New London skyline. Adobe Stock #425566849.
NOTE: This project was conducted as part of the CIS 668 (Social Justice and Inclusion Advocacy) class during fall 2023. This analysis and event planning in collaboration with Magik Press of New London, CT focuses on working class artists and zinesters. For more information, please explore the menu. On this page, I present information about the studio I am working with and where they are based.
Environment and Setting
This project takes place in the context of New London, Connecticut. New London is a small city in the southeast corner of CT, in New London county. The 2020 Census records the population as 27,367 people. It was one of the major whaling cities in the 19th century and still keeps an investment in the ports as home to the United States Coast Guard Academy. Connecticut College is also based in New London. During my studio visit to Magik Press, Aly described New London as a "scrappy" place and that its small size leads a more familiar community than the designation of city would lead most to believe. New London is also home to the United States Supreme Court case Kelo v. New London, which further defined emminent domain and the power of the government to seize land (Oyez, n.d.). On a similar note, Benedict Arnold's betrayal of the revolutionaries took place in colonial New London. Some of Aly's art education with youth in recent years has involved revitalizing empty storefronts that have yet to see new business, as the city was not immune to the economic troubles the pandemic brought.
Organization Profile: Who and What
Magik Press is a studio and micropress run by Aly Maderson Quinlog (xe/they), who is an artist, musician, community organizer, poet, and educator. Quinlog’s hometown is Charleston, SC and they’ve resided in New London for over a decade. The studio as a micropress means that editions are 50 copies or less for most runs or books, zines, and prints; foci include paper arts, cyanotype, and artist books. The studio also provides art education/workshops, along with a community space in the Un*Named Zine Library. As a small business and community library, Magik Press answers to the city of New London and relies heavily on the offerings of CT Office of the Arts and CT Humanities. This provides freedom as a business because there is no need to worry about making sure the needs of employees are met alongside the owner. However, as contextualized in the project Scope and Plan, trying to get grants on one’s own can be a painstaking process for Aly and other artists. Grant writing is often a defined role in a workplace. Another challenge in working largely alone is the lack of diverse perspectives in decision processes for something targeted towards community. During my initial studio visit, Aly stressed xer desire to see the diversity of the CT art community in more public events. Regarding representation, it includes understanding positionality as a white non-binary person with many other intersectionalities. For empowerment of others, it includes being aware of current attitudes and public opinion of public art’s accessibility (Tartari, 2020). This includes the thoughts of art enthusiasts and those who do not self-identify as artists.
Organization Profile: How
When interviewed by the New Haven Independent in July 2023, Aly mentions making every zine not only a publication, but a fundraiser (Polak, 2023). By donating towards causes such as protection for domestic violence survivors or support for Gazans, Magik Press aligns work with personal social justice values. For education, all age groups are welcome to workshop offerings. While it is not within the studio’s means to have free workshops, Quinlog also works with art programs for local teens and college students (Detelj, 2019). In an effort to embrace the low cost and high creativity of zine-making, Magik Press also hosts a zine club in the library and a community print shop is in the works. The studio Instagram page has a repeated message of “artists for artists” advocacy. An anarchist approach and casual, attentive openness to feedback is seen throughout posts simply asking people to comment on xer thoughts, submit to upcoming compilation zines, or suggest ideas for use of the zine library. This extends to my interactions during studio visits.
Detelj, T. (2019, July 31). Teens use art to spruce up empty storefronts. WTNH. https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/new-london/teens-use-art-to-spruce-up-empty-storefronts/
Kelo v. New London. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved December 15, 2023, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/2004/04-108
Tartari, M. (2020, June 4). Public Art as an Open-Access Structure of Knowledge Production |. Flash Art. https://flash---art.com/2020/06/public-art-as-an-open-access-structure-of-knowledge-production/