-published DUSKO, a 300 page graphic novel set following gas station employees and their clientele in the desert, and RIKOCHET, a semi-autobiographical tale about a reclusive rockstar.

dipaali aragonda (they/them): is their ancestors hands expressing themselves through their own, calling them into the mountains, finding seeds to grow, and community to create with. Everything before has led to this person — farmer, artist, cook, builder, weaver — and all the many iterations unfolding into each other as seasons change.

Fiberverse: Cindy Rinne (she/her) creates zines, poetry, and fiber art in San Bernardino, CA. Cindy uses a connective process that gathers ancient / present to collage together the whole that brings the audience into intimacy, mystery. Rinne uses poetry, drawing, photography, painting, and fiber art. Find her zines at The Artlands, Redlands, CA; IE Craft Collective, Ontario, CA; Silver Sprocket, San Francisco, CA; Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis, MN, and others. Zine Fests: “Crushes Zine Fest,” Center for the Arts Eagle Rock, LA, CA; “Print Pomona Art Book Fair,” Pomona College, Claremont, CA; “CANZINE” (online), Toronto, Canada, San Francisco Zine Fest, San Francisco, CA; Zine Fiesta 3, South Gate Museum & Art Gallery, South Gate, CA; OC Zine Fest, Anaheim Public Library, Anaheim, CA; and more. www.fiberverse.com. @fiberverse

FRANK: Frankie Gutierrez (they/he) is an illustrator and printmaker whose work consists primarily of zines, screen prints, riso prints, linocut, lithographs, and small self-published books of unusual size.

ITS-IN-SCOPE: is a cooperative of artists and archivists engaging in the practice of contemporary archiving and collective learning to intimately contextualize our histories, effortlessly imagine our futures, and firmly ground us in the now by re-membering intuition.

jelly.jean: Hello! I'm Jean! I am an illustrator and comic artist based in Los Angeles where I grew up. I like changing up what I do because I want to do everything! From poppy and cute to dark and gothic, my style is a mix of western and eastern sensibilities. Currently I am interested in portraying the humor and adventure of daily life through my comics and zines. Constantly learning and improving my craft.

John Dishwasher (he/him): His work revolves around the idea of “humans resisting dehumanization,” with the principal hook being it is totally legitimate to deliberately work as a part-time dishwasher and spend the rest of your time practicing art. His “Zine from the Future Describing the End of Civilization'' was a finalist for Best Political Zine of 2021 at the Broken Pencil Zine Awards. His novel “The Zinester Manifesto: A Novel of the Underground'' is the first-ever novel to feature an entire zine community. It is based on the SoCal zine scene.

Julia Mata (she/they): I am a comics writer and illustrator from Southern California. In the illustrations and comics I create, I center equity, representation of women of color, and nuanced narratives with space for joy, beauty, and emotional growth. CRISIS! is my comics zine series that follows the lives of characters Mayra and Dania, two friends and roommates, as they deal with real crises while discussing slice of life dramas from the perspective of queer first-gen Central American women.

kkatdawg: hello!! I'm Kat (she/they/him) and I love to create art that makes people smile or learn or both! I put a lot of love and energy into my work. As an immunocompromised BIPOC queer individual, I love to create work that shows a little about me and my personality and hope that others get to see a little of themselves in my work too. we're all just little beans floating in universe soup trying to make sense of it all.

Lili Todd (she/her): a California-based illustrator and ceramicist, infuses her creations with vibrant positivity, featuring motifs of animals, flowers, and women. Through her art, she seeks to foster a sense of encouragement, mental well-being, and kindness. Some of her current interests are quilts, folk art, risograph printing, and zines.

Lost & Found: is a collection of zines, books, and artworks from several artists and writers around the country. Highlighting their collaborative projects, each publication within Lost & Found is a manifestation of a multi-modal and immersive blend of new and old, sexy and disturbing, romantic and sardonic - but always informed by the act of searching, identifying, and suggesting advanced faggotry. Our collection is intended to examine and elongate the trajectory of specific pockets of queer experience.

Mae Wilson (she/they): is a cartoonist, illustrator, and storyteller from San Luis Obispo, CA. She is interested in graveyards, vegan cheesemaking, speculative fiction, and rewilding. Much of her work explores how complicated stories are flattened and solutions that turn out to be more complicated problems in disguise. In 2021 Mae graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she studied Graphic Narrative.

