The Collective Magazine: Issue 004

THE COLLECTIVE ISSUE 004 ISSUE 004

TEAM FOUNDER/CREATIVE DIRECTOR Chantal Vaca EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Adriana Vaca EVENT PLANNER Genesis Hinojosa CURATORS Genesis Hinojosa Adriana Vaca Chantal Vaca COVER ARTIST Angela Inez Baldus WRITERS Eunice Alpasan Katia Savoni Chantal Vaca LAYOUT DESIGN Sol Barrios Rusty Green Qaim Naqvi Chantal Vaca PHOTOGRAPHY Rusty Green Chantal Vaca

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Injustice

old ass asian man smoking a cig

Jason Goes to the Mall

Intimate Spaces

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Fish Fingers

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friends lovers etc.

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locals

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Scrolling

Family Portrait

Teatime for Baby

about 2 cry then masturbate. goodnight

Lucky in Love

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Melting Face

Creating around Stigma

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After Party Layers

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The Snow Bunny

a woman and her flowers

Silver Machine Shop at Twilight

Shed and Crane

Boy&Girl

DIY Till we die

string cheese go crazy

love.jpg

Emotions

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spring cleaning

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Body 2

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Meet the Artists 02

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ART BY EMMA SIELAFF Fish Fingers. (2019)

ART BY MAX HELLER friends lovers etc. (2019)

locals

adriana vaca

the market in moroléon has a cement floor that amplifies footsteps and greetings. around the corner and to the left you’ll see a woman with nine and a half fingers smiling with all the teeth she has left, cut fresh fruit, quick as dealing hands. place a cup in a bag, place the fruit in the cup in the bag to the very top, squirt lime, add salt. make conversation before serving. riddled with flies, moving through their routine of landing, loitering, surveying the local goods. running errands like everyone else, fleeing when a hand shoos them away from the fruit in the cup in the bag. they’re persistent, and i don’t blame them. like us, they crave sweetness and a place to rest after a long day.

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ART BY BRIAN COLLINS Lucky in Love (2019)

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Creating Around Stigma: Uncovering pain and empowerment through art Story by Eunice Alpasan

ART COURTESY OF SAFFRON BRUNO Busted and Blue (2018)

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW HEDERSON Portrait of photojournalist Christopher Capozziello

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ith the intent of keeping the photos to himself, photojournalist Christopher Capozziello began to document his twin brother Nick who lives with cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder that affects body movements and muscle control. The photos ranged from Nick sitting hunched over in a bathtub filled with soapy water to him on the floor experiencing a violent, seizure-like cramp as his parents attempt to hold him down in order to prevent him from hurting himself.

Some moments were quiet. Some were chaotic.

Capozziello captured them all. But it started to take a toll on his well-being. “I would look at these [photos] and I felt guilt,” Capozziello said, “I felt a lot of anger. I felt ashamed of being the healthy twin and so, those pictures early on reinforced those feelings.”

When Capozziello made the decision to share his story years later, he described the process of selecting and editing the photos as cathartic. Although the photos were difficult for him to look at, it ultimately allowed him to view his brother in a new light, “He’s more than just his pain. I was so stuck on that for the majority of my life,” he said, “In this unintentional way, these pictures helped set me free from all the guilt, anger, and shame.”

In times when it can be hard to have conversations about personal and sensitive issues, people turn to making artwork that helps them understand and cope with their emotions. The creation of such work can fill the void born out of the stigma of difficult subjects by fostering awareness, open dialogue, and reflection. These works provide glimpses into the stories of people so often hidden.

Capozziello has spent his entire adult life in the pursuit of storytelling. For him, it’s not about the pictures, it’s about knowing people. “The pictures that I’m more drawn to, that I push out into the world, have more to do with personal stories so we can understand something, maybe see something in a different way,” he said, “Sometimes, when we do that, we also understand ourselves a little bit better.”

In this pursuit of storytelling, Capozziello spent years photographing Monica, a young woman addicted to heroin. He captured her journey of dealing with drug addiction and her struggle to stay clean. He took photos of Monica shooting up with her friends, attempting to go to rehab after various relapses, and moments with her distressed family and abusive ex-boyfriend.

