In Mitten Hall, the Philly Zine Fest showcased several artists who publish their own work consistently to sell and spread art in a unique way. Whether the artists were from Temple University or from other areas of PA, shoppers were able to view many different artists and their work. Â
Three artists from Spell Magazine, a multi-media student-led art magazine, were among the groups tabling at the Fest. Â
Fortunately, I was able to speak to the founders of the magazine, and I was given insight into how the Philly Zine Fest was for them.Â
“It was really cool to see everyone’s unique art styles and range of things everyone had there,” co-founder Drew tells Her Campus. “It was mainly print based, but there was so much variety.”Â
Mitten Hall was filled with tables of a variety of multimedia, and promising new artists were able to communicate with already published ones to collaborate on something as big as a published comic book that is sold at bookstores.Â
“It was our first year at Zine Fest, but we are still really new and are still accepting submissions from artists, such as interviews, physical art, and we make spreads around that,” co-founder Harper tells Her Campus.Â
While Spell Magazine was only created a little over a year ago, the motivation to continue to spread art is not something to ignore.Â
“We are hoping to put out a little teaser for our next issue, so make sure to stay updated,” co-founder Ingrid tells Her Campus. Â
Another artist who was promoting their artwork was a professor at Temple University, Saleem Ahmed, who teaches undergraduate and graduate courses such as Audio/Visual Newsgathering and The Art of Visual Storytelling.Â
“I like making zines because you spend all this time making artwork, but actually printing it out and letting someone look at it and react to it, that’s what’s fun,” Ahmed tells Her Campus.Â
Ahmed was at the Philly Zine Fest to sell his photo zines, which is a book or collection of photos with a consistent theme throughout the book to convey a story to the reader.Â
“One that is closest to my heart is Home for the Weekend,” he says. “It’s about my family back home, spending time with them over the summers or winters. But I feel like each of them has their own personality.” Â
While Ahmed is an experienced photographer and one who has done many workshops as well as his own showings of his artwork, he describes what is different about Philly’s Zine Fest.Â
“This is my first time doing it, but I’ve done many other fairs,” he says. “This one is cool because it is not just zines and is just super diverse.”Â
Former students of Ahmed followed in their professor’s footsteps and made their own zine, Uncool Magazine, but in a different way.Â
While Ahmed makes zines of photographs that he took, these three girls make zines of their own handmade artwork to distribute and sell, with hints of comedy as well as unique messages, such as individuality. Â
“I think we all just love to create individually, and so we thought it would be fun to put our minds together to create our own zine,” Emma Gelatt tells Her Campus. “We are also all best friends.”Â
The senior trio kickstarted this artistic product after they took a course at Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University.Â
“This is our first Zine Fest to promote,” Isabel Albis tells Her Campus. “We came here as freshmen, and it became something we really wanted to do. So being able to experience it and seeing the turnout, which is pretty big, has been so fun.”Â
Zines from the students include coloring books, unique drawings of animals smoking, cute stickers, and a collection of different art pieces.Â
“People thought this was only for Temple students because it is on Temple, but it’s not,” Megan Russell tells Her Campus. “There are real businesses here, and then there are us, just making something really low-budget and just for fun. It’s not about the money for us.”Â
Whether the artists that were promoting their art were from a large-scale production, or the art that came together by a group of friends, the Philly Zine Fest had something for everyone to look at and possibly purchase. Keep an eye out for the dates of next year’s Fest!