Make Wonky and Impractical Art

The only creative summer energy you need.

If you don’t have a Made with Artist Intelligence sticker yet, you probably need one. // Summer is the season for night swims.

Hello friends,

A while back a friend asked if I would be interested in going to Bellingham to see a live production of Phoebe Wahl’s book Little Witch Hazel with her family.

I’ve loved Phoebe’s work for a long time and I am not going to turn down a cool art event that a toddler is excited about, so of course I wanted to go. Handmade puppets and set design as well as live music? Yes, please.

But aside from the entire magical production, and just how lovely it was to sit in a room for an hour being immersed in someone’s creative world, there was this paragraph in the program:

“In our world’s rapidly changing technofeudalist landscape, creating imperfect, handmade art for art’s sake, in community with friends, is in itself a rebellious act. This show was conceived as a celebration of humanity, by providing both an experience of creation and viewing, only possible in the offline realm. We hope that our show inspires you to create wonky, beautiful art with your friends. The world needs it more than ever before.”

Below is the only photo I took, which is good proof of having had a nice time in the offline realm. Hand-painted mushrooms!

On our way up to Bellingham we spent a little time in Edison. I haven’t been in a few years, and in that time they managed to get a bookstore. Called, wait for it… Book Shucker. Which is just truly excellent.

There was an entire shelf devoted to small presses and zines and I managed to pick up two books from ANEMONE. Based out of Seattle, everything they publish is gorgeous and since they’re printing on a risograph machine, these books have such a lovely tactile feel to them. They have also built free community software for making PDFs into printable layouts and Spectrolite for riso printing.

I’m trying to savor these and not read through the books too quickly, but here is what stuck out from Notes on Artist Publishing by Amelia Greenhall (part of the duo that runs the creative studio).

“As we’ve explored all of those methods of print and digital publishing, and various formats, I’ve been asking myself: what am I doing with all this impractical labor? Why make all these digital publications, why make these short runs of books and zines and interesting things with the risograph machine. I’m drawn to the phrase artist publishing as the answer.”

There’s a footnote on “impractical labor” and it’s for the Impractical Labor in Service of the Speculative Arts, which is a “union for reflective creative practice.” This is the kind of thing that makes me have hope in the world.

Greenhall views artist publishing as a mindset in which “publishing itself as an artistic medium, an artistic practice.”

“Thinking about activities as artist publishing can be a reminder to think beyond capitalist expectations of time or money or output, and find something that meets you where you are. A way to situate yourself in community and relationships with other artists.”

Yes, yes, and yes.

I always like to think of creative ecosystems. Not just as an umbrella for the work you make (because there are very few of us who are only making one single thing), but also the connections that you have. This is what the world needs more of. Not more of that technofeudalist bullshit, but more tactile projects, more collaborations with friends, more connections with people who want the same. Putting time into that ecosystem only makes it stronger.

Everything is weird right now. You might as well go make some wonky, impractical art with your friends.

And that my friends is the main creative summer energy we all need.

-Anna

Speaking of wonky and impractical art….

I am packing analog newsletters in the coming days. I am hoping to get them in the mail early next week if things go according to plan. Please say a prayer for me and to the postal gods.

Thank you so much to all of you who signed up. I limited the amount available because I wanted to see how it all went before I over committed myself. But depending on how things go I will open subscriptions back up a little later this summer so you can sign up for the autumn edition. I’ll report back soon.

---

Thank you for reading Creative Fuel. This is a reader supported publication made by a human. The words are mine, the art is mostly analog.

I believe in sharing creativity, so most of this newsletter is free and accessible to all readers and I am grateful to everyone who reads and supports it.

You can do so by sharing this with a friend, buying something in my shop, or becoming a paid subscriber.