Allow myself to toot myself

Well, we made it folks. We made it to the end of another year, for better or for worse. It of course can feel wrong or inappropriate to celebrate personal achievements when there are so many atrocities happening in the world, near and far. But our joy is our resistance, not to mention a remedy for hopelessness. I hope you’re finding some during this inconsequential, crumb-filled corner of 2024 (I write this in the last few days). Without further adieu, here is a list of what I’ve accomplished this calendar year!

I came out as non-binary!

Three cheers for living as your authentic self, and the vulnerability it takes to share our truth with others. I’m currently working on a zine about my coming out gender journey, but just published a poem minizine about it here.

I tabled my art at 8 different vending events:

This year I tabled at a Scranton Punk Rock Flea Market in February, Princeton ZineFest in March, Spooky Summer in June, Good Things Are Happening Music Festival in August, Burning Roses Music Festival in September, Pigeon Post’s HalloZine Fest in October, Philly ZineFest in November, and the Happy Skalidays show in December.

That may not sound like a lot, but this was the year I brought vending back! I only tabled a small pop-up at a local gift shop in 2023, so having a tabling event 8 out of the 12 months this year was a huge shift for me, especially as a disabled neurodivergent person with chronic pain. It feels weird right now in this liminal space, with nothing to be getting ready for, but I know I’ll be back at it by Spring, so I’m trying to revel in my downtime. I enjoy tabling and love talking to people about my art! If you ever come across my display, I hope you say hello, even if you don’t intend on buying anything. And please forgive me if I’m burnt out and overstimulated and can’t make much more conversation than a grunt. Just know I wish I could talk to you more.

I got my art into 3 new stores.

This year, I was able to start selling my zines and prints at a few new spots: The Shop at MCBA (Minesota Center for Book Arts) in Minneapolis, Pigeon Post in Scranton PA, and Evergreen in Wilkes-Barre PA. I also re-stocked at The Wooden Shoe Anarchist Bookstore in Philly for the first time in a few years! I continued consigning at South Street Art Mart in Philly, Cat’s Luck in Neptune, NJ and Quimby’s in Chicago. If you’ve got a favorite local independent bookstore/record store/quirky gift shop that you’d like to see my creations in, just request it! Either ask the owners if they can get artsnfartsnkris goods, or comment on this post a spot that you think would be a good fit for my work!

I showed my art in 2 group exhibitions.

I was so, so excited to be a part of Tossed Palettes & Scrambled JPEGs, a Frasier themed art show in LA in May. My Frasier Zine was finished in March and has received so many lovely reviews that make my heart beam to read! I honestly had no idea if I’d even sell one copy when I was working on it. I knew this 90s comedy was my special interest, but I didn’t think most other folks would care about my weird musings. If you’re still waiting to order your copy, through January 6th, I’m including a copy of Shake It Santa, my minizine about the best Frasier gift I’ve ever gotten, along with any sale of My Frasier Zine.

I was also asked to show 2 pieces in Pigeon Post’s First Editions Group Exhibit. Framing my original collages made them feel super special. I hope to be a part of more art shows in 2025! There’s nothing like seeing your work hanging on a wall alongside other amazing art to give you that shot in the arm of confidence and validation.

Another informal submission to a group project was a postcard that I made and sent to the Postmark Center for the Arts in Auburn, Washington. In August, they collected and displayed over 800 postcards made my people far and wide, responding to the prompt “What does community mean to you?” for their Connecting Communities exhibit. I tried to convey my longing for community, specifically queer community, when I made this piece in June.

I led 3 zine workshops.

In early 2024, my friend Jamie asked for help with a 10 week zine program at the local Active Adult Center (fka Senior Center). After some initial hesitation, I pitched the name Storytelling Through Art, and decided to give it a go. We had rolling participation, usually a few people, 8 or 10 at the most. They’re actually pretty saturated with craft classes at the Active Adult Center! Jamie and I took supplies and a zine library, and led folks through writing and drawing exercises, collecting everyone’s work, which we compiled for a final zine project. Jamie and I presented it on our last “Publication Party” day! It was fun to collaborate with my friend on a larger zine, and I loved seeing what the active adults came up with. Mostly I was floored at how many of the older ladies came into the rig already protesting, “Oh, I’m not good at writing, I can’t draw,” etc. And then they all turned around and busted out some incredible art!

I led my first virtual zine workshop through Sarabande Books’ Zine Lunch program in November. The topic was self-care, and I made my first slide deck for the occasion. Technology is not my strong point (“analog boy in a digital world”), but Google slides were actually pretty easy and fun to put together. I liked finding clip art to go along with each page.

Also in early November, I was invited to teach a teen zine workshop, which we opened up to all ages. I explained the history of zines to a group of 16 middle schoolers, showed them how to fold a minizine, and watched the magic commence! I love that I get to share my knowledge and passion for microwriting, art and self-publishing with folks of all ages! Hopefully they now have a tool for self expression that serves them well.

I made my 100th, and 200th sale on Etsy. In February and December, respectively. Here are some graphics from my Etsy wrap-up for this year.

I met Alison Bechdel. And got to see her speak about truth. I use the word “met” loosely, as speech left me when it was my turn to get my book signed.

I was part of 4 online co-working groups.

In February I signed up for one of Hope Amico’s Collage Classes; this one was focused on creating pieces for Februllage prompts. I only made two or three collages for these prompts, but I enjoyed valuable time in community and conversation with other collage artists, a first for me! It’s so fun to be surrounded by other artists who practice the same craft. Hope is fun and relatable as a teacher, and I reccommend their classes.

Through Homework Club this year, I was assigned the one and only accountability pod member that really stuck. Kirk’s an incredible collage artist and I love our twice weekly standing Zoom date to make art together, from opposite sides of the country. Put your hands together for accountability, folks! As a person with major executive dysfunction issues, its a godsend for me.

Another member of Homework Club, Melissa Dettloff, hosts an Upside-Down Drawing Club once a month. I joined and sometimes drew, but mostly savoured the company while working on random projects.

And during June I stumbled across a Pride Month master list of virtual events. This is how I found Enby Craft Night. It’s one of my favorite spaces, so fun and wholesome, just a bunch of people of all ages, living outside the gender binary and making arts and crafts together. Are you into co-working, in person or virtually? Let me know in the comments!

I designed a screen print.

The aforementioned Melissa Dettloff set up a fun collaborative project for her patrons on her Patreon back in March. We were all sent two transparencies to decorate however we wanted, then send back. Melissa then did her thing and sent us printed postcards with our own art, as well as mash-ups with eachother’s designs. So very cool! She always goes in depth explaining her process, so I know “did her thing” is quite inaccurate. Melissa isn’t on social media, so be sure to check out her webpage linked in the second to last paragraph!

I read 58 books.

Goodreads is not super social media share-able, so I can’t share them all with you, but some of my highlights included:

As well of, of course, all of the books I mention in Summer Memories But Make It Literary. Please tell me your favorite recent reads! I’m going to move to StoryGraph for tracking my reading, but honestly puzzling seems to have replaced reading as my current hyperfocus, so maybe I’ll set a yearly puzzle challenge instead?

Thank you so much if you’ve read this far, I truly appreciate your support and interest in my art news. My shop is running 20% off any orders over $20 through January 6th. What are some creative goals you’ve met this year? What intentions are you setting going in to 2025? I’d like to make more long form zines and cook food that didn’t come from a meal kit.

Wishing you a safe, serene New Years holiday, my loves.

Kris

my links

PS: How could I forget, I saw a Timberdoodle this year!