Paper Cuts

Guest: Athena Naylor Hosts:  Christopher Kardambikis and Jennifer Lillis Recorded on December 02, 2023 Athena Naylor Athena Naylor grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and now lives and works in Washington, D.C. She specializes in autobiographical comics and illustration. Her work has been featured in Nat. Brut and The Washington Post, and in 2021 she received an Honorable Mention for the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) Cupcake Award. In 2023, she was a recipient of the Wherewithal Research Grant from the Washington Project for the Arts. athenanaylor.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guest: Stephanie McDevitt and Janene Scelza Host:  Christopher Kardambikis Recorded on October 18, 2023 Girls, on Film Girls, on Film was founded in December 2017 by long-time friends Stephanie McDevitt and Janene Scelza (pronounced Skell-za). Girls, on Film is a quarterly zine about 80s films. For each issue, we discuss eight 80s movies related to a particular theme. We are currently a group of four regular writers including Dr. Rhonda Baughman and Janene’s brother, Matt, who co-writes with her on essays. We have also had many guest writers over the years. We recently published our 21st issue, about adventure films of the 1980s, and will publish our next issue, on 80s movies about aliens, around Halloween. Digital issues are free on our website. We sell full-color print copies on our website, in select bookstores, and at zine festivals and art book fairs. Learn more at girlsonfilmzine.com, or find us on Instagram at @girlson80sfilms.com. Stephanie McDevitt, Co-Founder/Editor Stephanie's one big disappointment in life is that she wasn’t old enough to fully appreciate popular clothing styles in the 1980s, as she was mostly attired in paisley sweatsuits. A full-time editor and occasional freelancer, Stephanie looks nostalgically back on '80s films such as Ernest Goes to Camp, Adventures in Babysitting, and Can’t Buy Me Love and wishes she could pull off the hairdos of Cindy Mancini and her friends. Janene Scelza, Co-Founder/Editor Janene spent a hefty part of her teens combing musty video stores and public libraries for all the '80s movies she could find. There were lists! Janene's got plenty of favorites from the decade, but it’s stylish indie films like Desperately Seeking Susan, Repo Man, and The Terminator that she loves best. We’re based in the DC metro area. girlsonfilmzine.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guests: Erin Mallea and Paper Buck of Tree News, Bekezela Mguni of the Black Unicorn Library and Archive Project, and Adriana Monsalve of Homie House Press. Host:  Christopher Kardambikis Recorded on September 9, 2023 at the Carnegie Museum of Art Erin Mallea is a multidisciplinary artist exploring the past and present of particular microcosms as entry points into larger environmental, social, and political conditions. Often public and collaborative in nature, her work manifests in a range of media including installation, film, photography, and writing. She sent vibrations from a giant fungus throughout the atmosphere and currently publishes Tree News, a newsletter about trees, people and places. Erin holds a MFA from Carnegie Mellon University (2019) and is an Assistant Professor of Art at the Pennsylvania State University School of Visual Arts. Paper Buck is an interdisciplinary visual artist, printmaker, and writer. His recent work is focused on place-centered research that critically explores white settler constructions of conservation, ecology, and the "American Landscape." Paper received his MFA from Carnegie Mellon University in 2020 and earned a Bachelor's degree in Studio Art from Macalester College in 2008. His practice is informed by a background in community organizing that centers anti-racist education, decolonial movements, and transgender justice. He was formerly a leadership team member at the Transgender, Gender-Variant and Intersex Justice Project, Unsettling Minnesota and the Catalyst Project. He publishes a collaborative artist newsletter, Tree News, with artist Erin Mallea.  Bekezela Mguni is a queer Trinidadian artist, radical librarian, and educator. She has over 15 years of community organizing experience in the Reproductive Justice movement and holds an MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh. She completed her first micro-residency at the Pittsburgh creative hub Boom Concepts and was featured in the 2015 Open Engagement Conference. She launched the Black Unicorn Library and Archive Project. The Black Unicorn cultivates libraries as sites of learning, possibility, and freedom celebrating the literary and artistic contributions of Black women, queer, Trans, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming people.  Honoring the far-reaching influence their storytelling has had on the lives of generations worldwide. She was a featured artist of the 2017 Activist Print Project, a partnership between, Artist Image Resource, BOOM concepts, and the Andy Warhol Museum.  Bekezela is a Boom Concepts studio member, a community space and gallery dedicated to the development of artists and creative entrepreneurs. She is currently the Artistic Director at Dreams of Hope which affirms the voices and leadership of LGBTQ youth through the arts.  