Thursday 17 to Saturday 19 April, 2–4pm each afternoon. The workshops are free and open to anyone aged 14 and over

The Pier Arts Centre is presenting a series of ‘drop-in’ workshops exploring the world of zines and self-publishing. An open studio space with materials, information and inspiration will be available for adults each afternoon.

The workshops have been devised by gallery Intern Gillian Stewart, as part of her 13 week placement at the Pier Arts Centre, funded through the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. Gillian is a recent Illustration graduate from Glasgow School of Art and has moved to Orkney for the duration of her placement. She has a strong interest in storytelling, and keen to spread the word about zine making. For this latest project at the Pier Arts Centre she will encourage participants to develop personal stories and narratives and produce their own zine.

Gillian explained, ‘A zine pronounced ‘zeen’ as in ‘magazine’ is a self-published, small circulation, non-commercial booklet or magazine, usually produced by one person or a few individuals. Zines come in all shapes, sizes, topics, and formats. As an antidote to commercial publishing, zines are usually swapped, gifted or sold for very little. Zines are an area where creative people can speak freely to an audience beyond the gallery. This makes the world of zines new and exciting, as well as challenging. Originating in 1970s America in a culture of D.I.Y. and collaboration, their popularity has since sky-rocketed, with zine fairs and events proving hugely popular and happening regularly all over the world Glasgow Zine Fest having just been held on 29 March.’

Members of the public are invited to come along and create their own zine in the Pier Arts Centre’s ‘open studio’ specially created for the project. In the spirit of zine culture, participants will be invited to donate a copy to the zine library, pick up another zine to take home and help create a collaborative zine.

Gillian continued “Working with the Pier Arts Centre has been fantastic, as they make a real effort to make contemporary art accessible to everyone. In this welcoming spirit, we will be creating an open studio space for a few days where we would like to invite the public to come and learn about self-publication, make and swap a zine and explore an exciting, accessible and engaging medium. So come along and make a zine!” 

The workshops are free and open to anyone aged 14 and over. For more information, contact the centre on 01856 850209