Image courtesy of JJ McLuckie
As our world becomes increasingly digital, physically printed objects take on greater meaning and significance than just the words or images they bear.
So go revel in a few at the St. Louis Small Press Expo this Saturday at the Central Library downtown. The exposition is a veritable smorgasbord of zines, chapbooks, literary magazines, poetry, comics, and other independently created printed matter.
The festival features more than 100 vendors from across the country, with an emphasis on local creatives. Expect to see finely crafted words, images, pictures and prose, presented beautifully.
“I think we have a lot of nostalgia for physical things,” says St. Louis Small Press Expo organizer Rachel Linn. “There’s a lot of culture around physical objects. We’re nostalgic for feeling things, feeling different textures. You can get printers to talk about ink and paper and the imprint forever.”
While the Expo is in its sixth year, it’s being run by an entirely new group, including Linn. She says the previous group ran it for half a decade and passed the baton to make way for new ideas. Most members of the new crew had participated in the past, either as a vendor or volunteer; they represent a wide range of literary and artistic styles and worked to be inclusive of styles and artists.
“We draw on our different knowledges to highlight people we know who are doing great stuff,” says Linn. “When it came to actual decision making, we were really into getting a diversity of work—human diversity but also a really big range of stuff.”
While the expo is open and welcoming to anyone, the artists themselves may be the biggest fans of what’s on offer. “Definitely the people who are vending are an audience for each other,” says Linn, noting that they appreciate seeing their contemporaries' work. Linn adds that the LGBTQIA+ community is well-represented among the vendors, and kids and indie-comics fans are a big part of the audience. She especially enjoys seeing aspiring artists, creatives sorts considering dipping a toe into the pool of writing or drawing.
“People come, and they see a table full of these comics that are really accessible, and they’re like, ‘Oh, I can do this!’” says Linn. “I want to reach the audience of people who don’t think they’re good enough to be an artist or writer.”
To that end, the expo is offering a suite of workshops. They’ll explore risograph printing, superheroes, photography and the nuts and bolts of creating and funding an inclusive project. There’s also a kickoff parting at the Contemporary Art Museum the night before, an after-party at City Museum, and a brunch and zine swap Sunday at St. Louis Art Supply.