Adriana Monsalve is an artist, cultural worker and collaborative publisher working in the photobook medium. Along with Caterina Ragg, Monsalve is co-founder of Homie House Press, a radical cooperative platform that challenges the ever-changing forms of storytelling with image and text. Within her photographic practice, Monsalve is an archivist and visual communicator who produces in-depth stories on identity through the nuances in between race, gender, and immigrant adjacent experiences. Within her cultural work as a collaborative publisher, she holds space for and with underrepresented communities through the multidisciplinary platform of Homie House Press (HHP); a cooperative playground where fotos become books, a safe space for secret stories and an open house for honest content that meets at the intersection of personal, political, and poetic. She is rigorously pushing towards finding ways for photographers and publishers to cultivate the capacity for care and tenderness within structures that actively work against their manifestations. She defines intimacy as the experience of being genuinely seen, heard, and held by another person or group of people. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guest: Zach Clark Host:  Christopher Kardambikis Recorded on June 13, 2023 (background friends: Paul Shortt and Louis M. Schmidt) Zach Clark is an Oakland based artist and educator. Since 2016 he has published as National Monument Press, a publishing project focused on supporting uniquely American stories through small edition artist books, zines, printed ephemera, and curatorial projects, completed largely through collaboration with other artists. He is one half of Chute Studio, an East Oakland based Risograph publishing studio, and is a lecturer at California State University East Bay. His work and collaborative publications have been shown and collected across North America, Europe, & Japan. www.zachclarkis.com www.nationalmonumentpress.com @zachclarkis --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guest: Scott Russell Morris Hosts:  Christopher Kardambikis and Jennifer Lillis Recorded on June 13, 2023 Scott Russell Morris is a writer and enthusiast. He lives in South Korea where he teaches writing and makes art. He is the creator of Magpie Zines, zines about tarot, magpies, and found meaning. He often digs through the trash. His first essay collection, Points of Tangency, is forthcoming 2024 from Cornerstone Press. You can find him online at www.skoticus.com or on Instagram: @MagpieZines --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guests: Rachna Soun, Sam Fedorova (StrangeLens), Kate Fitzpatrick, and Chas Wagner Host:  Christopher Kardambikis Recorded on April 1st at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop Late Comeback Press Late Comeback Press is a micropress based out of Northern Virginia and is run by three Asian-American women. Late Comeback primarily focuses on mental health and representing Asian-American culture in its most subtle, authentic light and detracts from the palatable or exotic, as depicted in Western media. We build our zines intricately and by hand to represent the connection between our art, our identities, and our community, as pieces of us to you. Late Comeback Press StrangeLens is a multi-disciplinary artist who explores themes of dreams, the subconscious, and the Internet pop culture in the digital dark ages. She graduated from George Mason University in 2021 with a Master's degree in Arts and Visual Technology. Kate Fitzpatrick is an artist and educator based in Alexandria, VA. Fitzpatrick received a BFA in Painting from Clarion University of Pennsylvania (1997), an MA in art education from University of New Mexico, and an MFA in Visual Arts from George Mason University (2020). She was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship (2016) where she spent a semester in India working on an art curriculum with local arts teachers. Fitzpatrick is also an art educator who was honored by the Northern Virginia Magazine as a "Northern Virginian of the Year" (2014) for her creation and implementation of an art and yoga program for youth in the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention center. In addition, Fitzpatrick received the Agnes Meyer Teacher of the Year award by the Washington Post (2013). Fitzpatrick exhibits her work throughout the US and teaches for Arlington Public Schools. The Mirror Society Quartet Chas Wagner is a curator and organizer of The Print Party, specializing in independent magazines. Based in Pittsburgh, his work focuses on social activations of the print periodical; via retail pop-ups, bookshop lecture series' and the launching of a sport book festival (Bleed and Score) in Brooklyn. He thought about biking here on the 330 mile+ Great Allegheny Passage Trail, but the rainy forecast and heftiness of the books dampened the prospects of this dreamy ride. The Print Party Cap ABF The first edition of East City Art’s Capital Art Book Fair took place at Eastern Market’s North Hall on April 1 & 2, 2023.  Over 30 exhibitors from across the DMV, the US and Canada presented books as works of art, editions about art or artists, limited run books, prints as well as DIY zines and graphic novels.  