A Tiny Creative Revolution on Main Street | Couve Zine Swap -📍 Vancouver, WA

Do you like making zines? Do you even know what zines are? Couve Zine Swap is on a mission to build a thriving zine community in Clark County, fostering connection, creativity, and gentle analogue resistance to an overly digital world. Whether you love to draw, write, or collage, Couve Zine Swap is on a mission to bring your zine to life.

🗺️ Visit them at couvezineswap.com or contact them at couvezineswap@gmail.com.

👀 For pictures, video, and more, visit the episode page.

🎉 This episode also celebrates Synergy Society.

⭐️ Thank you to this episode's sponsor: Gardner School of Arts & Sciences.  

⭐️  Thanks to our sponsor, Gardner School of Arts & Sciences. Enrollment is open and financial aid is available!

Transcript

[00:00] Adriana: Today I have the joy of introducing you to two people that I think you actually probably don't know yet, but you might have experienced their work all up and down Main Street in Vancouver, out in Washougal at the community library, and at fairs and festivals in the area. These folks are Mintie and Fae, and they are the creative brains behind Couve Zine Swap.

At Couve Zine Swap, Mintie and Fae help creative people, poets, artists, and just folks who are interested in sharing information create tiny little publications called zines. In the beginning of the episode, you're going to hear a very good description of what a zine is, so if you've never heard that word, Mintie will explain it in just a moment. What I think is so cool is that Mintie and Fae are not just distributing their own work. In fact, they have dozens of other artists who are called “zinesters” who make these small pieces of literature that they then give to Mintie and Fae to produce, photocopy, fold, and distribute.

Couve Zine Swap has nine locations up and down Main Street, and you can go to their free little zine libraries and pick up these tiny books - as many as you want - and even leave your own art in the boxes. They function just like small little libraries, where you leave a book, take a book. But instead it's a tiny, tiny piece of poetry, art, or literature.

It's probably the most effective and simplest way of getting creativity and information out into the world and into the hands of the populace. As Mintie and Fae say, their footprint is six inches by six inches about the size of a small plastic box. 

And yet their impact is enormous, because they're helping folks who don't have access to a way to easily publish their material. They're helping those folks get out into the public eye and find an audience. Now making zines is super fun. After this interview, my daughter and I tried our hand at a few, and it was pretty great. She really enjoyed the fact that she could make something small quickly. And I'm really excited for you to get to know Mintie and Fae because I think that, as they say, everyone has a zine inside of them waiting to get out.

It might be a zine about how to plant tulip bulbs, or what to do with leftover chicken stock, or it could be the next Great American poem. At the end of National Poetry Month here after our month long celebration of the written word, I'm so happy to let you know about Mintie and Fae and their program that is bringing creativity and a combination between literature and visual arts to not only Main Street, but also schools, libraries, and festivals all across Clark County. So please enjoy my conversation with our new friends at Couve Zine Swap.

Welcome to I’m Into This Place, your deep dive into the local arts, culture, and heritage of Clark County. From fabulous new restaurants to quirky art installations to the historical sites you never even knew to look for, we’re inviting you along. Whether you're a Clark County connoisseur or just starting to get to know her, get ready to fall head over heels for this place we call home. I'm your host, Adriana Baer, and I'm into this place. Let's go.

[00:03:30] 

Good morning. I am here with Mintie and Fae, and they're about to go out to do their zine distribution walk where they start at the south end of Main Street and walk to the north end of Main Street, distributing zines into permanent boxes at a bunch of different businesses around our community and

this is a really cool grassroots organization and you [00:04:00] guys are right at the heart of it. And I wanna start by asking the question on at least 65% of our audience's mind, which is: what is a zine? 

[00:04:11] Mintie: So a zine: think magazine, but then take off the first four letters. It's just these small DIY self publications that you can just make on copy paper, you can print 'em off on a photocopier.

They're just a way for small nobodies to publish [00:04:30] and share their voice. Free expression that doesn't need to be mediated by any publishing company or anything like that. Just a way to get your message straight to the community. The format we kind of specialize in, I guess you could say, is the mini, where it's one sheet of paper that's like folded in this clever way to make an eight page booklet, but it can be anything.

There's a million forms that zines can take. It's just that that's the cheapest and the easiest for us to do. So it's kind of what we do a lot of. 

[00:04:59] Adriana: And what is the [00:05:00] content usually like? 

[00:05:01] Mintie: It can be anything because we have a bunch of different zinesters that submit their zines and that we distribute.

