Text and Photography Julian Lucas
It was a weekend of zine collectors, enthusiasts, and collectors of printed matter emerged from transitional quarantine to attend, Zine Fest presented by Curious Publishing and Cappuccinos & Drip coffee shop (Caps & Drip) located inside of O'Donovan's Restaurant & Pub in Pomona this past weekend.
The fest included around 20 print artists and artisans from the surrounding and local community, featuring notably, Hella Awkward Shop, John Dishwasher Zine, Cops are Robbers, and Cheyne Ellot just to name a few.. Handmade accessories by Orange Grotto, and Mirrored Society Books stepped up to the plate and showcased a small curated collection of imported photo-books from Europe, Mexico City, Japan, and Singapore, including Books by Los Angeles photographers.
It didn’t just stop at zines and printed matter, Christian Cuevas Caro led an exciting hands on workshop on the Cyanotype process. Which is defined as, a photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue print. Engineers used the process well into the 20th century as a simple and low-cost process to produce copies of drawings, referred to as blueprints.
It was definitely a beautiful time meeting and hanging out with fellow artists listening to music by Reneetalks sipping coffee by the homies from Caps & Drip and beautifully crafted cocktails by Pomona’s one and only P.town Social.
DID YOU KNOW
In various subcultures, zines have been a major media of communication. The oldest zine festival on the west coast dates back 20 years to the Portland Zine Symposium which began in 2001. The Los Angeles Zine Fest was established 11 years later, and was first held at the Last Bookstore in 2012. The Los Angeles Public Library launched a circulating zine collection in partnership with the Los Angeles Zine. LAPL states, “zine content can be personal, political, niche, artistic, visual—there are no rules! We have zines for all ages by local and international zinesters.”
Because zines have cultural and academic value, major libraries and museums such as the British Library and the TATE have also created a zine archive, again without any RULES! - HINT! HINT!
Julian Lucas, is fine art photographer, photojournalist, and creative strategist. Julian also works as a housing specialist which, includes linking homeless veterans to housing. Julian has lived in Chicago, Inglewood, Portland, and the suburbs of Los Angeles County including Pomona.