Exhibitors include artists, independent publishers, small presses, illustrators and photographers. East City Art partnered with Capitol Hill Arts Workshop and Hill Center to co-locate offsite programming during the fair. DC-based, award-winning artist Carolina Mayorga created an ephemeral, site-specific work using hand-cut vinyl pieces in Eastern Market’s North Hall titled "Capital Splash". More about the Capital Art Book Fair --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guest: Phil Hutinet Hosts:  Christopher Kardambikis and Jennifer Lillis Recorded on March 22 and April 6, 2023 Phil Hutinet, a third generation Capitol Hill resident, is the publisher of East City Art, DC's Visual Arts publication of record, which he began in 2010. In 2012-2013, his work east of the river at ARCH Development led to the founding of the Anacostia Playhouse and the Anacostia Arts Center, the relocation of Craig Kraft's studios and the production of the 2012-2013 LUMEN8ANACOSTIA festival. From 2015-2019 he helped coordinate the annual Gateway Open Studio Tour in Prince George's County. From 2013-2018, he also produced EMULSION, East City Art's annual regional juried show. Currently, he produces the Capital Art Book Fair, an East City Art project held at Eastern Market's North Hall. Hutinet has curated or produced over 150 group and solo exhibitions in his career. Hutinet’s reviews, profiles and features are published regularly in both East City Art and Hill Rag. A sought-after speaker and moderator, Hutinet makes regular appearances at regional panel discussions and artist talks. He is often interviewed by national and international media such as the BBC, Capital Community News, Euronews, Washingtonian Magazine, Washington City Paper, The Washington Post, WAMU, WJLA ABC News Channel 7/Channel 8, WTTG Fox 5 DC and WTOP. Capital ABF The first edition of East City Art’s Capital Art Book Fair took place at Eastern Market’s North Hall on April 1 & 2, 2023.  Over 30 exhibitors from across the DMV, the US and Canada presented books as works of art, editions about art or artists, limited run books, prints as well as DIY zines and graphic novels.  Exhibitors include artists, independent publishers, small presses, illustrators and photographers. East City Art partnered with Capitol Hill Arts Workshop and Hill Center to co-locate offsite programming during the fair. DC-based, award-winning artist Carolina Mayorga created an ephemeral, site-specific work using hand-cut vinyl pieces in Eastern Market’s North Hall titled "Capital Splash". --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guest: Lindsay Buchman Hosts:  Christopher Kardambikis and Jennifer Lillis Recorded on March 02, 2023 Lindsay Buchman is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and publisher living and working in Philadelphia, PA, and Saratoga Springs, NY. Her work explores image-making and writing through print and lens-based media, artist books, and installation. Buchman holds an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania and a BFA from California State University Long Beach. Exhibitions of her work include the LA Art Book Fair at The Geffen Contemporary, MOCA; Tokyo Art Book Fair, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo; New York Art Book Fair, MoMA PS1; SPRINT Milano, Spazio Maiocchi; TILT Institute for the Contemporary Image; and Torrance Art Museum. She has participated in artist talks and panels at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Institute of Contemporary Art (Philadelphia), and The Print Center. Her work is included in the Rare Book Manuscript & Library at the University of Pennsylvania, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, the New York Public Library, and SFMOMA. She is a recipient of the Toby Devan Lewis Fellowship, and her work has been featured in Hyperallergic and The Hopper Prize Journal. As an extension of her practice, she runs an independent artists' books and publications project, Seaton Street Press, to collaborate with artists through publishing and distribution. Seaton St. Press is an artist-run, independent artists' books and publications project. Committed to exploring temporality, its name is a dedication to a former studio in Los Angeles, now based in Philadelphia. Seaton St. publishes and distributes titles that examine the intersections of site, language, and memory, including archival histories, social identities, and geographies.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guest: Julia Arredondo Hosts:  Christopher Kardambikis and Jennifer Lillis Recorded on September 15, 2021. Julia Arredondo is an artist-entrepreneur who is currently a Resident Fellow at the Lunder Institute for American Art. Originally from Corpus Christi, TX; Julia is heavily influenced by the small, family-based businesses she grew up around. Formally trained in printmaking and specializing in artistic forms of independent publishing, Julia founded Vice Versa Press and Curandera Press as her entrepreneurial debuts. Having launched QTVC Live!, a DIY home shopping channel, in January 2020 - Julia is now collaborating with moCa Cleveland on six brand new episodes. Stay tuned. