DIY ARTIST IN DALLAS, TX
Small overview of some of the artists at Dallas Art Book Fair 2024!!
Even though I have a BFA and I have been making art my entire life, I still feel like kind of a newb in the Dallas art community. I was living in Kansas City for all of college. When I moved back, I fucked around and worked at a bakery for 1.5 years which did nothing for my creative or professional development. I would say I regret that choice but it gave me a lot of creative fuel for when I would jump back into making art later. My first real show was Dallas Zine Fest 2023 at 24 years old. This is embarrassing for me because it adds to my imposter syndrome, and even though I’ve been making art my entire life and have a BFA I somehow feel like I’m not a real artist (I know, stupid).
The art community can be broken down into different subcultures. Some people are very into the fine art scene with showing in galleries, ect. Some people are very into commercial art and make work similar to KAWS, or make work that is very graphic design specific. Then there’s the DIY scene. I feel like a lot of emerging/small artists kinda fall in the cross-section of at least two of these. I think that the people that I have met fall more into the DIY subculture create work in artist-run spaces, and participate in more craft-oriented media, and I think printing and zine-making are mainly in this category (but ofc not limited to). I love this community. Everyone that I have met has been extremely welcoming and not gate-keepy which is something that I experienced from a lot of people in school. I loved all my cohorts in KC but we were constantly critiquing each other, and it was super competitive, which is a big part of art school life - so it can be kind of a beat down. But I think the Zine and DIY community in Dallas is super uplifting and I’ve appreciated that.
This article features people that I’ve met at a few of the Zine and Art Book Fairs specifically focusing on this year’s Dallas Art Book Fair 2024 at the Dallas Contemporary! If you were there and you weren’t mentioned in this article I still think youre cool there’s just too many people to mention and if I had more time I would feature everyone (ㄒoㄒ)
Please click on any of the images to see more art by the artist!
Brent Ozaeta
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じしˍ,)ノ
Someone who really exemplifies this is Brent! He is such an amazing artist and he does really awesome work and has even done artwork for Anamanaguchi! However, even though Brent is obviously the fucking shit he is so friendly and humble. I am always so honored when he says he wants to trade!!!
Bestu Friendo Co. (Chris + Raul) ‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚.
Next on my fangirl list is Chris and Raul of Bestu Friendo Co. Their company is essentially based on them being best friends which I think is adorable. Their lovable and pure friendship is contrasted with their extremely Krass and hardcore images of anime girlie’s tiddies, people being chainsawed, and weird chimera creatures. Of course, this is topped off by dynamic duo pairings of double Power Rangers. Their lewks combine Mexican Luchador aesthetic, with video games, horror, and late 90’s + early 2000’s cartoons. It just works perfectly. Plus they are funny as hell!!
Moriah The Artist ⋆｡°·☁︎
Moriah and I went to Booker T. together and were able to reconnect at art book fairs! She was always so cool and funny when we were at Booker T, and I’m glad our friendship was able to be rekindled. Her artwork is this beautiful combination of femininity, queerness, and activism. I appreciate how honest and raw her work is. A lot her her more performative work such as wheat pasting around the city of Dallas protesting Israel’s acts of terrorism has called back to RIOT GRRRL zines and The Guerilla Girls. I love the combination of 90’s feminist print work, performance art, and DIY culture, and Moriah is doing a beautiful job of putting a more contemporary filter on it!
Soft Spot Press (Kris + Gino) (◑‿◐)
Gino and Kris are really cool because they do a lot of work in making printing accessible for other artists as well as help educate them on how to use a Riso printer, which I think is a very noble goal! Gino also played a major role in organizing the art book fair and creating a space where artists could share their work with the community. Because I’ve delved into Riso printing I would love to take a workshop with them to be able to hone my skills more. I feel like I’ve already become such a better designer just by learning the process of how Riso works, and I would love to strengthen that even more! A workshop with them would be the next step! (◑‿◐)
Dwayne CARTER!!! (◕︿◕✿)
Dwayne if you’re reading this, I hope u don’t think this is agist, but I wish you were one of my grandpas. Dwayne’s artwork is unique from every other vendor at the zine fests and book fairs. I can’t explain why. It reminds me of XRA. His zines give the same vibe as falling asleep and waking up at 4 am and seeing a creepy ass adult swim commercial. I mean this in the best way.
CHRIS GREEN ಠ╭╮ಠ
Chris is prob the chillest person on earth. His works consist of vintage movie posters and photographs of things that feel authentically Texasy but from a different time. IF you want to know what living and being in Austin feels like these gorgeous 35 mm photos encapsulate that aura perfectly. His work reminds me of being in college and hanging out at a close friend’s basement after the party’s over.
