Zines by Simmer Projects
Simmer Projects is a collaborative curatorial initiative that produces exhibitions and zines with emerging contemporary artists in Houston and across Texas. Houston-based co-curators Kelly Johnson and Christopher Beer marinate slow-cooked creations, stirring sustainably-sourced ideas and ingredients together until the art soup is ready to be served.
WIP by SP
Fruiting Bodies
full color newsprint zine, 7x10”, 16 pages
Collection of femme mushroom monster collages inspired by the surrealist short story collection by Kathryn Harlan
Grind
color newspaper print, 5.5x8”, 16 pages
Explores the role of teeth in our lives—how these tiny tools serve as a microcosm of larger bodily and social experiences
Before We Were White
b&w, 8.5x11” classic 1-page fold
Encouraging white Americans to learn about their familial and community histories to act toward cross-racial solidarity and liberation - inspired from a course created by anti-racism collective White Awake
WIP by Ellen Phillips
"Held" is a zine that presents photos and drawings of abstract and representational depictions of physical and metaphysical things being held. What do we hold on to in our daily lives? What does it mean to hold something, physically or emotionally? Certainly, not everything can be held. What happens when we can't hold on to something any more?
"Fear Drawing" - a zine of drawing prompts and a collection of drawings inspired by fears and interacting with them. Fears can impact the way we navigate daily life and make decisions. I was inspired by a friend's prompt to draw a fear and then exactly overlapping, drawing myself confronting that fear. The drawings I made did not make those fears disappear; however, enabled me to take a step back and consider how I can shift my perspective of them. Drawings included range from serious to humorous.
"Plumeria Girl" - a photographic essay that documents the annual Plumeria Society of Texas' convention in Seabrook, TX. My mom and I have been going for the past few years - stems from my mom's collection of plumerias - some of her plumerias are as old as 27-28 years! The images included have been printed out and drawn on top of to emphasize and isolate specific moments in time.
"Wick" - a collection of collograph prints, poems, and scanned negatives. Central theme is around time, self-reflection, and awareness.
2023 Publications
Swamp & Sky
full color newsprint zine, 7x10”, 16 pages
Featuring photography of Houston area sky and swamp scenes, including original poetry about the swamp and sky as lovers
Disrupting Whiteness
b&w, 8.5x11” classic 1-page fold
Collection of information about disrupting whiteness and racism in everyday interpersonal relationships, created in collaboration with members of the Center for the Healing of Racism Houston.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO PRINT, FOLD & DISTRIBUTE!
[Folding instructions]
Exhibition Zines by Simmer Projects
Interior Interruptions exhibition zine
5.25x7.25”, 24 pages, bound with prong fasteners
Interior Interruptions (2019, Sabine Street Studios) presented new work by Marisa LaGuardia and Ellen Drew Phillips, transforming printmaking into expanded sculptural forms. Inspired by self-guided exploration, fractals, and reoccurrences, the exhibition highlighted the concept of multiples and varied perspectives. Printmaking emphasizes duplicates, echos, and overlaps. Interior Interruptions created a visual and conceptual dialogue between the repetitive ritual of printing on a flat surface like paper, and the act of replicating imagery across three dimensional space using mixed media.
This zine features a fold out cover, essays, poetry, and images of featured artwork printed on translucent vellum pages.
changing states of matter exhibition zine
4.5x6”, 16 pages, staple bound
Changing States of Matter (2018, BOX13 Artspace) featured new sculpture and installation work by Houston-based artists Hillaree Hamblin and Grace Zuñiga, who explore the embodiment of memory, narrative, and time through the methodic manipulation of materials. The artists interweave artificial substances like plastics, foam, and resin with raw materials like wood, metals, and thread, distilling poetic qualities from within. Animating these materials through ritualized processes of dipping, spraying, stretching, and molding, the artists carefully guide selected matter into new states of being.
This zine features essays, poetry, quotes from the artists and collaged imagery from the work featured in the exhibition.
dimpled, twisted & buried exhibition zine
8.5x11” classic 1-page fold with interior poster
Dimpled, Twisted, and Buried (2016, Fresh Arts Gallery) considers and embraces the strange, absurd, and excellent experience of inhabiting and maneuvering a physical form—one that absorbs and oozes, stretches and breaks, can be cuddled, molded, stitched, costumed, stripped, and shriveled. Though highly adaptable, our bodies require constant maintenance and care to endure weirdness daily. Ailments, injuries, secretions, ingestions, and urgent and lingering emotions compound with years of repeated bending, binding, twisting and grinding.
This zine features artwork from the exhibition along with a short curatorial essay, as well as a signature poster on the interior of the zine when unfolded.
breathe in gold light exhibition zine
2.5x4”, 14 pages, folded with interior essay
breathe in gold light (2015, New Door Creative) featured work in a range of media by twelve Mid-Atlantic women artists visualizing female bodies as conduits for transcendent spiritual experiences. The exhibition included figurative and abstract images of the female form, concentrating on portraits of individual spiritual practice, scenes of partnership, and depictions of communities unified by ritual.
This zine features artwork from the exhibition along with a curatorial essay.