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guest: Corina Reynolds Hosts:  Christopher Kardambikis Recorded on September 1, 2021. Corina Reynolds is the Executive Director of Center for Book Arts in New York City. At CBA, she has focused on connecting artists across distance and time through a diverse program of exhibitions, panels, conferences, and classes. Her passion for the art of the book has led her to curate exhibitions, organize conferences and panels, publish books, and teach about the book arts in the US and abroad. She has an MFA in textiles from Cranbrook Academy of Art and, in 2012, she co-founded Small Editions, an artists’ book publisher and curatorial residency program in Brooklyn, NY with the goal to expand the public understanding of artist books. During her time at Small Editions she published over 30 books which are now held in some of the most prestigious public and private collections across the globe, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Over the years she has overseen the production of hundreds of books including books about artist’s books, design, architecture, photography, and contemporary art. In 2021, she and two collaborators founded Book Art Review, a new serial publication that ventures to develop, diversify, and propel critical discourse in the book arts. Center for Book Arts --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guests: Matt Austin and Melanie Bohrer Host:  Christopher Kardambikis Recorded on August 10, 2021 Matt Austin designs, produces, and publishes projects motivated by systems of care. He is currently a founding member of the Candor Collective, a designer with Em Design Studio, and maintains a consistent newsletter about his work. Formerly he was a co-owner of Candor Arts, part of the founding group of LATITUDE, and taught many courses on artist books and photography at SAIC and other institutions around Chicago. Melanie Bohrer grew up in Munich, Germany and has been living in the United States (on and off) for the past 12 years. She received her MFA in Studio (Printmedia Department) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and previously her BFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design. She was a co-owner of Candor Arts, and is a founding member of the Candor Collective, as well as Em Design Studio. As an artist, much of her efforts have centered around creating artist books in the expanded field. She is currently represented by The Liminal a contemporary gallery–producer based out of Valencia, Spain. Katie Chung: https://www.katiechung.com/ Hannah Batsel: http://www.hannahbatsel.com/ Em Design: http://emdesign.studio Matt Austin: http://mattislearning.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guest: Alex Belardo Kostiw Hosts:  Christopher Kardambikis Recorded on June 1, 2021. Alex Belardo Kostiw is a graphic designer, artist, and educator. Her practice deals in poetic and iterative elements, visual structures of comics, and conceptually driven forms. Like dense knots, her publications invite interactive, intuitive reading—even as they resist full unravelling. By exploring ambiguities of language, her work is a liminal space for feeling out complicated realities of identity, human intimacy, and other worlds. Alex received an MFA in Visual Communication Design from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA in English literature from the University of Chicago. She has participated in such shows as the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, Chicago Alternative Comics Expo, LA Art Book Fair, and Chicago Art Book Fair. Her work is in the special collections of several libraries and the National Museum of Women in the Arts. She lives and works in Chicago. https://alexkostiw.com/ This conversation was recorded over zoom while Alex Belardo Kostiw was in Chicago and Christopher Kardambikis was in Songdo, South Korea.  There are some moments where the internet connection, and the recording, get a little glitchy. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guest: Hyojoon Jo Hosts:  Christopher Kardambikis Recorded at Corners, CC in Seoul, South Korea on March 4, 2021. Corners Studio is a Seoul based office for graphic design of Daewoong Kim and Hyojoon Jo founded in 2012. Our practice focuses primarily on creative direction and visual communication strategies through typography, conceptual and content-related approaches. Our work includes formats such as prints, posters, publications, exhibitions, signage, marketing materials, websites and visual identities. We have produced works for artists, designers, cultural institutions, and small–big brands. We have a particular interest in how ideas turn into physical objects.  Alongside the graphic design practice Corners Studio run a risograph printing workshop, Corners Printing, for self-learning and self-experiment, and also for collaborating with friends and other people. Daewoong Kim and Hyojoon Jo graduated at Hongik University (KR) and Central Saint Martins (UK) respectively, and Hyojoon currently teaches at Daejeon University (KR); we have lectured, talked and delivered workshops in Stavanger, Bangkok, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Glasgow, Osaka, Bergen, Gwacheon, Maastricht, Jeju, and Seoul. Corners website --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guest: Aurora Diaz Hosts:  Christopher Kardambikis and Jennifer Lillis Recorded on February 12th, 2021 Aurora Diaz is an art worker and ceramicist hailing from New Jersey| New York. She founded and was creative director of the Bettys, an experimental art collective that ran from 2014-2020. thebettys.com @bettycrit.club --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guest: Paul Shortt Hosts:  Christopher Kardambikis Recorded on January 31st, 2021 Paul Shortt received his MFA in New Media Art from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his BFA in Painting from the Kansas City Art Institute. He has participated