I love the Anemoia that anyone could get from this work. His images feel like the perfect summer party.
Kid Kimchch + Transparently (CHIAN)
╰( ⊹o⊹)╮
These people are really cool and they are fun to talk to. Their artwork is also fucking sick. It’s kind of hilarious because their artwork is 50,000x better than any animation or art style I’ve seen from any current children’s animated film. I would love to see a video game or film made with their work. They also talked a little bit about things that are just real for most artists. Most of the artists at these events have full-time jobs and just do this on the side. And it is a lot of work! The reason that artists do this is because there is some weird driving force that makes us want to do this. Even if it doesn’t pay off. For a lot of people, the payoff is just being there at an event like this and being a part of the community.
So what does this mean for the art community in Dallas? I love that art-making feels accessible, especially with so many Riso presses in the city who are interested in education. The city’s art scene is more nuanced and people love collecting their work because you can experience it irl and hold it in your hand, and it’s cheap enough for most people to be able to buy and take home. I’m excited for the Dallas art community! Stay tuned to see what else is in store ♨(⋆‿⋆)♨
Preparing for Dallas Art Book Fair (Re-Upping my Dragon Gocco Zine)
Preparing for the zine festival or art book fair is half the fun. Before I started participating in the zine or art book fairs myself, I would watch Olivia from Pindot Press make vlogs about the experience and it would be so funny because now that I am actually experiencing it, it's so relatable. She would say something like -
“It’s Thursday now, the book fair is on Saturday. My friend and I are going to be up printing all night, go to our day jobs Friday, and then Friday night stay up all night cutting, binding, and laminating so we can show on Saturday.”
I’m sad because I really like her videos and she doesn’t really vlog anymore… Olivia if you see this… I MISS YOU!!
The time crunch is too real and too funny.
Luckily I am able to work ahead of time a little bit more this go around for the Dallas Art Book Fair, so I won’t be up all night long the night before the actual fair. Buying a Cricket has really helped me speed my process along, so it was honestly really worth the investment. It also allows me to make more interesting edges for this restock of my Dragon Gocco Zine.
I also understand the printing process a lot better now, so my learning curve is nowhere near as steep as it was. I can just get in the assembly line zone, and enjoy the making process. The process that I use for this Zine in particular is a process called Gocco Printing, which is the Japanese word for make believe play - which I just love. Gocco Printing is a mini screen printer that’s great for making mini zines because of the B6 screen size. It DOES have some downsides, however. For example, the screens are mainly one-time use, so it’s best to do all your printing at once. It also requires single-burn bulbs, which are pretty toxic (as in they burn hella fumes) and kind of wasteful. Finally, the brand RISO no longer makes Gocco products so brand-specific screens, inks, and bulbs are hard to find and expensive. So don’t go trying to buy them all up because I need those lol. They are perfect for making tiny little zines, though and I love this process way more than the 1 page fold method.
I love getting to the point with stuff where you can do it as 2nd nature. But getting to that point is very stressful and takes a lot of perseverance with anything. People always say “omg art is so relaxing. Lol no its fucking not. It’s relaxing once you can get into the flow state, but that comes with lots of troubleshooting, challenging yourself, and learning new things FIRST!!!
Playlist 3.11.24
Amateur Galaxy Weekly Playlist 3.11.24
Bruh Moment…
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Terry vs Tori ; David Alonso
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A Beacon School
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Luna Li
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A Seer Told Me What Would Happen in March…
An overview for what’s coming in March!
I am really excited to share my work in some really awesome DIY - artists-run events. I will be sharing zines in Dallas Art Book Fair + Riso Rama’s Paradiso! So honored to show work alongside some really amazing talent.
Come experience a workshop at Oil and Cotton! Transform a small space in “Small Sculpture: Dioramas Workshop”
Digital Art: Sticker Making Workshop 2.24.24
Quick recap of today’s digital art exploration through sticker making at Oil and Cotton!
I’m glad I was able to teach a sticker-making workshop at Oil and Cotton to share Photoshop skills and prepare files for dicutting!
Here are the skills we learned:
1. Eating yummy snacks 😜
2. Diverging ideas for design creation
3. Using Adobe Capture to convert images into vectors
4. Using Adobe Photoshop to add layers of color to complete images
5. Export Files for dicutting
6. Learning to prepare sticker sheets with laminate and send them through the dicutter!
The students were very creative and patient learners and I am so happy with the work they created! Learning photoshop can be daunting at first but they truly did amazing! People were approaching this from all skill levels, and I think everyone did great! I hope to stay connected with them. I hope to be a resource people can use. <3
Here are future workshops + events I hope to see you at!
