Twenty-two Mount Vernon students were able to share their opinions, viewpoints, and art with their self-published zines as the capper for the Creative Collaborations class for J-Term.
Instructors Bonnie Ahrens and Tawnua Tenley were offering the class for the second time.
“We had been looking for a way to blend creative writing and art together, and the zine format allowed for that to happen,” Tenley said.
As part of the class, students were able to visit local art galleries and museums, including the Stanley Museum of Art in Iowa City.
“We were also able to browse through some of the Zine collection that the University of Iowa holds to let students get to experience those,” Ahrens said.
Students also were able to work with Mount Vernon poet laureate and Cornell College professor Scott Russell Morris for a synesthesia poetry workshop.
Students were able to visit Luce Art Gallery at Cornell College and see the work that goes into putting up the artwork for a coming art show.
And then students were able to work on their own zines on different topics, and then a collaborative zine with each student contributing a page.
Collin Clark made short stories about the adventures of Detective Teddy Bear in his two Zines.
“I just thought the ideas of evil stuffed animals was cute to explore,” Clark said about the project.
Clark said he chose the class because he loves taking classes with Bonnie Ahrens.
Ashlynn said what she learned most was zines can be about any topic the author wants to explore.
“It’s a chance to read about or from authors you’ve never heard of before,” Ashlynn said.
She said the projects pushed her creative limits.
‘I found I’m better at speaking about my works, not necessarily writing about them,” Ashlynn said.
Heath said that the idea for his zine “Pets I’ve had” was more just about wanting to be with his cat.
“I loved the freedom to write about anything I wanted to write,” Heath said.
At Fenn Jones and Hazel Danielson’s table – the opinions on best and worst foods were presented in zines.
“I was really just struggling with what to write about, and saw Fenn’s zine about best foods,” Danielson said. “And that made me go ‘well, our opinions line up on a lot of things, so I’ll focus on the bottom six foods in my opinions.’”
And some of those opinions, like ranking a mashed potato on the list of worst foods, stirred up some controversy.
“But that’s the beauty of a zine,” Ahrens said. “They’re a space for you to share your opinions and spark conversations.”
Both Jones and Danielson said that they had heard this class was being offered again this year when they were ninth-graders, and knew it was a class they wanted to take.
“I love art and writing,” Jones said.
Both also said that the ability to visit art museums was something they absolutely enjoyed.
For Tenley and Ahrens, having the group project and students to share their projects is something they absolutely loved this year.
“Two years ago when we offered this class, we had so many snow days that it canceled that final project for students,” Tenley said. “Having this ability for students to share with the community is what we wanted from the class.”