So some are more informational, kind of explaining your special interest, be it bugs or bean recipes, or, you know, how to tie knots. But then other people kind of go a more personal angle and might do like some kind of personal essay or like pure artistic expression. Could be no words, could be just a collage or a painting.

It [00:05:30] really could be anything. 

[00:05:31] Adriana: That's really cool. What are yours like?

[00:05:33] Fae: I guess kinda my flagship series, I guess is “How Do You Scrap Fabric?" I personally am really into thrifting fabrics and using scrap fabrics and leaning into the recycling of that because there's so much fabric waste in the world.

I started trying to think about how I could use these little bits of fabric, and so I started cutting them into shapes, making little sewing projects, stapling them into the zines and, and distributing them as little mini kits. We like to say [00:06:00], everyone, anyone can make a zine.

[00:06:02] Adriana: Yeah.

[00:06:02] Fae: Everyone has a zine in them.

Your interests, your words, your art. We have have kids that put zines in our boxes that are just little doodles and they make “one of ones” and they just put 'em in there and, it's a really fun and expressive medium that can be a lot of different things. So it is hard to kind of have one singular definition that really captures the essence of it

'cause the culture is so broad, but it [00:06:30] really is anything you self-publish, anything you create and copy and share with the world. Also part of zine culture is like the community behind it, like the distribution, you know, like a zine without an audience, it's kind of missing half of the process.

So part of our goal was really to build that social infrastructure to get people's zines out and share them in a way that wasn't strictly commercial. You know, artists don't always love the culture of having to sell their work. You know, that can be exhausting and [00:07:00] kind of take the fun out of it sometimes.

So, you know, all our boxes are always free. Everyone who participates agrees to have their work be put out there for free. And, you know, we put a lot of our own time and effort into it to make it, to make it happen. 

[00:07:14] Mintie: The means of production here is a photocopier. So it's like if you can go into the public library, get some free photocopies every week. You're already publishing. 

[00:07:23] Adriana: I love that. What about you, Mintie? Do you have a favorite that you've created? 

[00:07:26] Mintie: I make a lot of what I call “audience of one” zines, [00:07:30] where it's like a zine that I think is super cool and interesting, but it's like so niche that no one else knows what I'm talking about.

I'll just like get a piece of paper with a Sharpie and just bang out a zine in like five minutes, and sometimes I like it and I'll photocopy it and distribute it, and then other times it just never sees the light of day again. 

[00:07:49] Adriana: I feel like that's what a lot of artists do and a lot of poets, you know, they'll just sit down, “what do I need to or want to get out in 5, 10, 15 minutes,” some kind of [00:08:00] structured amount of time.

[00:08:01] Mintie: The mini zines are perfect for that. You only need like six good sentences to be a zine. 

[00:08:07] Adriana: I love it. 

[00:08:07] Mintie: Um, yeah, like everyone is like ‘that close’ to making their first zine. We're just trying to help people bridge that gap. 

[00:08:13] Adriana: Yeah. You mentioned zine culture. Let's talk a little bit more about what that is and what the community piece of the puzzle is.

[00:08:22] Fae: When we started this, a lot of people that we started connecting with were artists. Maybe they made zines or zine-adjacent [00:08:30] things, but they were missing that element of sharing their work with like-minded people. People who did the same work as them beyond us. I think there is a culture around zines about them being a way for organizations or people to share information that doesn't necessarily go through official channels. You know, it's very, very grassroots, very community based. I know it [00:09:00] has a lot of roots in like punk culture and like music history 

[00:09:04] Mintie: Even a lot of that is here in Western Washington. Kind of like the Riot Girl movement.

That is one of the main crucibles of historic zine culture. And so I think it's kind of cool that we're so close to like the heart of that. 

[00:09:17] Fae: Zines being this method of, of grassroots communication, information sharing. I think that at the, at the core of that, you know, information needs an audience. That's kinda what we [00:09:30] were trying to do is make an infrastructure. It's very local, that people have that connection to their own communities and, and also, you know, get to know our local businesses and drive business their way and do what we can to kind of be an asset to them as well.

So I think there's a lot of aspects of community that we were trying to build here. Kinda building off that idea of zines, needing an audience to be full, to be, to be complete. Yeah. 

[00:09:56] Adriana: That's so interesting. The other piece of the puzzle is, as a [00:10:00] visual artist or as a writer, or even as a musician, like you can create the thing, the thing can exist in the world, but if it's not seen or received by anybody, then the energetic exchange kind of isn't complete.