in over 80 group and solo exhibitions both nationally and internationally. His works engage the public in physical interactions and conversation that examine everyday experiences and cultural norms often in humorous ways through books, videos, prints, and temporary public art. He has participated in over 30 national and international art book and zine fairs, such as the Printed Matter Art Book Fairs in New York City, NY and Los Angeles, CA, the Vienna Art Book Fair in Vienna, Austria, and the Editions fair in Toronto, Canada. In 2019 he published How to Art Book Fair, a practical and humorous guide to tabling, selling and participating in an art book fair. His artist books are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of Art, and the Fisher Fine Arts Library at the University of Pennsylvania. He has created temporary public art projects for Baltimore Office of Promotion for the Arts “Art on the Waterfront” program in Baltimore, MD, neon signs for the Inlight light festival in Richmond, VA, and a sign and print based public art project for the Arlington Art Truck, in Arlington VA. His videos have been shown at the Museum of the Moving Image, The Phillips Collection and Whitespace Gallery. He has participated in residencies at The Luminary, in St. Louis, MO and at Montgomery College in Silver Springs, MD. Shortt has spoken about his work at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, China and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri. He has been written about in Hyperallergic, the Washington Post, Bmore Art and Review Magazine. Shortt works as an arts administrator and educator is currently based in Florida. paulshortt.com shortteditions.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guest: Nicholas Hurd and Sarah Lopez. Hosts:  Christopher Kardambikis and Jennifer Lillis Recorded on October 15th, 2020 Radix Media is a worker-owned printer and publisher based in Brooklyn, NY. They publish new ideas and fresh perspectives, prioritizing the voices of typically marginalized communities to get to the root of the human experience. Radix started out as a commercial print shop in 2010, and expanded into literary publishing in 2017. The collective is currently made up of Lantz Arroyo, Nicholas Hurd, Meher Manda, and Sarah Lopez. Nick Hurd is a California ex-pat with 20 years of printing and design experience. He holds a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and an MFA from the California College of the Arts, both in printmaking. Nick is an expert in letterpress, bookmaking, business card design and all forms of specialty stationery. He is notoriously patient and loves the challenges inherent in using antique printing equFuturipment. Nick relishes tinkering with our Heidelberg Windmill, but he also handles our wide format printing. Nick is also a tattoo collector, maple syrup enthusiast, soccer fan, and amateur gardener. Sarah Lopez comes to Radix with a BA in Social and Historical Inquiry from Eugene Lang College and a BFA in Illustration from Parsons School of Design at The New School. It was there that she fell in love with all things print while working in the printmaking studio. She has a strong background in graphic design and visual communication, with an inclination toward independent and DIY publishing. Her taste for indie publishing started with her appreciation for zines, and developed as a zinester tabling zine fairs. Sarah has worn many hats at Radix Media: she started out running our digital press and various bindery equipment, and helped launch our publishing arm with outreach and publicity. She currently manages our social media and does a lot of our graphic design. Outside of work Sarah enjoys curling up with a good book, spending time outdoors, and taking care of her plants. Radixmedia.org --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guests: Julie Sheah and Evyan Roberts Hosts:  Christopher Kardambikis and Jennifer Lillis Recorded on August 12th, 2020 in collaboration with Transformer as part of the E17: Zines program. Julie Sheah is a graphic artist whose drawings explore the horrors and curiosities of otherwise ordinary subjects. She has a keen interest in the surreal and absurd and is an avid connoisseur of puns. As a first-generation Taiwanese-American, growing up in rural Texas gave her an odd sense of humor that came from grappling with social isolation, Otherness, and dual culture identity. Today she lives in Washington, DC where she continues to draw and create visual puns through her artists’ books. Evyan Roberts (she/her) is a queer, fat, black, femme who is deeply committed to intersectional feminism and #blackgirlmagic. She lives in MD and is currently pursuing a Masters in Social Work, where she intends to keep working to promoting equity for sex workers and trans folx. Her writing has appeared in the poetry anthology A Garden of Black Joy: Global Poetry from the Edges of Liberation and Living, as well as online literary journals such as Kissing Dynamite where she was the featured poet for August 2019, Ithaca Lit, Not Your Mother's Breast Milk, Rogue Agent, and elsewhere. More about the E17: Zines program. