Community Arts Studio finds a home in New London’s Arts District

A new community arts studio is opening in downtown New London. Magik Press is a ‘micro-press’ which focuses on zines, artist catalogs, and handmade artist editions. All are invited to celebrate the studio opening on Thursday, March 21, 2019 from 6:30pm-9:00pm in the historic Harris Place building. Attendees will enjoy an evening of creative fellowship, art games, and a special zine release.

Magik Press prints limited-edition, bespoke, and one-of-a-kind books and the studio will host unique art-based events. Magik Press is the creation of artist, poet, and community organizer Aly Maderson Quinlog. Aly has been a working artist in the New London Community for the last 5 years and has recently been awarded the MASSMoCA’s Assets for Artist Grant that helps artists strengthen their financial and business capacity.

They chose New London because it reminded them of their hometown of Charleston, SC with its architecture and history. “There’s a strong respect for the arts in New London. I loved the style and feel of the city. It felt like a place that would support my art and ideas and I love my people here.” says Aly.

Aly hopes this studio will become a shared community space that encourages other folks to make books and zines. In the Spring They are working with New London Main Street on a youth driven public arts project called Our New London. The group will be installing a youth-designed art installation in an empty storefront along State Street. In the future, Aly is especially interested in creating a youth lead press and book arts studio in New London and continuing to deepen xer personal art practice.

Through Magik Press, Aly teaches private art lessons, paper arts workshops, and cyanotype printing. They are available for traveling zine and cyanotype workshops for all ages and experience levels. Coming this summer, Magik Press will offer regular open studio hours to the community.  

Recent activities of Magik Press include designing all the exhibition materials and printing the artist guide for the Nasty Women Connecticut’s Exhibition Complicit : Erasure Of The Body, open at Yale Divinity School in New Haven until April 8th.

Aly is also on the curatorial team for the Our Bodies Ourselves exhibition, opening on March 10 at the Ely Center for Contemporary Art and on view through April 10th. The exhibition includes a Pop-up Zine Library organized by Magik Press. The un*named Zine Library is a social arts project that invites visitors to create a “mood catalog” and encourages participants to get comfortable in art spaces.

On the first day of Spring, celebrate community and the arts with Magik Press at their studio opening Thursday, March 21, 2019 from 6:30pm-9:00pm in the Harris Building. Music and light refreshments will be provided.