The Orange County Zine Fest

Yesterday, I participated in the second ever Orange County Zine Fest at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (OCCCA) in downtown Santa Ana.  There were considerably more vendors and attendees this year than last year, showing that "zine culture" is a growing phenomenon.  Indeed, this year, I had tables at both the LA Zine Fest, and the Long Beach Zine Fest.  Many major U.S. cities now host Zine Fests, demonstrating that there is a huge subculture of DIY publishing going on in America.  As owner of BOOKMACHINE books + zines (the only zine store in Fullerton), I'm excited for the future of zines and small press publishing.  Like vinyl records, zines are a tangible and unique artform.  I took some photos at yesterday's event...

 

 

 

 

Here are some of the new zines and books I picked up...

 

 

 

 

One of the cool things about zines and independently-published books is that they tend to focus on topics that don't get a lot of exposure in mass media, like this book...

 

The "keynote speaker" was Latino cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, who got his start with zines, and now is nationally syndicated and is one of the writers on the upcoming animated show Bordertown on Fox.  Lalo signed my copy of his new book...

 Viva zines and independent print media!  If you like zines and other DIY stuff, be sure to come check out the next art show at Hibbleton Gallery and BOOKMACHINE, called "Scribbles and Scrawls."  This amazing DIY experience will feature interactive art and writing stations for you to not just see artwork and writing, but create your own!  This show will also be a zine release party for "Tightrope Walking With Delusions of Gravity" by John Carreon!  Plus, there will be a local selection of all new, hand-picked zines by Andy Anderson, Meg Gonzalez, Priscilla Moreno, Cinthya Nunez, Shawn Sandfer, Jesse La Tour, and others!  Artwork, illustrations, and curation by Virginia Sandfer.