Sept 21 - 29, 2024
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Hello reader!
Welcome to the beginning of my (semi-regular?) sabbatical journal. I hadn’t planned to write much, but I can feel the days slipping away already and I’d like to make this count.
Like most of my public writings, this is mostly for my own self to record where I’ve been, where I’m going, and maybe some reflections along the way. A space to organize the pieces of my scattered mind!
If we’ve seen or talked to each other during these weeks — thank you! The words that follow are shaped, in some way, by the things we’ve said and done together, although I’ll keep things anonymous where I can.
You’ll notice that today’s entry is a prequel. So! much! happened! in the weeks leading into sabbatical, and it feels like as good a time as any to start placing down flagposts.
Hereeeee we go! 🏃♂️
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If you keep up with me on instagram, you’ll know that I recently tabled at the 🔆 Sunnyday Art Market this month.
This was only the second time that Space Type has tabled this year, since the Multiple Formats book fair back in March. We barely had any inventory, so most of my week leading up to the market was spent alone — focused on mass-producing prints and zines in the spare time I had outside of my full-time job.
With Lynne in Hawaii, I had four nights to produce several 4-color zines and prints in time for the event on Saturday. I was up until around 4am and woke up at 8a for my morning routine with Laika before heading over for table setup:
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The market itself was well-run by the organizers and volunteers, and super community-driven! The internal group chat was full of chatter about the best manufacturers for sticker sheets, vendors’ favorite markets and conventions to table at, and shared lamentations.
They did a great job finding folks that leaned into the “artist collective” ideology, as evidenced the number of vendors walking around to trade and connect with each other — more than I remember from past fairs and markets.
From the attendee side, there was more engagement around our zines than I had anticipated given the younger, sticker/pin/print-focused demographic. I was visited by many many many lovely friends and past students 🙇 and I had a ton of help and assistance as well from ✌️ key individuals, both of whom spent ample time behind the booth and lent their strength in carrying gear, running set up/tear down, and overall bringing their warm and cheerful energy throughout the day <3
The day after was spent visiting the Brooklyn Art Book Fair, which was, surprisingly, much larger and more expansive than the year before. It was so so so nice to see them in a larger space (two spaces, actually!) with more room for visitors and vendors to enjoy themselves without getting crowded out. As always, it was great to connect with new artists and publishers while seeing familiar faces and their work (and spending too much money.)
I took the book of dog doodles to a daytime bar/jazz event afterwards, and the event organizers really enjoyed seeing us peruse the zine while sipping on sake~
An exhibition was not in our cards this month, but a few friends organized a lovely, last-minute exhibit of zines, paintings, and ceramics as part of the regular rotation of art in the Neighbor community space in Chelsea. It was scrappy and casual, but charming in the ways it brought together a group of pseudo-neighbors to curate something together into a cohesive story.
As soon as we placed zines by the window display, passersby would stop to take a closer look — a good signal that we were providing a little spark of joy for folks walking down 9th ave.