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“Photographs can be dangerous because I can show you a picture and your ideas about what I’m showing you can outweigh the truth of that photograph,” Capozziello said. In response to these concerns, he makes it a priority to convey people’s experiences honestly. He utilizes collections of photos of a subject to build context through a visual narrative. The opportunity to spend an extended period of time with subjects also helps Capozziello better understand them by nurturing a sense of vulnerability and familiarity. “With long-form storytelling, people can really open up,” he said, “Walls begin to come down. The masks that we wear begin to erode.”

Capozziello cites Monica’s story as one of his most difficult assignments. During his time photographing her, he faced various ethical dilemmas.

Reflecting on his time with her, he wondered, “Monica was the one putting the needle in her arm, but I was watching her do it. What is my role in that situation?”

The piece is a colorful portrait of a woman made from pencil outlines and ink. Her skin is a gradient, speckled mix of green, orange, and yellow. A vibrant red tint covers her lips and surrounds her eyes. The woman’s hair is comprised of brown and blue streaks. Dark blue ink drips from her scalp and down her cheek as she looks out with an empty gaze. “Women — when they’re abused, they’re seen as broken,” Bruno said, “I wanted to make a piece that showed that you’re still beautiful if you’re abused. Everyone deserves to be loved.”

Bruno wanted the anonymity of the woman in her art to convey that sexual assault can happen to anyone. She also hopes to start an art series which includes men who have been sexually assaulted to showcase their experiences. However, she felt it was important to tell the story of women first as she was inspired by the recent emergence of women coming out with their own stories of sexual assault.

“If we are really paying close attention, we might find something that’s unexpected and that’s the beauty of it all.”

Monica got pregnant. Under the belief she was clean, Capozziello discovered she started to use heroin again months before her daughter’s expected birth.

Capozziello reached out to various doctors, his ethics professor, and a New York Times colleague on whether he should call Child Protective Services. In a battle between journalism ethics and his personal morals, he ultimately decided not to call. He still has a hard time with the decision, “I wasn’t settled in my decision to not call,” he said, “It’s still uncomfortable.”

Today, Monica lives with her daughter Juliette in Connecticut and has been clean for seven years.

Saffron Bruno, a student at UIUC, spent five hours creating an art piece that was inspired by a mix of personal experiences with sexual abuse and of a girl she knew in high school who experienced sexual assault.

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She was intentional in creating an ambiguous piece that doesn’t overtly reference to sexual assault. Her abstract approach to the piece is meant to get people to think about its message and reach their own conclusions, especially in times when words can easily get shut down. “If something is abstract, you take the time to process what it means,” she said, “I don’t tell people it’s about sexual assault because a) they may not like it after that and b) it’s not my place to tell them what the piece means to them.”

While the process of creating the portrait brought back bad memories, she felt the message was important enough to work through that pain. Seeing the final product put a part of her at ease, “I feel like now was the time to do a piece like this because, at a point, you can’t just hold back anymore,” Bruno said, “You’re in a lot of pain and I don’t like feeling like a victim, so I wanted to create something that shows that I’m not afraid to say what happened.”

ART COURTESY OF GRACE SAVINA Dualities of Being (2016)

Grace Savina, a jewelry designer and mixed media artist, earned a master’s degree in Art Education at UIUC in 2013. Part of her research was on art therapy.

Art therapy is a practice in which people use art media and the creative process to explore their feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-

awareness, reduce anxiety, and increase self-esteem, according to the American Art Therapy Association. “I think art therapy is really much more focused on the process of what you’re creating and not necessarily the output,” Savina said, “You don’t have to be this really talented person to reap benefits from art therapy.”

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“Mental Greatness Art Show.” She wanted to provide a space for people who struggle with mental illness to express themselves and showcase their work, even if they weren’t professional artists. “I felt like it was really important because a lot of my life I have struggled on and off with mental health issues,” she said. “I’ve always been a really big advocate for talking about it and having dialogue.”

Some of the art on display related to the topics of depression, bipolar disorder, and trauma. Artists were able to remain anonymous in the case they didn’t feel ready to be identified. The art show received a great deal of positive reception, at one point even reaching its maximum capacity. The inconspicuous location of the art show also added meaning to how mental illnesses are viewed in society. “The Mental Greatness Show took place in the basement of a house,” Savina said, “It was symbolic for, ‘You don’t know that it’s there, you don’t necessarily see it, but it’s something that’s present.”

