Among floor-to-ceiling shelves of graphic novels, Michael Grover stood out in his blue pants patterned in goldfish, complete with a matching tie.
Behind him, posters and string lights covered the walls as he taught his workshop on flip-o-ramas, a technique created by Dav Pilkey for the Captain Underpants comics in which successive pages can be flipped to create the illusion of a simple movement. Panel Palooza visitors followed along as he demonstrated.
Grover’s own comic, “Deeply Dave,” will be released in June after years of work — and three kids later, he joked. When 29-year-old Carly Shooster, the assistant director and instructor at the Sequential Artists Workshop, approached him about hosting a workshop at Panel Palooza, he thought it would be fun.
“Making art is a very independent, lonely thing,” he said. “So, teaching and doing workshops, it's nice to actually be around people and talking to people.”
Panel Palooza took place at SAW for the first time on Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. as part of Zinefest, a weekend-long celebration of zines, or mini magazines often made from a few sheets of paper. Vendors sold comics, zines, stickers, notebooks and prints of artworks at the event. Those selling their comics stood behind colorful tables displaying their work throughout the Gainesville Fine Arts Association gallery.
Shooster, who organized Panel Palooza, started planning the event in September after joining SAW in August. She asked SAW’s audience what they wanted to see, and she got overwhelming enthusiasm for a zine fest. Many tablers at the event said they had to travel to cities like Tampa and Jacksonville to show and sell their work.
“There are a ton of fairs here,” Shooster said. “A ton of craft fairs, and there's so many music events, and Gainesville really has an extremely thriving community but not a single zine fair.”
She started planning the event by applying for grants but ultimately turned to sponsorships from businesses and a group of volunteers. Shooster started attending various zine fairs around the country, hoping to find people who could host workshops or zoom sessions during the event.
Funding for SAW’s programs has changed following recent changes in federal and state funding for arts programs. Shooster said in the past, SAW has relied on grants to fund the organization’s in-person programs. Today, their digital programs fund their in-person programs, and some “reshuffling” has to be done.
“We have to cut back on publishing,” Shooster said. “We have to cut back on merch. We canceled our emerging artists and residents program, which is all in person and was paid for entirely by the state grant.”
Shooster said she views SAW as more than a place to learn about comics; it serves a diverse community of people, including transgender artists, artists of color and neurodivergent artists. The first day of Zinefest was hosted in collaboration with Mapping Trans Joy, an organization aiming to uplift transgender people by sharing international stories of trans joy.
Through Zinefest, Shooster hopes SAW’s presence extends to others searching for community. Many people don’t even know SAW exists, she said, and she wanted the event to serve as a form of community outreach.
“It's kind of hidden, but it's here,” Shooster said about SAW.
Andrew Kozlowski, a 44-year-old printmaking professor at the University of North Florida, highlights his art community through printmaking. For him, art is about collaboration. At his table, he sold not only his work, but the work of other comic artists he prints for.
He uses a unique form of printing called risograph printing, which he describes as “if someone took a screenprinting studio and smushed it inside of a photocopier.” Unlike a standard printer using three colors, risograph printers generate each color individually, like screenprinting. Kozlowski’s comics use his original colors, including “fluorescent pink” and “sunflower.”
When Shooster asked Kozlowski if he wanted to attend Panel Palooza after participating in several of SAW’s online events, he didn’t hesitate.
“It was a no-brainer to come,” he said.
Anissa Clark started making art when she was in middle school, but she didn’t start selling her work until recently. For the 25-year-old, the writing came before the art did. She remembers being encouraged by his English teachers to write stories and soon after started creating characters for the stories with his friends. Today, she creates interactive fiction games and films as well as zines and bumper stickers.
Clark said she believes there is no right way to begin making art, and everyone has their own path to becoming an artist.
“I'm excited for more opportunities for everyone to kind of come together and share what they're working on with each other,” Clark said.
Contact Juliana DeFilippo at jdefillipo@alligator.org. Follow her on X @JulianaDeF58101
Juliana DeFilippo is a first-year journalism major and general assignment Avenue reporter. In her free time, she loves to read and work on crossword puzzles.
