The start of a new school year often marks a time in which many like to try new hobbies and clubs. A sense of community is often essential to one’s wellbeing, and this is especially important for students beginning their first year of college. However, sometimes finding the space where one feels they belong can prove challenging.
Maven Savage reflected on his struggles in finding his community, stating, “I was doing the freshman year thing, like, going to clubs and activities, but nothing was clicking.”
When he couldn’t find any existing spaces that felt like where he belonged, Savage followed the advice that his mother gave him: “Do something that you want to do, and when you do, people will follow.”
Shortly after, Savage stumbled upon the Bend Zine Library in Oregon, where he was inspired to start creating zines of his own. And just as his mother predicted, Maven Savage’s founding of the zine collection titled “The World Through Our Eyes” not only gave him a space to be himself, but it fostered the growth of a zine community in Fort Collins and at CSU, creating a new artistic opportunity for connection and self-expression.
“At the time, I was just recently coming out, and I think I was really craving feeling seen,” Savage said. “It’s so important just, like, being seen for who you believe you are.”
Zines, Savage described, are different from regular magazines in that they’re produced independently and often noncommercially and can take many different shapes, sizes and forms.
“The part of zines that’s so cool is that anybody can make a zine,” Savage said. “As long as you have something to write with and a piece of paper, you can make a zine.”
Savage noted that zines originated in the 1930s as means of trading art, writing and personal perspectives in science-fiction fanbases. He described how zines now persist as “a way to spread information and art.”
Savage went on to discuss how a large part of the beauty of zines is the messiness and humanness of their creation.
“The point is that it’s very personalized,” Savage said. “(Sometimes) it looks messy or it’s not perfect, but that’s the fun of it all, right?”
The human imperfection of the artistic process is something that makes zines unique, especially in a world of digital art and artificial intelligence. “The World Through Our Eyes” strictly avoids any art or writing generated by artificial intelligence, choosing to focus instead on the character that comes through in human-made work.
“I think we’re already suffering from the loss of third spaces,” Savage said when discussing the importance of maintaining artistic communities during times of technological development and artificial intelligence. In an effort to revive an aspect of community that isn’t tied to technology, zines work to create a space of engagement through the arts and humanities.
“The World Through Our Eyes” features various contributors’ work in a space where readers can flip through the experiences of others. Additionally, Savage and contributors sometimes produce special editions, focusing on various subjects like femininity, big life changes, fashion, holidays and even political editions, giving community members a place to express their thoughts on different issues.
One special edition, titled “Rescued Reflections,” was constructed entirely of miscellaneous notes and drawings found around The Alley Cat Cafe and Fort Collins.
“There’s so much beauty in the small doodles and notes hidden in the margins of papers, often overlooked amidst the hustle and bustle of everyday life,” Savage’s preface on the first page of the edition reads.
Savage described how the project was never for profit — sometimes its production loses money — but said he doesn’t mind the sacrifice because it’s “a community thing.”
“Most of our submissions are upcoming artists,” noted Savage, who discussed how the zines create a space for contributors to get their art into the world cost-free.
According to Savage, the biggest contributors to the zines are typically CSU first-years, since they tend to be the ones seeking to get involved in the school community. He said he wants incoming students to know “it’s so easy to get your art in here.” Submitting to the project is accessible on the zine’s website.
Savage noted that he’s always open to new ideas from the contributors and that some of the special edition themes were created by contributors who wanted to make a zine of something that interested them.
“Basically, the zine is for everybody,” Savage said.
On his hopes for the future, Savage said that what he wants most is to see the zine community continue to expand. Savage hasn’t forgotten the place that motivated his project originally, noting how since the establishment of his own zines, he has sent copies back to The Bend Zine Library, where now some of his zines reside in the very collection that inspired him years ago.
Savage can be found annually at the Denver Zine Fest, and many editions of “The World Through Our Eyes” can be found on the bookshelves at the Alley Cat Cafe in Fort Collins.
He said he hopes that any readers who come across “The World Through Our Eyes” zines “find something that resonates with them.”
“Art is about making somebody feel something,” Savage said.
Reach Addie Mitchell at entertainment@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.
