The Underground UP project includes a mix of juniors and sophomores that go to One Stone High School, and Boise High School. The students presenting their work at the ReUse Markert include: is Ari Borzea, Indigo Blauch-Chappell, Kate Stutzmann, Liam Neupert, and Lucian Davis.
Of their zine project, ‘The Underground Up,’ they say:
We are a group of passionate and creative teens that meet weekly to create art. Our intent is to reach youth through creative opportunities. In a world of turmoil and conflicting views, a group of passionate teens has developed a radical idea. We are designing a zine project (a zine is a “noncommercial, nonprofessional, small-circulation magazine where the creators produce, publish, and distribute themselves.”) Our intention is to address relevant and controversial topics that strike a chord in our hearts and inspire us to instigate change. Our hope is to elevate issues that youth are concerned about through the publishing of a zine that would be comprised of art and writing sourced from teens in Boise. This creation will be transformative because it will give voice and representation to the views and expressions of an often overlooked demographic of creatives and thinkers.
As of right now, we have five topics for five different zine publications that include gun violence, climate change, gender equality, raising kids, and body representation. Each of these topics have been carefully considered under an umbrella question which is: “What Needs to Change?” We want to open this project to more teens around Boise in the creation of these zines. Our intention is to release one zine every two months and beyond their distribution, include screen printed t-shirts that depict the front cover of the zine.
I was visiting Boise. At one of the craft stores a lady told me about ReUse. I was looking for a small piece of fabric to finish a project for my grand-baby. I went to ReUse in Garden City. AMAZING! They have buttons that are long gone from the stores. I spent over an hour there. Every craft you can imagine was there. I found a template for scrapbooking. Mine got broken. It was $1.00! Patterns from the 1970′s were amazing. You have to go see this place. It changes every time I go there. Oh, I found the material I was looking for in two small pieces. I was able to finish my project when not one store still carried the fabric I needed. Thank you ReUse. I wish I lived there to volunteer. I will be back the next time I visit Boise.