ART COURTESY OF GRACE SAVINA Anxiety Attack (2011)

Throughout her life, Savina naturally gravitated towards creating art in times of discomfort and stress. She even has a painting she created in the middle of a panic attack which hangs on a wall in her home. In being able to work through a panic attack with her art, displaying it in her home acts as a visual reminder of how she not only was in control of her anxiety but larger than it. Though not all art pieces have to be sacred and permanent.

On a particularly frustrating day, Savina was compelled to take an old canvas and begin to paint an abstract piece. She painted multiple layers, continuously transforming the piece, and finished it after two hours. Then, she threw it away. “There was something cathartic about spending two hours painting my frustrations and at the end, I got to just throw it out and move on with the rest of my day,” she said.

During her time in graduate school, Savina curated an art show relating to mental illness called the 13

Creating art that brings light to sensitive subjects forces conversation about the struggles that are ubiquitous in society, but are so often overlooked and unaddressed. Capturing and sharing the vulnerability that comes from experiencing pain through art can translate to impactful changes in people’s perceptions of these topics. While the process of producing these works can be uncomfortable and draining, what people can learn from them reveals more of the world and ourselves.

Capozziello brings light to people’s stories with his photographs. He emphasizes that we can discover these stories even in the least expected places. “I hold onto this idea that there’s a lot to life that we don’t get to see, and that’s what I’m looking for when I’m trying to tell someone’s story,” Capozziello said, “If we are really paying close attention, we might find something that’s unexpected and that’s the beauty of it all.”

ART BY FRANK VEGA After Party Layers (2018)

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ART BY RUSTY GREEN Injustice (2019)

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ART BY MADELINE FARACE old ass asian man smoking a cig (2018)

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ART BY PAUL KENNETH Jason Goes to the Mall (2018)

Intimate Spaces

Interview with cover artist Angela Inez Baldus

ART COURTESY OF ANGELA INEZ BALDUS Beach Boys Fangirl (2017)

Interview By Chantal Vaca 18

PHOTO BY CHANTAL VACA Angela Inez Baldus’ studio in Champaign, Illinois, last March

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ngela Inez Baldus is an artist and MA candidate in art education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. As a scholar, researcher, and educator, Angela is interested in understanding art as a pedagogical tool for education. Her current research project includes The Confessional, a mobile art gallery. Last summer, Walter Wilson, Design and Installation Specialist at the Krannert Art Museum and his team helped Angela design and build a gallery that could be disassembled and easily transported. Inspired by French philosopher, Michel Foucault, Angela designed The Confessional as a space to explore western societies’ culture of confessing as a means of seeking truth. Aside from examining this cultural practice, Angela is also interested in discovering how different contexts may affect people’s truths.

Although much of Angela’s work now focuses on exploring art practices as a method of learning, she still considers painting important. Intrigued by her work as an artist and scholar, I met with Angela 19

last March on a cloudy Friday morning at her studio in Champaign, Illinois.

When you say that you use art as a “pedagogical tool,” what do you mean?

“Pedagogy” is just a fancy word for the science of education. Typically it will be used in a context as a way of doing something, so an approach of teaching … The idea that I am interested in studying is how art or different art practices can be different ways of knowing and understanding knowledge.

It’s kind of theoretical, but it definitely has practical implications if you are doing things like social practice or if you’re thinking about this within a community environment.

How has using art as a pedagogical tool influenced your research?

Right now my research is about this giant disassembled mobile gallery space that I built, called The

Confessional. Basically, it can move into different spaces and have different art being shown inside of it. I’ve moved it into the Sip Yard (a beer garden in Urbana, Illinois). It went to Monaco, which is an artist-run space in Saint Louis.

When you described The Confessional, it brought to mind the confessional booth at churches, is there any connection to that?

I think there’s a lot of fear in that moment. Right?

Honestly, when I was thinking through the idea, I was thinking about some of the parallels between the historical uses of that term and the historical spaces that are called confessionals. I thought about how there is kind of this parallel for me as well – that kind of fear of being seen, but also being hidden. A lot of it was this idea of trying to create an intimate enough space that if you were to just go in and the art was all inside, you’d almost be alone with it, but then you could also come out and be on the social side too. But really, it just ended up being social and warm no matter what.

