Join Vault of Midnight and Grand Rapids Public Library for a panel discussion with some of Grand Rapids’ finest zine artists.
Cody Flowers (Neighborhood Watch), Lydia VanHoven (The Bandit Zine), Frankie Johnson (Glass Crayon), Kim Nguyen (FLAP), and Scott Wygmans (Metal Heads) will discuss their art and how you can get started making your own zine.
Each artist will be selling their artwork at the discussion and will be available to sign copies and answer questions.
Meet the Artists
Scott Wygmans is a traditional artist who began his career illustrating album covers and tee shirts for underground heavy metal music and has since rose to work with some of greats like GWAR and Motorhead. Self publishing comics since the early 2000s, Scott has worked on numerous titles including Metalheads, Black and White Nightmare, The Adventures of Momo, and Party Pizza (R.I.P.)
Frankie Johnson is a non-binary illustrator who makes comics about their day to day and other sweet things. They are mainly found scribbling in a sketchbook or playing animal crossing. recent titles include HUNGRY and Glass Crayon.
Cody Flowers is a writer and artist from Grand Rapids, MI. He has been writing and self publishing comics for two years. He has worked on numerous titles including Neighborhood Watch and forthcoming comic book, Cause and Effect.
Kim Thai Nguyen is an artist and illustrator living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her work is heavily influenced by the things she loves, which include comics, games, cartoons, and food. Kim's recent titles include Mom zine, FLAP, and most recently a collection of food enamel pins each with their own accompanying zine.
Lydia VanHoven co-runs The Bandit Zine which is a submission-based, social justice-focused zine. Their zine strives to be anti-oppressive and inclusive as possible. They are committed to fighting: sizeism, ableism, cissexism & transphobia, sexism, heteronormativity & homophobia/biphobia, classism, racism, and so forth. Always free, always radical with titles including Radical Self-Love, Feminism, Gender Stories, Body Image and Sizeism, among others.
West Michigan Zines Collection
We'll also be celebrating the GRPL local history department's brand new West Michigan Zines archival collection. This is a devised collection of zines from the Grand Rapids, Mich. area and West Michigan. The library began actively collecting zine material in 2014 and continues to add to the collection. Included in this collection are a number of classic 1980s punk rock fanzines as well as modern zines which tend to be more art or politics focused.
You can find their collection of West Michigan Zines on 4th floor of the Main Branch.