Right? And you don't necessarily, well, you don't get feedback. You don't know how your stuff is affecting your community or hitting, and then you don't receive that energy back from your audience either. So the fact that you've created a way for people to first create the [00:10:30] work by helping them, either distributing it or helping them make the actual thing, and then being the conduit through which the audience actually becomes involved.

That's so cool. And what an awesome project and gift to the community that you guys are doing. You mentioned all these businesses that you're engaged with. Tell us about where people can get these zines and how to interact with them.

[00:10:55] Mintie: Basically, every weekend we go all up and down Main Street, [00:11:00] so like starting south, Our 3rd Space to Dandelion. Up to Eryngium Papeterie, Ronald Records, Birdhouse Books, Metallion Cafe, Kindred Vancouver, White Oak Books, and Wild Camp Goods. Yeah, we have these little boxes just at all these shops, and we love our shop owners and we couldn't do it without them.

The relationships we've built with them to me is like one of the most important things we've done in [00:11:30] this whole process. And so, yeah, so every Saturday we'll kind of go from shop to shop, make sure that they have enough zines, kind of get a look at if anyone's put anything in the boxes, see what's out of the boxes, what's been popular.

[00:11:44] Adriana: I love that people can just pop things into the boxes, too. 

[00:11:47] Mintie: You know, we called them “free little zine libraries” on purpose. 'cause everyone knows how a free little library works. Take what you want, give what you can. If we just say free little zine libraries, people know what that means.[00:12:00] 

[00:12:00] Adriana: Yeah. That's really fun. And you're doing this yourselves. You're sort of supporting it financially and with your time. So how does that work? 

[00:12:08] Mintie: We'll, tell our zinesters, you do the fun part, which is making the zine, and we'll do the boring or the tedious part, which is printing off enough copies and folding them and getting them into the right places.

If you send us a PDF or a jpeg, we'll print off copies. Like we bought a printer at Goodwill for $13.

[00:12:27] Adriana: Oh nice.

[00:12:27] Mintie: And yeah, it's a workhorse. And [00:12:30] so we'll print your zines, we'll fold them if it needs folding, if it needs stapling, kind of whatever format you're working with. Then we just distribute them.

[00:12:39] Adriana: And you do this all at no cost to the zinesters. Why is that important?

[00:12:45] Fae: I mean, I think you mentioned earlier like a low barrier to entry. And we're really committed to that. I think especially in the art world, there is this culture of the only way to get your work out there is to sell it.

There's [00:13:00] definitely like a place and a time and a space for that, but I think a lot of people get burnt out with it and like don't necessarily want to monetize their art, don't wanna monetize their work. We want this to be an outlet for people that doesn't involve money. 

[00:13:13] Mintie: Unlike shops or like other kind of community programs, we're like water, we barely exist.

We don't need to pay rent. Printing is cheap. It's not free, but it's pretty darn cheap. If we did try to like, I know, monetize this or turn it into something, it would just collapse. If this were [00:13:30] anything but like a “for the love,” for the love of our community, for the love of Vancouver, it just wouldn't happen.

It would never pay a bill, right?

[00:13:37] Adriana: That's such an important consideration, I think. What is the thing on its own in the world without a monetary exchange? Without capitalism being involved?  Just like, what is the thing? 

You both have day jobs and you're not in it to like make the sweet, sweet zine money. [Laughter] It allows it to be kind of at its [00:14:00] essence what it truly is. 

[00:14:03] Mintie: Yeah. I always say there's like a spectrum on one end of the spectrum is us, where we are just a community project. It's all free. It's all done on like either library photocopiers or Goodwill printers, like super DIY. And then on the other end it's essentially just small press publishing, which we love.

And we, I love getting, um, those kinds of zine as well. But those are like, you know, professional artists who like really are creating [00:14:30] super high level products, right? The whole spectrum is valid, but we have definitely planted our flag on the community culture, DIY culture. 

[00:14:38] Adriana: I ran into you both at White Oak Books a couple months ago, and I was with my daughter as well. What I thought was really interesting was seeing the zines through her eyes for a moment. It looks really doable.

[00:14:53] Mintie: Yeah.

[00:14:53] Adriana: For a kid, she's nine, so she looked at the thing and she was like, “Yeah, I could totally make one of those.” And [00:15:00] suddenly I was like, yes. 

[00:15:02] Mintie: Yeah. 