Matt MacFarland (he/him): has been working with students Kindergarten to College-age since earning his MFA from Otis College of Art and Design in 2003. In 2013, Matt shifted his practice from drawing, sculpture, and video to cartooning, and has produced several Comic Book series since, including Dark Pants, which follows a mysterious pair of pants through Los Angeles as they impact the lives of whomever wears them. Cookies and Herb, a graphic memoir focusing on the wholesome relationship between Matt and his elderly neighbor growing up in Northern California, will be published in 2025 by Fieldmouse Press. His work has been written up in The Los Angeles Times, Comics Bulletin, and Artillery. His artwork has been featured at such venues as 356 Mission Road, the Vincent Price Museum, Armory Center for the Arts, and Torrance Museum of Art. mattiemac.com

Mattazine Society: is a Los Angeles-based queer zine collective created by Mark Timothy Hayward and Jose Tinoco. We are cross generational and diverse in scope promoting old-school techniques and queer-core/punk rock aesthetics. Our zine series, “For the Love of...,” highlights queer personalities on the edge of mainstream culture. We have profiled personalities such as Dennis Cooper, Kristian Hoffman, Cookie Mueller and Julius Eastman. Our name is a play on the Mattachine Society, an American gay rights organization founded in 1950. Our zines are available in bookstores across the United States including Atomic Books, Quimby’s and Printed Matter.

Neta Zine: Jointly created by Erik Barrios-Recendez and Daniel "Chino" Rodriguez, is dedicated to uplifting and amplifying the voices of the Latinx LGBTQIA+ community. Neta Zine Project, created on September 16, 2014, is an Arousing Queer Thought digital archive that houses media intended for the open use of QPOC+. Our zine features art, stories, and essays that explore themes of identity, culture, and political commentary, focusing on diverse perspectives. Neta Zine's mission is to celebrate and empower QPOC+ communities through the power of creative expression.

Sam Axtell (She/They): Born 1987 in Vancouver, BC, I was raised in military communities — first a small Georgia town and then later in the suburbs of a midsized coastal Florida city. I eventually relocated to California 10 years ago. I’ve been a practicing artist and designer since 2010. My art practice began in high school with image based media, mainly photography and portraiture. This then guided me to a specific interest in graphic design in the form of show fliers, show photography and alternatively distributed press media and zines found on those merch tables. My broader work is a response to personal inquiries with regard to the idea of a “hero’s journey,” and explores social issues, systems of access, physics, geology/geological time, symbology, mysticism, and other things unseen. The SGV 626 zine specifically was a collaborative effort with my partner Jon and friends (and friends of friends) who grew up in the suburbs of the San Gabriel Valley.

Sharla Berry (she/her) postworkblackgirl: PhD, is an LA-based educator and creator. Her work explores the ways in which Black women navigate systems of labor and oppression. Sharla's work combines music, popular culture, and speculative fiction to reflect on what healing, freedom, and communal care look like for Black women workers. www.sharlaberry.com

Smilocide Studios: names the creative output of Ana Id, including comics, graphic novels, zines, puppet shows, and cartoons. Ponderous, uncanny, immersive, and ugly, it's fun for the whole family.

Representing South El Monte Arts Posse is Isabel Alexandra Saenz Pan (she/her): I was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley. At heart, I am a storyteller—a daughter of immigrants who grew up within cross-cultural communities of color. My art discusses themes of mixed ethnicity, and conceptualized ideals of American identity. My work is based within the power of critical recovery, an act of resistance to the institutional structures of oppression and erasure. First and foremost, my art is created in the name of my community, meant to embrace and uplift those around me.

Sweeter! Studio: is a queer Chinese American owned studio based in the San Gabriel Valley. I make artwork and zines centered around neurodivergence, queerness, and being trapped in a capitalist hellscape. Feel free to trade zines with me or pay me in small, shiny trinkets.

Tori Holder (she/her): is a comics zinester based in Los Angeles, CA. She likes making works focused on illustrating the intricacies of the everyday while playing with the zine format.

ttz is a QTPOC-led zine bistro curious about care and technology from the perspectives of our community members and friends. Together we navigate the ongoing pandemic and do what we can to confront systems of imperialism and white supremacy.

Zines4Queers: Zines4Queers is a queer Black zine collective that is part publisher, press, and distro & comprised of creator Julie (aka Irie Ingenue) and co-founder Oumou of @ConnectWithOumou. At Z4Q, we believe deeply in uplifting fellow marginalized voices through DIY publishing, as well as inspiring any and everyone to realize that they too can be a zinester. Zines serve not only as a platform for expression but also as a revolutionary act of queering the publishing industry. As hosts of the inaugural Black Zine Fest, we intend to continue to produce events and spaces that cultivate creativity and contribute to the thriving zine community. Our mission is to empower individuals to share their unique stories and perspectives, amplifying diverse voices and challenging mainstream narratives. Join us in reshaping the cultural landscape, one zine at a time. Zines4Queers is growing slowly but surely, find our zines online at zines4queers.bigcartel.com, or follow us on IG @zines4queers and stay in the loop about our next event or pop-up!

Zoe Blaq is Urban Soul Farmer: Urban Soul Farmer is a lifestyle that promotes health and wellness in marginalized communities. The Urban Soul Farmer’s Seed & Zine Library is inspired by George Washington Carver's Jessup Wagon. It is a mobile outreach hub that offers a safe space for people to explore and learn about agriculture. It is a platform for sharing knowledge, engaging meaningful conversations, and inspiring a deeper appreciation for the environment through seed sharing, art, plants, zines, and community storytelling.