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guests: Athena Naylor and Late Comeback Press (Rachna Soun and Caroline Kim) Hosts:  Christopher Kardambikis and Jennifer Lillis Recorded on August 5th, 2020 in collaboration with Transformer as part of the E17: Zines program. Athena Naylor is a cartoonist originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, now living in Washington, DC. Through comics, Athena considers what makes the mundane meaningful and how big stories reside within small, everyday events. Alongside her self-published collections of autobiographical comics, Athena has had work featured in The Lily and Nat. Brut. Her comic The Checkout Counter was published through the podcast-publishing venture Paper Cuts. Her work can be found at athenanaylor.com and on Instagram @athena.naylor. Late Comeback Press is a Northern Virginia micropress run by Rachna Soun and Caroline Kim, specializing in avant-garde zines. Late Comeback Press’ name derives from the French term l’esprit de l’escalier – thinking of the perfect reply a little too late. As two Asian-American artists, they live within the hyphen, struggling, at times, to convey language that exists in one culture but not in the other. Communication and existentialism are the center of their art, flourishing in the space before choices are made, when the possibilities can seem paralyzingly endless or distinctively finite. latecomebackpress.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guest: Stephen Grebinski Hosts:  Christopher Kardambikis and Jennifer Lillis Recorded on April 14th, 2020 Stephen Grebinski’s work concerns itself with reimagining and activating the memories and desires embedded in archival and found photography that is often clouded by camp and nostalgia. His books and works on paper tangle together queer bodies, architecture, and the persistent baroque impulses of desire. From mid-century physique magazines to Liberace’s home decor, the excess and homoeroticism of classicism create a fantasy world cobbled together from leftovers. He is currently starting a riso press with friends in Pittsburgh, PA stephengrebinski.bigcartel.com @aparatfoto @misfeedpress --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support

Guests: Ayana Zaire Cotton and Jennifer Lillis Hosts:  Christopher Kardambikis and Adriana Monsalve Recorded on July 29th, 2020 in collaboration with Transformer as part of the E17: Zines program. Ayana Zaire Cotton is a transdisciplinary artist, designer, technologist, and educator, visualizing and collectively crafting a post-work future. Her practice is rooted in black feminist, pedagogy, mutual aid, open source philosophy, labor, and black aesthetics research. This research has manifested in her work via independent publishing, virtually teaching software engineering to students worldwide, and an experimental clothing line as a platform for researching labor studies and aesthetics. As an artist, designer, and software engineer Ayana feels “educator” is a title that most resonates with the full possibilities of her mediums, goals, and practice. Jennifer Lillis is a multi-disciplinary artist, teacher, and administrator in Northern Virginia. She received her MFA in Visual Art from George Mason University in 2019, and her BA in Studio Art from Marymount University in 2012. Jennifer’s work explores the theme of transformation in the function and materiality of objects through the ritualization of her creative practice. She is currently the Gallery Manager at the McLean Project for the Arts, on the coordinating committee of MPAartfest, Adjunct Professor in Printmaking at George Mason University, co-producer of Paper Cuts, and founder of the print and book collective ELEMENTS. Adriana Monsalve is an artist, book maker, and educator, located in the DMV. She is the co-founder of Homie House Press, a skeleton bones crew of femmes creating, publishing, and reclaiming their space and power in the foto book medium. Within her photographic practice, Monsalve is a storyteller & visual communicator producing in-depth stories on identity through the nuances in between race, gender, and immigrant adjacent experiences. Transformer’s annual spring Exercises for Emerging Artists program is a peer critique and mentorship program created to support a selected group of DC-based emerging artists at critical points or crossroads in their professional growth and creative development. Centered on a different artistic discipline every year, this year’s iteration - E17: Zines - focused on zines and DIY publishing. E17: Zines artists include: Ayana Zaire Cotton, Jennifer Lillis, Athena Naylor, Late Comeback Press (Rachna Soun and Caroline Kim), Evyan Roberts, and Julie Sheah. Intended to both advance artists' careers and build peer support, Transformer’s Exercises consists of comprehensive bi-weekly peer critique and mentorship sessions spanning several months to stimulate and encourage the participating artists as they create new work. Facilitated by Transformer staff, the participating artists receive mentorship and feedback from a series of mentors comprised of more established artists, curators, and other arts leaders. In response to COVD-19, all E17: Zines peer critique & mentorship sessions were conducted via Zoom calls this spring. As the traditional, in person, culminating summer exhibition of works created through the program is not feasible this year, this poster highlights the artworks each artist created through E17: Zines. Each artists’ zine artworks are available for purchase through Transformer’s online store: https://flatfile.transformerdc.org/collections/e17-zines --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/paper-cuts/support