[00:15:03] Adriana: Right on. You know, so she's thinking, “How do I tell this story in this short format,” and we're folding it at home on our, from our printer, you know? And suddenly she's got a book she made, which is like her dream. 

[00:15:14] Mintie: Yeah. Well, we also do some additional work with local schools and local school libraries and library programs and things like that, and other educational centers. We wanna do more of that. A lot of art teachers or a lot of just teachers of any subject [00:15:30] are showing their kids the mini zine format.

And so it's like, you know, 'cause that'll be like six pages so they can have an art journal for the week. Right? I would love to get more zines in schools. 

[00:15:39] Adriana: And you are doing workshops every first Saturday at the Wahsougal Library? 

[00:15:44] Mintie: Every first Saturday, yes. 

[00:15:46] Adriana: That's cool. So besides coming to your workshop, how can people get involved with what you are doing, either as makers, as writers, as supporters, or even as additional [00:16:00] small businesses?

[00:16:02] Fae: The easiest way for artists or people interested in sending us their zines is to email us at couvezineswap@gmail.com.

[00:16:10] Adriana: We'll put that in the show notes.

[00:16:11] Fae: Cool. You can reach out to us with basically any level of work that you have. If you have a completed scan, PDF, or jpeg, you can just send us that, but also if you just have an idea and don't quite know how to format it, or have something that you don't feel like is quite right. 

Like I said, we're pretty good [00:16:30] at formatting zines at this point 'cause we've made our own and helped people make theirs. So we could definitely help you at any stage of the process that you really need. Also, any businesses that are interested, you can reach out to the same email.

We also have a website that has this information as well. I think we were saying earlier, we really want to be a resource, so we want to help with that kind of tedious formatting stuff. Definitely happy to help you get your work out there. But also we wanna encourage [00:17:00] people to not think so hard about it, you know, like, you know, don't overthink it.

Your work is good enough. We love a first zine.

[MUSIC]

[00:17:08] Adriana: A huge thank you to this week's sponsor, Gardner School of Arts and Sciences. Gardner is a private, independent school in Clark County serving preschool through sixth grade. Their progressive learning model blends academic rigor with creativity, collaboration, and real world problem solving. Gardner prepares [00:17:30] children not just for the next grade, but for life, helping them develop adaptability, curiosity, courage, and the ability to collaborate across differences. Their gorgeous five acre campus allows for experiential learning, both inside and outside the classroom. Enrollment is now open. Financial aid applications are welcome, Gardner School of Arts and Sciences: Progressive education, rooted in belonging.[00:18:00] 

[MUSIC FADES]

I also wanna encourage the conversation around the local business community. Because you shared with me that you were really building deep relationships with the business owners of each of these nine, currently nine, but future maybe more places and the opportunity for a business to kind of share the love of the community back and forth.

But also that [00:18:30] you are in each of these businesses multiple times a month and are seeing where there might be collaborations between those businesses, too. 

[00:18:39] Mintie: I think we do function as like these kind of cross pollinators. 'Cause you know, all of the, I mean all of the shop owners on Main Street, they're all just so passionate.

And they're passionate about the community and building the Vancouver community. We all have our little ways and like, you [00:19:00] know, kind of our stone soup. We all have something to contribute. But the thing is, these shop owners who are so passionate often have to spend all their time in their shop. It's kind of a relentless experience. 

For us since we have, again, we have no space to maintain. We don't, we can be anywhere and so I feel like we kind of like, well, my hope, my dream is that we're connecting these people and that as one shop makes zines, like Kindred Vancouver makes a bunch of zines [00:19:30] about their products and services, we'll then put them in all the other boxes. I made a zine of record recommendations for Ronald Records and now I pop that in all the other boxes. 

[00:19:41] Adriana: That's so cool. 

[00:19:42] Mintie: Yeah. 

[00:19:43] Adriana: Cross pollination for sure. 

[00:19:45] Mintie: If you actually get out there, get on Main Street, get in these shops, you know, support these shops. Spend your dollars there. That's where life happens. Right? 

[00:19:55] Adriana: That's the soundbite for I'm into this place for the rest of time. Like, [00:20:00] that's it, right? Like it is. It is. That's it. Right? We need to be in community with each other and in whatever the way that is for you, whether it's making zine and contributing boxes around Main Street, or if it's just going and sitting and having a cup of coffee in real space and connecting with the person behind who's the barista or whatever it is.

Like this is, this is where life happens. This is where connections happen, community happens. I think it's really beautiful. 

