Making the ‘Big Pond’ LAC zine
The ‘Big Pond: Living and creating in Seattle’ LAC zine is complete and ready to ship or pick up at Slip Gallery in Belltown! It features 84 beautifully-printed, lovingly-compiled pages of interviews and artwork. On the cover is the piece “Mullet” by Lee Marker Marion. You can purchase on this page or by navigating here.
How it came to be…
Nearly two years ago, LAC’s original group of board members came up with the idea to interview artists and create a zine. They imagined it would focus on why artists remain in the Seattle area and what they struggle with. It would help artists understand how much they have in common with their fellow creatives and provide education for the public on why it’s important to support local artists. Paired with beautiful images of the artist’s work, of course. A few interviews were conducted, but other projects ultimately took precedence.
Then came the ‘you are not alone’ gallery show and events in April, which was designed to better understand the struggles, needs, and realities creative people face on a daily basis. Instead of leaving these powerful topics as documentation of the past, we wanted to keep the discussions going by hearing from the artists themselves. So, we relaunched the zine project in hopes of maintaining that momentum.
‘Big Pond’ zine note from the interviewer and thank you page, featuring a photo from LAC’s Slip Gallery show in April 2023.
One of the folks from that show’s planning team, Ren Riley, creator of the I, Enheduanna zine, offered to take lead on bringing a LAC zine to life. Her commitment to thoughtfully interviewing artists, carefully compiling their work, and proof reading over and over has paid off in a big way. THANK YOU, Ren, for your hard work.
The Artists
‘Big Pond’ features 11 interviews with local Seattle-area artists: Jo Cosme, Lee Marker Marion, Beau Van Greener, Alana Skye Crawley, Anamika Venkatesh, Symonne Larison, Nico Inzerella, Kristen Gianaris, Izosceles, Dawn Hubbard, and Irene Wilde.
As you read you’ll notice themes along the lines of “pay us fairly”, “the cost of living is insanely high”, and “more resources and opportunities, please”. Let their answers help you understand why it’s important to invest money into the lives and work of local creatives. Why they need a leg up and not a line about success in the art world being predicated on luck and skill.
Artists provide a service for which they are not fairly paid: the development of local culture and flavor Seattle is widely known for. And those without a financial safety net can no longer afford to stay here.
The Artwork
The first page of Ren’s interview with sculpture artist Dawn Hubbard. Her piece “You are not your thoughts” was a favorite during the Slip Gallery April show.
If you had a chance to see ‘you are not alone’ at Slip Gallery in April 2023, you’ll notice that the cover of each artist’s interview features the piece they had in the show. The pages following share more works from the artist alongside further interview questions, between 6-8 pages per artist.
A full page spread of Alana Skye Crawley’s piece “Dancing in White III”. You’ll recognize her cyanotype style from the similar piece “Different/Safe” included in the ‘you are not alone’ show.
Why ‘Big Pond’?
“I think the biggest thing is realizing how much harder you have to work in order to stand out in such a big pond.”
In brainstorming, we wanted to give this zine a distinct name from the ‘you are not alone’ show, even though we featured many artists that were involved. Plus, we see more editions of the zine in our future! Beau Van Greener, an artist who creates reinterpretations of beloved characters in various mediums, was asked about the challenges he has faced as a creative living in Seattle. He shared “how much harder you have to work in order to stand out in such a big pond,” which struck us as fitting for many flavors of artistic experience. No matter what type of work artists make they need to put in so much effort to be noticed, which can take a toll when the artist is running low on support from their community.
Margus, the buyer of Beau Van Greener’s piece “I’m just going to hang out in here for a bit” posing during April’s Slip Gallery show.
Our hope for this zine
We want to do our part in building up a culture of fully valuing creatives for the culture they craft and work they do. This zine is a tiny piece of that much bigger puzzle.
Living Artists Collective is striving to create programs that provide much-needed support for local visual artists, and financial grants for low-income artists. Buoyed by the shared experiences of the folks we work with, we are providing opportunities, conducting research, and promoting discussion. It’s time to pay artists in our city in a way financially consistent with the value we get out of their work.
Thank you to Ren for conducting interviews, the original board members Alex, Kyra, Taylor, Alison, Erika, Yev, and Jamie for getting things off the ground in more ways than one, and of course to all the artists who were interviewed. What you have to say is so important in building a future Seattle that treats its artists well.
Buy a copy (or two!) of the LAC ‘Big Pond’ zine here!
Please make a tax-deductible donation to our 501(c)3 nonprofit so we can keep doing projects like this one. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and subscribe to our newsletter for updates. Thank you for supporting local Seattle-area visual artists.
-The Living Artists Collective team