Judy Adams, director of Kid's Arts a free, community art program in Ventura, attended one of our poetry readings at Camarillo State Hospital and afterwards asked if I would teach at Kids’ Arts in downtown Ventura. Judy is a super-sweet, hardworking, caring and very persuasive woman sporting just the right amount of drawl from her home state Kentucky to sweeten the delivery. I was hesitant, but after a few conversations I caved. I asked her if I could teach an afterschool zine workshop for high schoolers. She said, “That’s great! When can you start?” It was only after we talked about a contract and security clearance that she said, “What is a zine exactly?”
I made a flyer and put it up around town. The day of the first workshop, I sat in an empty classroom used on the weekends to teach a free art program for little kids, the two long tables scarred with crayon marks, mystery substances and shoeboxes full of safety scissors and nubby colored chalks. After about an hour, in walks my first student a diminutive pretty girl—slightly glum, about 15, sweet shy smile, some red dye in her long black hair, lugging a sagging backpack, a skateboard under one arm and a heavy wrist-cast on the other. We talked for a while about punk bands and zine stratagies. She told me she would bring some more kids next time. Her name was Mickey. Her art graced the front and back cover of Issue #1 of Only a Flesh Wound a name the kid’s and I brainstormed together. We hand-silkscreened a t-shirt with the cover art on both sides. We took a couple of trips to LA museums. At The Hammer Museum, we watched Buddhist monks, wrapped in saffron robes, one shoulder bare, painstakingly create a sand mandala, which they told us they would ritualistically dismantle when finished, place in a jar and empty into the ocean.
Jenny Stewart, the original owner and creator of Zoey’s Café was a dedicated supporter of Kids’ Arts and sold our zine and displayed and sold the kid's art in her restaurant. She also hosted a hair-dye party that she and I dreamed up. Although, there were, understandably, quite a few no shows, I would say it was our coolest and most auspicious event. These days Mickey aka Michele is a graphic artist working in Los Angeles with her husband Wes. As of this writing, in a short while they will be having a future skateboarder themselves. I’m glad I said yes to Judy.
Only a Flesh Wound #1
Kid's Arts Press, Ventura 2000. 5 x ½ x 8 ½ 26-page paperback stapled. A Zine created in the hallowed after-school Kids’ Arts Room in The Livery, Ventura, CA. Cover art by Mickey LeClerc
Only A Flesh Wound #2
Kids' Arts Press Ventura, 2000. 5 x ½ x 8 ½ 26-page paperback Edited by student Jill Stall AKA Jen Sylvester.
