Art, archive and community at the inaugural Oceanside Zine Fair

A new festival will make space for a growing zine movement in Oceanside this weekend, with dozens of zinemakers, artists, musicians and vendors descending upon The Hill Street Country Club — all celebrating an accessible, enduring, analog form of art and archiving.

Pronounced "zeens," as in magazine or fanzine — zines are a form of DIY publication, sometimes about a single topic or scene (though not always). Generally, the zine aesthetic has an unpolished look to it; obviously photocopied shadows and tape marks are a feature, not a bug.

And zines are defined also by who makes them: anyone who wants to. An artist's ability to create and share a zine doesn't depend on finding a publisher, editor, agent or gallery.

"Literally, it's the most accessible form of art that we can disseminate in our community," said Dinah Poellnitz, cofounder and artistic director of The Hill Street Country Club.

Zines have a rich history of sharing activism, fandom and art, and connecting communities long before the internet gave us instant sharing and connections. But zines have persisted as an enduring art form, as a tangible, analog alternative to the rest of our digital lives.

Brookes Reeder began making zines about 15 years ago. He's the founder of Lunchtime Printhouse and also organized the small-scale Papercuts zine art shows in the past with The Hill Street Country Club.

"For me, my favorite thing is that there's no rules. You can do whatever you want. You can make a zine about your cat. You can make a zine about your favorite band, or the skate scene in your town and share that with anybody," Reeder said. "In this time and age where everybody's taking pictures with their phone and they take a picture, and they see it, and then it goes away — this is a cool way to keep them and to share with others, and have something tactile in your hands," Reeder said.

He said that zines had their roots in science-fiction fan culture in the 1930s and 1940s and grew with punk and skate culture in the 1980s. Zines also developed into tools of political activism. For Reeder, fans are the foundation of zines.

"It's that DIY movement, do it yourself, where if you're a fan of something and it doesn't exist, you make it yourself," Reeder said.

Ten years ago, when The Hill Street Country Club hosted a group exhibition of Oceanside photography, Reeder suggested making a zine. They've worked together on mini-fairs and other zines throughout the decade, and zinemaking practice has been integral to The Hill Street Country Club's place in both the artistic community and the Oceanside community ever since.

To make a zine, Reeder said it's not really about art supplies or access to technology.

"The number one thing is imagination. And the number two thing is courage," Reeder said.

All it then really takes is paper, he suggested. You can hand-draw or print out your own photos, text or drawings, or cut up found items or magazines.

"As I said, there's no rules. Your zine can be five inches tall or it could be 12 inches tall and it could be out of cardboard, it could be out of canvas, paper, whatever you want," Reeder said.

This weekend's fair is a big step in putting Oceanside on the map for zinemaking and zine fairs.

Oceanside has a growing zine movement, partly due to the workshops through The Hill Street Country Club and the Oceanside Zine Library, a collaboration with the Oceanside Public Library — accessible to anyone with a library card.

"Every time we have an exhibition, we try to create a zine with (the artists), and right away we catalog it with the Oceanside Public Library because it has the same value as archiving with your historical society, and it's another way to legitimize your work, but also document your memories through civic identity and civic engagement," Poellnitz said.

That exhibition zine archive also serves as a historian for their organization, she said.

"It has archived and sustained memory for us through those analog experiences with the zines. So zines have been important for us in general. It just reminds us who we are, and it gives us an opportunity to reflect," Poellnitz said.

This weekend's festival is a two-day event. It kicks off Saturday evening with an "art opening" type party. Alongside zinemaker booths and a zine art exhibit on the walls, three Oceanside bands will perform: Cbarrgs, Shindigs and Micro Dos. The Saturday event runs from 6 p.m.-10 p.m.

Sunday, the doors open at 11 a.m. for a family-friendly full day of zines, art, workshops, artist discussions (including artist Akiko Surai) and a pop-up bookstore from Libélula Books.

Dozens of zinemakers and artists will display and sell their zines across both days, including Lunchtime Printhouse, Compás 88, San Diego State University Zine Club, Ellipsis Books, Bryan Tipton, Zines4Queers and many more.