Wrexham is a small place, we all know that. But what everyone might not know is there’s a huge, bustling art and music revival happening in our very own town from amazing art exhibitions to music projects that are garnering global recognition.
Pushing Too Many Pencils and Neat Sleeper are zines that have been produced in Wrexham that put together collections of artists and writers work, showcasing what is out there from Wrexham and beyond, and for free. These zines have been available in countries ranging from Wales to America, exporting globally what we have on offer in this little Welsh border town with huge success.
Zines come in a range of different sizes or shapes. Generally they are a self-published small magazine, pamphlet or leaflet, generally centred around a specific topic and produced in small quantities.
Zines have been in circulation since the first printing presses kicked in to action. They range from pamphlets and leaflet styles circulated in 18th Century psychiatric institutions to playing a large part in freedom of speech in political activist movements, particularly of the seventies in circles such as the Baader Meinhof Gang (Red Army Faktion).
The culture of ‘zine’ facilitates the sharing of information and champions the freedom of speech. They are unrestricted by overbearing print houses or sponsors having the final word on whether the content would sit well with ‘the money people’. For an artist it can be a public sketchbook to try out new styles and techniques with the possibility of feedback and gaining new contacts.
If glossy, upmarket magazines are the dancing, label wearing, ‘life and soul’ of the party type, zines are the ‘will join in and have a laugh’, sit on the periphery, wont talk about themselves type, until asked, to which they become the most interesting person at the party and maybe your new pal.
A zine wont push loads of adverts in your face trying to get you to buy the best spot cream from a certain shop at a certain time, it will assume you already have made your own mind up about your skincare routine and wont need an airbrushed model to try and sway you. Most zines are free, which really shows the ethos of the movement and why it’s having such a resurgence of late. They are a labour of love rather than a money making scheme and with the way they are often made up, with such care and attention, this really shows.
The zine movement has risen and fallen over the hundreds of years it has been going but one factor will remain constant: anyone can do it. Its not a ‘phase’ to go through or stamped with age restrictions, anyone can produce one and put it out there the only pre-requisite is to do it on something you care about.
Zines are a great source of information on specific topics and an inexpensive way of finding out about something of interest or even for just simply passing the time with a brew. So if you ever see a little zine pick one up, you might love it, if you don’t, leave it somewhere for someone else to pick up.
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Pushing Too Many Pencils’ second issue will be out at the end of August, all submissions welcome, send to sianio@hotmail.com.
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Lle go fychan ydi Wrecsam, fe ŵyr pawb hynny. Ond yr hyn na ŵyr pawb, mae’n siŵr, ydi bod adfywiad cerddorol a chelfyddydol egnïol, anferth yn digwydd oddifewn i’n tre’ ein hunain – o arddangosfeydd celf anhygoel i brosiectau cerdd sy’n denu sylw byd-eang.
Mae Pushing Too Many Pencils a Neat Sleeper yn ddau gylchgronyn sy wedi’u cynhyrchu yn Wrecsam sy’n hel casgliadau o waith artistiaid a sgwenwyr, yn arddangos yr hyn sy ar gael allan gan Wrecsam a thu hwnt, a hynny yn rhad ac am ddim. Mae’r cylchgronynnau wedi bod ar gael mewn gwledydd yn amrywio o Gymru i America, yn allforio ledled y byd yr hyn sy gennym ni i’w gynnig y dref fechan Gymreig ar y ffin, a hynny gyda llwyddiant mawr.
Mae cylchgronynnau’n amrywio yn eu siâp a’u maint. Yn gyffredinol, cylchgrawn, pamffledyn neu daflen fach, hunan-gyhoeddiedig gewch chi, fel arfer yn canolbwyntio ar bwnc penodol a dim ond niferoedd bychain yn cael eu cynhyrchu.
Bu cylchgronynnau mewn cylchrediad ers cychwyn y gweisg argraffu. Yn amrywio o steil pamffledyn a thaflen sefydliadau seiciatryddol y 18fed Ganrif i chwarae rhannau blaenllaw yn rhyddid barn y mudiadau gweithredu gwleidyddol, yn enwedig yn y saithdegau mewn cylchoedd megis y Baader Meinhof Gang (Red Army Faktion).
Mae diwylliant y cylchgronyn yn hwyluso rhannu gwybodaeth ac yn chwifio baner rhyddid barn. Dydyn nhw ddim yn gaeth i hualau gweisg dylanwadol na noddwyr sy’n mynnu cael y gair olaf ar ba un ai fyddai’r cynnwys yn dderbyniol gyda ‘phobl y pres’. I artist neu berfformiwr, gall fod yn gyfrwng cyhoeddus i fentro dulliau a thechnegau newydd gyda’r posibilrwydd o adborth a denu cytundebau newydd.
Os mai cylchgronau sgleiniog, poblogaidd ydi ‘curiad calon y parti’ – allblyg, gweladwy, clywadwy ac yn mynnu sylw, y cylchgronyn ydi’r ‘fe ddo’ i’n gwmni’, eistedd ar yr ymylon, mewnblyg, di-nod … hyd nes i rywun ofyn eu barn -wedyn nhw ydi’r mwya’ diddorol i’w nabod a chyfaill newydd o bosib.
Bydd cylchgronyn ddim yn hwrdio llwyth o hysbysebion yn eich wynebau gan hyrwyddo’r deunydd gofal croen penodol mewn siop benodol ar adeg benodol – bydd yn tybio eich bod eisoes yn nabod eich croen eich hun yn ddigon da ac nad ydych angen model ffug-berffaith i’ch argyhoeddi. Mae’r rhan fwya’ o’r cylchgronynnau hyn yn rhad ac am ddim, sy’n dangos gwir ethos y mudiad a’r rheswm am ei adfywiad diweddar. Llafur cariad ydyn nhw yn hytrach na chynllun gwneud pres ac mae’r modd y caent eu cynhyrchu, gyda chymaint o ofal a sylw i fanylder, yn dangos hynny.
Mae’r symudiad y cylchgronyn wedi codi a disgyn dros y canrifoedd y bu’n bodoli, ond mae un ffactor sy’n aros yn gyson: gall unrhyw un ei wneud e. Dydi e ddim yn fater o ‘gyfnod’ i fynd trwyddo na’i lethu gan gyfyngiadau oedran; gall unrhyw un gynhyrchu un a’i gyhoeddi – yr unig ragofyniad ydi creu un ynglŷn â rhywbeth sy’n agos at eich calon.
Mae cylchgronynnau’n ffynhonnell wych o wybodaeth ar bynciau penodol ac yn ffordd rad i gael gwybod am rywbeth o ddiddordeb neu hyd yn oed jest bras-ddarllen dros baned. Felly, os byth y gwelwch chi gylchgronyn bach, cymerwch un, pwy a ŵyr y gwnewch chi wirioni arno? Os na, gadewch e yn rhywle er mwyn i rywun arall ei godi.
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Bydd ail rifyn Pushing Too Many Pencils allan ddiwedd Awst; croeso i bob cyfraniad. Anfonwch at: sianio@hotmail.com.
By Siân Katherine Anastasia O’Connell