Boyfriends Get off The Stage!
Women musicians love playing music with other women! Here’s why!
I’ve been a musician for about 12 years. I went to a performing arts high school for guitar and played in multiple bands, playing around town, and even got to tour a couple of times, with my main band The Bombs! I’ve noticed, by just a personal census, that band demographics have always seemed like girl singers with boy bands. You can have a band as long as there are boys in it to back you up. It’s not that there are no female musicians, there are just not nearly as many in the contemporary music world. Even when you think about mainstream pop music. There’s The Go Go’s, Prince’s band, The Revolution, and also HER, who’s fucking amazing (to name a few). There are tons of girl singers, but not really girl bands, or at least not enough to make it a regular norm. 
This year at the Grammys, Boygenius won Best Rock Performance and accepted their award wearing white men's wear, black Chelsea boots, and a pink carnation. A fashion statement commenting on the male-dominated competition in their category. After winning Phoebe Bridgers then ROASTED Neil Portnow, the former CEO of the recording academy, because 1. He is most likely a sexual abuser 2. He stated that women need to step up to the plate to be recognized! I don’t have any sources beyond Pheobe Bridgers, but honestly fuck that guy. It is very believable because (not exaggerating) all female artists have experienced this to some extent. Woman Singers - it is not out of the “norm” for a band to be front-manned by a woman. However, to get to this spot and shine female singers are often pressured by producers and other people in the industry to be flirtatious and submissive. Also if the band backing her is female, she is not treated with the same level of respect that a woman who is backed by male artists. Woman Instrumentalists - Just fuck Neil Portnow. EW. There are plenty of mediocre male instrumentalists that have countless accolades. John Mayer comes to mind… But the famous mainstream female instrumentalists that I can maybe count on both hands had to work twice as hard to get the recognition that they deserve. Also, I know plenty of female singers who can play an instrument but decide to just sing because the instrument was taken out of their hands by a guy. 
There was one very notable time when I was playing with my girl gang band, The Bombs, where this douchebag who was working sound approached us while we were setting up our stage. When we were ready to do soundcheck, he hollerED at us, “girlfriends off the stage NOW”. We looked around super confused because we weren’t sure what he meant. He looks at us disapproving and sassily pointing down like “get off”, not realizing we were THE BAND. We’re not asking for a lot, but it's 2024 and it's still somehow considered an astonishing accomplishment when a girl group wins best rock performance. also, we would like for people to assume that we’re the band if we’re on stage setting up. And we would like to not be sexually harassed. I am also white. What is it like for female musicians dealing with cross sectionality of experiencing multiple types of oppression by these fucking guys? I’m sorry ladIEs!!! 
On the flip side, playing music with other women is extremely refreshing. It is very supportive, and we have trust that another woman is actually capable of doing something, whereas I feel like men a lot of the time assume that we need help or just simply can’t do it. It’s a space where we listen to each other. This past weekend I played with an amazing group for Dharma, playing her new song, “Nobody Special” for NPR’s Tiny Desk audition. I was beyond happy when Dharma said she wanted to sing and play drums simultaneously. It was a very, “Fuck yes, we can do anything” moment. When we were playing I knew we sounded great, and we were all women, and we knew what we were doing. So, yes, Neil Portnow GO FUCK YOURSELF!!
Members:
Dharma Kikkeri ~ Lead Vocals + Drums
Nina Marguglio ~ Bass
Melody Tang ~ Keys
Kenley Turner ~ Guitar + Backing Vocals
Special thanks to Alex Owens of Pure Life Recording
Tuition:$75
Supplies:$20
Lets Drink Tea, Eat Snacks, + Paint!
Discover the unique beauty of granulating watercolors in this immersive class, where students will learn specialized techniques to create rich, textured washes and dreamlike effects. Using Gansai Tambi’s granulating watercolors, we will explore blooming techniques to bring depth and texture to our paintings. Students will be guided through the process of creating an ethereal, fantasy-inspired dreamscapes, embracing the unpredictable and organic nature of watercolor.
This class is perfect for both beginners and experienced painters looking to expand their skills and experiment with expressive, atmospheric painting styles. By the end of the session, students will have created an artwork and gained the confidence to continue exploring granulating watercolors at home. Each participant will also receive their own Gansai Tambi watercolor set, ensuring they can continue their creative journey beyond the classroom.