And maybe it was because there was this feeling that you’re not always on the inside.

Apart from The Confessional, I noticed that you paint a lot too, especially landscapes, can you tell me a little more about your painted pieces?

I was a BFA in painting in my undergrad. Painting has always been really important to me. I’ve always considered myself a painter. Even when I’m doing other kinds of work, I feel like what I know about painting a lot of times influences my decisions ... I spent some time in the Seattle area. My brother lived there for four years and so I did go out there for a few months and found a job at a flower shop and went hiking and did a lot of these paintings there. And I don’t know. I’ve always enjoyed landscape painting, but it feels very different when you are in a landscape. That was more inspiring to paint than something that I see around here. I’ve done a lot of figures and different kinds of things, but the actual landscape of central Illinois doesn’t hugely inspire me to want to go out and paint it. I love water and rocks. I think I like painting water

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANGELA INEZ BALDUS The Confessional (2018)

because there’s so much poetry in it.

Aside from your landscape paintings, your Fangirl series caught my attention, obviously because they were paintings of butts, but also because of the color palette and unique styles you incorporated. How did you come up with the series?

I made most of those the summer right before I came here. So where do I start? I think the way that I got there was a couple of different things.

When I was living in Peoria, Illinois, I was dating my ex-partner. He’s a tattooer and we would do these collaborative works together. I painted several butts then, and then he would do the designs on them. I really like painting the butt in that way. (laughs) I don’t know, maybe because it was just really fun and it was this weird, amorphous shape, but it was still very recognizable. So I was thinking about that, but then I was also thinking about some20

ART COURTESY OF ANGELA INEZ BALDUS First Fern and Moss Indulgence (2017)

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thing that we would do a lot together. We would go antique shopping and thrift shopping, and I would really get drawn to old appliqué garments. So like that little vest that’s up there (pointing to a vest hung on her studio wall) with all those little patches that are handmade and then stitched or glued on to that vest. A lot of those things would be really catered towards the individual’s interest it seemed. And so, I was thinking about that when I was making the Fangirl paintings because I was thinking, “Well, what if I made each of them wearing underwear that was themed so it could sort of be representative of this appliqué garment that I’m interested in.”

But also, there’s this thought back to my early childhood and character underwear. That’s more kind of what I was thinking of it as, like making these paintings that’d be representative of this power underwear. You could imagine wearing it and having all these little hints about a thing that you really enjoy in the world. I was using movies and music that I’m interested in, and then just representing them on the underwear. I would listen to the music of that band while I was making those paintings, and then I would think of things to represent.

ART COURTESY OF ANGELA INEZ BALDUS Joy Division Fangirl (2017)

PHOTO BY CHANTAL VACA Close-up of one of Angela Inez Baldus’ studio walls featuring an apliqué vest she thrifted.

ART COURTESY OF ANGELA INEZ BALDUS Sonic Fangirl (2017)

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ART COURTESY OF ANGELA INEZ BALDUS Scrolling (2017)

ART BY FRANK VEGA Family Portrait (2018)

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ART BY CLAIRE MOLENDA Teatime for Baby (2019)

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What makes you feel powerful?

The Collective Magazine visited a house show party in Urbana, Illinois, on March 30. We asked the attendendees what makes them feel powerful.

GRAPHIC BY CHANTAL VACA

ART BY BOBBY about 2 cry then masturbate. goodnight (2019)

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ART BY SHUA BARKER Melting Face (2017)

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ART BY PAUL KENNETH The Snow Bunny (2018)

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ART BY GIANNE GARCIA a woman and her plants (2018)

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ART BY BRIAN COLLINS Silver Machine Shop at Twilight (2019)

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ART BY BRIAN COLLINS Shed and Crane (2019)

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ART BY PASCALE GRANT Boy&Girl (2018)

DIY Till We Die Interview by Katia Savoni

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long the moonlit cobblestone streets of Urbana, lay rows and rows of quirky old homes.

Some take rest for the night, emitting a soft glow and hush from the windows, though from others, melodic thrumming energy exudes and beckons.

