Emma Caroline Brown
Reporter
One year ago, best friends Neely Jenkins and Haley Rountree launched a zine, “Columbus Collective,” that continues to show Columbus is a town filled with creativity waiting to be unleashed.
Rountree (L) and Jenkins (R) at Under the Oaks
Photo by Emma Caroline Brown
The zine, a nickname for an independent magazine, is handmade by Jenkins and Rountree and includes artwork submitted by local artists. Each month Jenkins and Rountree get together for craft nights and put the zine together for publication.
“One of our friends told us that crafting with friends decreases the risks of Alzheimer’s, so there’s an upside to us getting together and working on the zine while watching TV,” Jenkins said. “We design pages and use little stamps and stickers, which may add extra work, but we want it to have a handmade, personal touch.”
The collaborative process of creating the zine comes down to Jenkins and Rountree’s artistic communication that brings everything together in a colorful, distinctive way to make each page’s artwork pop.
Handmaking pages means cutting out magazine bits, layering designs with extra colors and having sticky fingers covered in glue. The creative process that goes into “Columbus Collective” is completely hands-on and means that no two editions are ever alike.
“There isn’t a set style, but there are limitations since we make everything by hand,” Rountree said. “Each page is two and a half by four, so there’s only certain things you can do by hand at that size, but that is a fun challenge.”
There are recurring pages in the zine such as colorful collages on interesting cat facts and drawings of Rountree’s dog, Ozzy. However, the new artwork submitted for each month’s issue is always different. The link between local artists submitting their work and Rountree and Jenkins piecing the zine together truly creates a collective art form.
Columbus Collective’s sign at Under the Oaks
Photo by Emma Caroline Brown
Paxton Garrard, a local artist, submitted work to the zine’s October edition and he hopes to submit more of his work in the future. Garrard is hopeful that with the zine publishing local, independent artists, Columbus will have an artistic boom that leads to a bigger artistic community.
“It’s nice to have some form of community, and in the past, there has not been one here,” Garrard said. “So, it’s nice to have like-minded people in Columbus when sometimes it feels like there’s an absence.”
Part of Jenkins and Rountree’s motivation for creating “Columbus Collective” comes from wanting to build up and spread Columbus’ artistic community. Columbus has always been an artistically motivated town, so why not try to revel in that and light the spark again?
“It [the zine] was kind of like our mission to say this is a way to let people know of events going on and when artistic things are happening,” Rountree said. “I hope it makes people establish more connections so that they know who to reach out to or get more visibility just so there can be more people out there knowing that cool things are going on.”
Jenkins and Rountree value Columbus’, and Mississippi’s, artistic atmosphere when creating each month’s zine. The two both attended The W, and it is an important place for both of them when defining Columbus’ artistic world. Jenkins even credits a zine she saw in The W’s archives for the extra push when creating “Columbus Collective.”
“When I was going to The W, I remember going to the archives and seeing an older W zine, and I really loved that,” Jenkins said. “After seeing those it sparked an interest, and I would also love to see people submit writings like they did for The W’s zine.”
Columbus Collective’s table at Under the Oaks contains published zines and artwork by Jenkins and Rountree
Photo by Emma Caroline Brown
Last Saturday The W was host to the Columbus Arts Council’s second annual Under the Oaks art fest that took place on Welty Drive from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dozens of artists, including “Columbus Collective,” set up tables and tents for attendees to meet, greet and shop.
The “Columbus Collective” table was filled with zines, artwork, handmade patches, embroidered clothing and eye-catching work created by Jenkins and Rountree.
Squeak Humphrey, office manager of the Columbus Arts Council and a W alum, helped lead the Arts Council’s designated table at the festival’s entryway. And despite rainy conditions, Humphrey saw that attendees and vendors were in great spirits seeing this event happening in Columbus.
“This year alone we have doubled our food and craft vendors compared to last year,” Humphrey said. “It’s already grown a lot in a short amount of time, and there’s so much potential to be able to not only help our local artists but also students at The W.”
“Columbus Collective” has been steadily getting involved with attending local artist hubs and getting its name out in Columbus and Starkville and to W students.
Two weeks ago, the collective hosted a pre-election zine workshop highlighting women’s suffrage at the Columbus Public Library. Each participant designed their own pages that were put together in a special edition zine Jenkins and Rountree sold at Under the Oaks.
In-progress women’s suffrage zine from Columbus Collective’s zine workshop at the Columbus Public Library
Jenkins and Rountree are both looking forward to engaging more local artists and the Columbus community by hosting more events promoting creativity and community connection.
The only requirement for these events is that people show up. While Columbus may seem uneventful at times, community engagement and support of the arts is the best way to promote a bigger artistic scene here.
Jenkins and Rountree would love to see more local interaction with the budding underground art scene starting in Columbus, but it’s up to the community to show interest and build up the scene.
“Only we can make it happen,” Jenkins said. “There’s no point and sitting around saying nothing’s happening when we are getting things going.”
To stay up to date on monthly publications and collective events, follow @columbuscollectivezine on Instagram, and you can get on the zine mailing list by commenting on publication posts or sending a DM. If you are interested in submitting artwork or writings you can submit your work through a DM or by sending mail to “Columbus Collective’s” post office box: PO BOX 1233, Columbus, MS. 39703.
You can find more recent copies of “Columbus Collective” at Friendly City Books, the Columbus Arts Council building, the public library and around The W campus.