Blog 2 - Topic Introduction

What are Zines?

At the intersection of art, accessibility, and literacy are zines.

Zines were one of the first art topics I brainstormed for this blog post and I would be excited to introduce them to a middle or high school classroom. Broadly, Zines are self-published books or magazines that get reproduced and distributed independently. My printmaking course introduced me to zines last year, and since then, I've been fascinated with the history and possibilities of the medium. Zines serve as a platform for underrepresented voices and are a space to share ideas, information, inspiration, or art. Accessibility is what makes this medium, and what gives it power. They can be about anything, everything, or nothing at all - when it comes to zines, there are no rules.

Two prominent types of zines are informational zines and perzines. An informational zine shares information that might help others understand a topic that's important to you. A perzine, aka personal zine, shares your lived experiences and shows people a bit of your identity. Other zine types include Mini-comics, Fanzines, Art Zines, Poetry, and Short Stories. Zines don't have to stick to one genre, and often zines will include multiple elements. Art, text, doodles, comics, photos, and paper collages are all great ways to fill your zine.

To begin the brainstorming process, I might prompt students with questions such as, 'Imagine you have thirty seconds to tell the world some important information, what might that be?' (prompt idea from Tate Kids). Another brainstorming activity could involve students creating two lists, one of things they love and another of things they hate. These prompts would emphasize the topics students are most passionate about or excited to share.

Some aspects that I will need to research further for this topic are the best ways to introduce zines and zine-making to students, possibly looking at teachers' blogs who have conducted similar lessons, and where I find classroom-appropriate zine examples online.

Resources for future use:

Classroom-friendly zine introduction video: https://youtu.be/FPMxDECh6ow?si=yMtNaiFkmrKfJN7p

History of Zines Article: https://bookriot.com/history-of-zines/

Classroom-friendly Zine Examples: https://www.zinelibraries.info/zines-for-kids/

Zine Project and Video: https://www.tate.org.uk/kids/make/cut-paste/how-to-make-a-zine

Zine Archive: https://archive.org/details/solidarityrevolutionarycenter

Teacher Blog Example Lesson: https://www.rebeccaapitts.com/articles/make-zines-with-kids

Photo Source: 'rizki rama28' on unsplash