Sounds intensify step by creaky step towards the door where you’re swept up by the swathes of people in their element, some mingling, most boozing, and all swaying to the muffled noises from down below.

As you near the basement door, you feel the ground quake with intensity. Crowds of sweaty twenty-somethings cram in a musty old basement.

Moshing, oscillating, screeching, or simply stand-

ing still, intently watching the chaos. It’s within this underground frenzy where the magic happens.

This is the DIY scene. It is here where raw music is crafted, gifted to the underground community by local artists and performers. Ragtag, impromptu shows held in the basements of musicians and music lovers alike. Nothing to be gained aside from the thrill of losing yourself to music. It is here where I decided to delve into the unique perspectives of some of the musicians that frequent these DIY house shows.

PHOTO BY RUSTY GREEN The band members of the Ex-Okays pose together. From left to right: Donovan Thomas, Johnny Cummings, Dominic Folino, Elias Snyder, and Aiden Cahill.

Ex Okays Member(s): Johnny Cummings (vocals & guitar), Aidan Cahill (vocals & guitar), Donovan Thomas (bass), Elias Snyder (guitar), Dominic Folino (drums) Genre: Indie rock Based out of Chicago, IL

More happy than when they got there. And if we can do that, then I feel like we’ve succeeded.

How would you define the DIY scene?

Johnny: It’s a growing community.

Aidan: A constant influx of new people and bands.

Do you feel like you can experiment more at house shows since it’s more of a casual setting?

Johnny: Yes, definitely. We can get pretty rowdy at times. Donovan’s chucked his bass at the wall.

Dominic: He does that all the time.

Johnny: I’m not a stranger to crowd surfing occasionally.

Johnny: I also feel like with DIY there’s more room for error.

Aidan: There have been times where we’ve fully botched a song halfway through and then just kept going.

What kind of energy do you want to bring to your shows?

Donovan: High energy people having fun. I don’t want anyone to be sad.

Johnny: We try to bring a fun energy, but we also try to bring a safe energy where it’s like, “Listen, everybody be cool, let’s respect one another.” No one should feel scared at any show, anywhere. We just want everybody to feel safe and just have fun.

Dominic: Let loose. Personally, I want someone after we play to leave and they’re just like, happy.

PHOTO COURTEST OF WES HARMAN Wes Harman performing on The Morning Show of WCIA 3 News last February.

Wes Harmony Member(s): Wes Harman Genre: Singer/Songwriter Based out of Champaign, IL What does the DIY scene mean to you?

The DIY scene is everything about Champaign-Urbana that we were too excited to want to relegate to “official venues,” if you will. I would argue that those house venues are legit venues for sure, but we did it ourselves. When it’s run by musicians, you can set up all kinds of different shows. You’re not locked into a particular genre or particular business hours. It gives you a lot of freedom to be flexible with that.

Do you have a specific house you like playing at the most?

I like them all. I respect them a lot. It takes a lot of work to run a good house show and to run it consistently. There’s a level of hospitality that occurs as well. You’ve got people opening up their home for strangers to show up and make music and just get it out there. So, do I have a favorite? Not really. They all operate on the same echelon.

How would you describe your genre?

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I’m ascribed to what another local musician affectionately called me: “Weary hero music.” The stuff I write about are experiences that I have being a younger 20-something, trying to figure life out, it being a mess, nothing really going right. Trying to make music that cares about people. So when they show up they feel better for having been here, or less alone after having been here.

What kind of energy do you want to bring to your shows?

I tell people if they fall asleep during one of my sets I am honored. I want to create an environment where people can come with all their baggage, with no pretense to need to act like they have a ton of energy and have to have “a good time.” I really want people to feel like they have space to just exist while they’re there and to be cared for by the music.

CJ Run Member(s): CJ Run Genre: Self-defined genre-ambiguous Based out of Champaign/Chicago, IL How would you define the DIY scene?

The DIY scene is a bunch of young college students who decided that school wasn’t gonna be the only thing that we did at U of I. It consists of a bunch of different people coming together to create music venues and to have a community of art amongst the different musicians that exist on this campus.

Do you remember your first house show performance?