[00:20:29] Mintie: So we [00:20:30] really want to kind of get out and do workshops and events and things like that. And that could be with the local businesses, with the local art community, but also schools and school libraries, and any other kinda library.

We would love to be doing more workshops, showing people how easy zines are, how accessible they are. I can hand you a blank mini and you can have a zine in the next 10 minutes, and it can be published and distributed until the end of time. [00:21:00] So that's what we really want to be doing. Getting out to more events and more things like that.

We can show up anywhere. Just kind of show up, occupy the tiniest little nook in your space at your event and enrich the whole thing, right? Because we have a lot of zines to give away. So everyone gets to go home with zines. Your zine collection starts today. We can get you making zines. We can do so much.

'Cause again, we're like water. We barely exist. We just kinda show up like a ghost and like suddenly there's more zines around. 

[00:21:27] Adriana: I just love it. That's so interesting and [00:21:30] fun. Are there any rules about how many zines I can take from a box? 'Cause I always am like, oh my gosh, there's seven different cool ones here. But I feel like if I take all of them, then I'm not leaving enough for other people. 

[00:21:43] Mintie: Take as many as you want. Nothing would make us happier than showing up on a Saturday in the box being empty. So don't be timid. Grab 'em by the fistful. We have folded thousands and thousands of zines, so what's a few more?

Take all that you want. 

[00:21:58] Adriana: Brilliant. Gauntlet, throne, and I [00:22:00] will be doing that from all the local boxes and telling everybody to also. So cool. Thank you. All right. As you both know, we always end every episode by asking you to shout out a place or an organization that you are really into these days.

So while you're thinking about that. I will remind everybody who's listening that we have a weekly newsletter that accompanies this podcast. It's super easy to sign up. The link is in the show notes, and that's the best way to [00:22:30] get special ticket offers, event updates, and to see photos and videos of our podcast guests and their zines and their cool zine boxes.

So when you sign up for a newsletter, you really help I'm Into This Place grow and connect more with local sponsors and business owners who also support this free arts and culture content. So take a look at that. 

So who are you really into these days?

[00:22:56] Fae: I'm really into Synergy Society, Southwest [00:23:00] Washington.

They've been hosting monthly mutual aid fairs that we have been involved with. We've been doing zine craft tables so we can show up and make a zine with us. There's community organizations there that are meant to be resources for the community, whether it be the Vancouver Free Fridge Project or various other community-based aid organizations.

So it's really meant to be a fair for those groups to come together, for people to find those groups. And then we are kind of [00:23:30] there as the fun outlet of sitting down at a table, making a zine, maybe synthesizing what you learned or what it made you think about in a fun and creative way. So in our spirit of mutual aid, we want to shout them out and drive traffic their way.

[00:23:43] Adriana: Thank you. We will also link to them in the show notes and on the episode page. Thank you both so much for hanging out with me this morning and sharing about zines and all things zine culture before you set off [00:24:00] up the road. To restock all the boxes, which I'll be emptying. 

[00:24:04] Mintie: Yes. 

[00:24:05] Adriana: Within the next week, and then you'll have your work cut out for you with all of us coming to experience all this amazing independent art. Thank you guys.

And now is the time of the show where we get to hear from you. This is our Community Voices segment where you call in and let us know your favorite places in local arts culture and heritage. Community Voices is [00:24:30] sponsored by Johnson Bixby.

Their financial planning and portfolio management team combines technical expertise with genuine care, helping you make informed, confident decisions at all stages of life and plan for life's possibilities. Advisory Services by Johnson Bixby, SEC registered. Securities through private client services member Finra/SIPC.

[00:24:58] Guest: Hi, my name is [00:25:00] Venus Howard, and my favorite place is the Vancouver waterfront, the new one. Hello, my name is Maria with Maria Vara Photography. I would love to give a shout out to Vancouver School of Arts and Academics since that is the high school I went to. And Fort Vancouver National Historic Site because I love that park and I go there very often.

Thank you. 

[00:25:27] Adriana: We'd love to hear from you. What are your favorite [00:25:30] spots in Clark County? Who really deserves a shout out? Give us a call and leave a message or send us a voice note via email. All the details on how to do that are in the show notes. I’m Into This Place is produced and edited by me, Adriana Baer. Editing and mixing by Shawn Lee Martin. This episode was recorded at the Sound Stage, the Northwest’s premier voiceover and recording studio. You can find out more at, imintothisplace.com. [00:26:00] See you out there.