My first house show was Dec 2016. I was booked for a Pizza FM show and I played at The Swamp PHOTO COURTESY OF CJ RUN CJ Run performing at Beat Kitchen in Chicago, Illinois last, February.

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on Elm Street. That was my first time touching a mic at a house. It was a lot different to anything else I have ever experienced. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I didn’t realize how fun they were going to be.

In what ways do you find house shows different from larger scale venues?

House shows are literally the definition of DIY. It’s someone’s house, it’s usually in someone’s basement. I’ve noticed that because the rooms are less strict that there’s a lot more inspiration and substance flowing, so it is a very laid back atmosphere, sort of like listening to music when you’re with your friends.

You can go in with a more impromptu approach to your set, just because it’s gonna be with friends on a Saturday night.

What kind of energy do you want to bring to your shows?

I want people to dance. I love seeing people go crazy to a song. That being said, I don’t wanna just make party music with shallow lyrics. I want people to dance and think at the same time. I mainly just want people to dance and for people to feel emotionally connected to the music. I want people to leave and be like, “Yeah, me too.”

Today’s Children Member(s): Nick Arger (vocals & guitar), Rob Audino (guitar), Cameron Kern (bass), Alex McAfee (drums) Genre: Rock Based out of Champaign, IL What does the DIY scene mean to you?

Cameron: Honestly, house shows are more fun than playing real venues. I’d much rather play to a basement full of energetic kids than to a half-full room at a bar or something.

Nick: House shows are important because it’s a lowstakes environment to try new stuff. You can throw in an original song, especially something that’s really weird that people might not listen to normally, it can really blow some minds.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TODAYʼS CHILDREN Nick Arger, vocalist and guitarist of Today’s Children, performing at Canopy Club in Champaign, Illinois, in Nov 2018.

What kind of energy do you want to bring to your shows?

Alex: I like to bring angst on the drums.

Nick: Some of the songs are hard rock songs, so we want people to mosh if they want, but don’t like, throw people. Kinda let out some aggression, jump up and down, do something like that.

And then other songs that are totally not like that, that are more contemplative like, “In My Room” or “Existential Polyphony,” that are more psychedelic songs. I want people to think about something or zone out to it.

Alas, the inevitable end. The atmospheric thrumming fades as the last band finishes their set. Yet, the adrenaline still lingers as the crowd shuffles back upstairs among the land of the living. Here, the night doesn’t have to end if you don’t want it to. The DIY scene, an infinite cycle. Though constantly evolving, it will remain within the epicenter of that same old dingy basement and it is there where you will find us jamming forever.

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string cheese go crazy I have trouble being creative and sit for hours trying to write a poem out of scribbled down words that sit in my journal, each patiently waiting to be written but procrastination fills them with wonder of whether or not that will ever happen, whether or not they will forever live as tenants to the college ruled page, writing pulled me in at a young age and never let go leaving me addicted to the tools for the perfect high, smoking weed can inspire me to write but most of the time I end up with lines like string cheese go crazy or my fingers don’t even feel like they’re touching the keyboard when I type, that’s why my writing usually ends up being about how much I hate myself as I watch girls walking in four-inch heels down the street on their way to formals like a constant reminder that I’ll never be like them and asking myself why, I am scared that I’ll never make a living, scared of relying on my parents as I crash on the couch in the living room because we never had a basement, scared that instead of them coming to my room to yell about being up late that instead it’ll be about finding a job and how I should’ve known better than to waste four years in liberal arts I want to live in a quiet house in the middle of nowhere with a dog who I’ll name Charlie, the same name as the only boy who ever loved me but died in a car accident on his way to my house senior year, I’ll finally stop looking everything up on google because I’ll learn to live without constantly shoving my face in a screen when I’m bored, I’ll take long walks and go for a fika at the coffeehouse on the lake reading some book about love as I preach about being a beautiful strong independent woman who can move her own furniture, I’ll be a published writer who writes about who I thought I was going to be and how sad I was and it’ll all be okay because when I tell people I write poetry I’ll be able to pull out a book and show them this Mickey Garcia

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ART BY BOBBY + ELLIE love.jpg (2019)

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Exhaused

Manic

Overwhelmed

Tense

Insecure

Obsessed

Naughty

Sadness

ART BY TAYLOR CHISM Emotions (2019)

spring cleaning

adriana vaca

i cut my hair with the kitchen scissors. the strands fell itchy down shoulders, clung to the clavicle, rested between toes. tomorrow i’ll shower and, forgetting, use too much shampoo, then learn my lesson with the conditioner. when i flip my hair back, it’ll be a phantom limb. the space my soaked hair used to splat will be left waiting. afterwards i’ll glare into the foggy mirror, cursing myself for not having turned the fan on, and shape a window with the hand towel. the walls will weep for my foolishness. i’ll take a fine-toothed comb and produce a straight line down my scalp, parting the sea of a $3.99 box-dyed blunt-cut. comb the sides down til it sticks to my head like a toddler sticks to their father’s leg at the dentist, or a mother’s leg at the doctor, etc. the still-wet ends will form small droplets on toweled skin like beads of water racing down car windows and i’ll think about how i need to stop taking rain so personally. dried, it’ll tickle the back of my neck like a breeze or a pair of hoops that haven’t been worn in a while. down the street, the quick muted sound of a basketball dribble sets a beat for the entire neighborhood.

ILLUSTRATION BY RUSTY GREEN

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ART BY PASCALE GRANT Body 2 (2018)

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MEET THE ARTISTS

ANGELA INEZ BALDUS

Artist, scholar, researcher, and educator interested in the power of art to engage with people and things through exhibitions, education, writing, and pedagogical approaches.

Pages: Front and back cover, 18-24

Current favorites: vintage ceramics, a good bonsai, mango on a sunny day, and running errands alone.

Instagram: @adri.vaca Pages: 06,45 ADRIANA VACA

slurpin’ noodle n making doodles Instagram: @emma.makes.art Pages: 03-04

EMMA SIELAFF

North Carolina native, Brian Collins is a self taught mixed media artist who captures pop culture/ icons on big canvases using vivid colors and bold lines.

Pages: 07-08 BRIAN COLLINS

Max Heller is an interdisciplinary artist from Boston. He enjoys moonlit walks on the beach, sipping on piĂąa coladas and good calamari.

Page: 05 MAX HELLER

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FRANK VEGA

I create paintings that explore new ways of representing our bodies. I aim to create portraits that are dramatically different from one another by exploring different techniques and materials.

Pages: 14, 25

MEET THE ARTISTS Art keeps me sane.

Instagram: @rustll Page:15

RUSTY GREEN

MADELINE FARACE

PAUL KENNETH

Don’t think about the meaning. It’s not about the meaning! The things I make I make for fun.

Instagram: @clairee.bee Page: 26 CLAIRE MOLENDA

I’m an Art and Design student at UIUC and a believer that mindset and work ethic is everything. I keep creating because I want to do more, I want to be more, and I want to do good things.

Page: 16

My love for paint boarders on obsession.

With a magic touch, I conjure images that hover, frozen in a state of transformation.

Instagram: @paulkennethart Pages: 17, 31

Bobby is an artist!

Bobby hates olives!

Instagram: @jamthrill Pages: 29, 40

BOBBY + ELLIE

SHUA BARKER

There are more words that describe me and my art practice than able to be put on this page so I shall leave only one: human.”

Instagram: @art.by.shua Page: 30

48

MEET THE ARTISTS

GIANNE GARCIA

I enjoy the process of art and view it as a form of meditation.

Nothing brings present mindedness quite as effortlessly as the act of starting with a blank canvas and creating something of your own.

Page: 32

BRIAN O’NEILL

Brian O’Neill is a PhD student in sociology.

When he isn’t in the library you might find him wandering the dimly lit avenues of “Chambana” after class hunting for photographs.

Instagram: @billy.o.us Pages: 33-34

PASCALE GRANT

I live in two worlds: the world of design and the world of fine art. As a double major in Graphic Design and Painting, I find it fun to explore both and see how they contrast, inform each other, and even blend.

Pages: 35-36, 46

49

My poetry focuses on the concept of the self.

Through this I try to create a space where my readers feel heard and connected.

Page: 41 MICKEY GARCIA

I am an artist. I am a designer. I am a creator. I am a multitude of things involving the visual arts.

Instagram: @majestic_platypus Pages: 43-44 TAYLOR CHISM

THANK YOU

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