K. L. Graywill | Hyperisms

One of my patrons is getting married today! A few weeks ago, @kaceylace messaged me on Patreon that she wanted to provide her wedding guests with a Hyperlocal zine and was wondering if I had a generalized guide. Ironically, despite creating dozens of hyperspecific zines about Durham, drawing over 100 of Durham’s historic structures, countless hours of research on the city’s local ecology, history, contemporary culture, etc. - no, I didn’t! Compiling these works into an orientation zine has been a backburner project of mine for ages, so this gave me the push to finally do it! We even put some personal touches on it highlighting some of Kacey and her (as of today!) husband Evan’s favorite spots in Durham and recs for their guests. Congrats to them again and I’m honored to have been a small part of their special day. A general version of this zine will be released in the @hyperlocaldurham vending machine next month. But I would love to do more personalized and customizable works like this, so stay tuned and, as always, reach out! (Background image in first carousel slide is one of my many still unfinished paintings 😵‍💫)

Get your pre-orders in before today for this sun hoodie by @thuja_vt featuring art by @hyper_isms - sure to become a staple in your casual cycling wardrobe. We have also have brand spankin’ new cycling caps available soon and they rock!!

Been thinking a lot about my body of work as a creator - a lot of my work is geolocked in its relevance, especially as @hyperlocaldurham (and soon @hyperlocaldispatch ), which is a creative space I have been spending the last half year actively trying to invite others into since the vending machine launch (and literally hiring for soon which feels crazy). So I have been experimenting with this “Hyperfixations” series exploring the threads that underlie all my work - behavior, systems, naturalism, etc. If you would like to follow this experimentation - there is a tier on my Patreon for it! I have not done a very good job posting about but it is there and this was April’s issue. May is dedicated to Bike Month, naturally, and very excited to share that issue too!

Every creator’s least favorite chore is making content ABOUT your content, so I figured I could make it at least useful for myself by doing some kind of post-mortem style commentary on my best and worst-sellers. Experimentation is an important part of the formula and thankfully one I enjoy! It is both humbling and rewarding to see what resonates with folks and what doesn’t. So other updates for the real ones who read my infodumps: We have two new creators in the @hyperlocaldurham vending machine - @pintamar_ and @leitner_studios , whose works about Durham are already stocked and features will be coming shortly! (Later in the summer, we’ll have some other collaborations with @researchcartoonist and @meredithbshell 👀 which I am ridiculously excited about it, so stay tuned!) There’s also now a page on the website dedicated to creator bios for contributors to the vending machine - hard to believe there are over a dozen now! I’ve been having conversations with folks across the country - as close as Asheville and Charlottesville to as far as Seattle and Denver (where I’m from!) about Hyperlocal, which has been simultaneously overwhelming and invigorating. I am trying to take it all in stride, with intention always and slowness when possible. One thing I will soft launch is that Hyperlocal will be HIRING so keep an eye on @hyperlocaldispatch for news in that regard.

From my last screenprinting workshop teaching students screenprinting basics using a two-color version of one of my urban gardening designs. Grateful that I get to do some fun, hands-on workshops in between lecture-style instruction, although I love both.

Fun fact, I did some of my own guerrilla gardening with some friends in a neglected alley in Durham once. It didn’t go well - the City removed it lol. That’s what inspired the zines this month - both Hyperfixations and the @hyperlocaldurham dispatch - which are out now. Head over to the Hyperisms Patreon to get the full scoop or snag a copy from the vending machine in the Food Hall!

March was a month of teaching! I guest lectured for three different undergraduate classes at my alma mater Duke and UNC Chapel Hill on zines as research methodology and exploring meaning and epistemology through art and storytelling. I love teaching am grateful I get to work with faculty and students across totally different fields: 🔹 Death and burial traditions (with the one and only @researchcartoonist !!) in Cultural Anthropology at Duke 🔹 Gentrification and urban inequity (a grad and undergrad class I’ve been collaborating with for the last three years) in the City & Regional Planning dept at UNC with Dr. Hernandez 🔹 Science Fiction and the environment in interdisciplinary studies at UNC with Dr. Shields In most of these classes, the students are making zines for a project or for their finals, and we’ll actually be vending some of the students’ works from the @hyperlocaldurham vending machine! (Stoking a little friendly Duke vs UNC competition 👀) so keep an eye out for that in May!

Repped some new art at @thedailydurham this weekend! These illustrations are actually from July 2023 - I’ve just never shown them before. They’re from a spontaneous 80-mile solo bike ride I did to Mebane and back - I spent the night there basking in the warm summer breeze, watching fireflies, and doodling these illustrations of the backyard of the Airbnb I stayed at. Very much looking forward to summer nights and fireflies ahead.

YOOOO it’s mail day! Zines this month dive into history made women in Durham - in music, biosciences, math, education, civil rights and more. Hyperlocal Durham patrons are getting this zine in the mail along with a mini print of the illustration commission I worked on for @dukewomenscenter - both are printed with @super_g_printlab ’s risograph, a hybrid analog/digital printmaking technique I’ve been learning. I will be stocking the vending machine with some limited edition risograph copies and mini prints as well TOMORROW so make sure you swing by this month and grab one! Shoutout to the @dukewomenscenter again for collaborating with me for Women’s History Month - grateful and privileged to be able to work with partners in the community like them.

Finally learned how to use a risograph yesterday and printed this month’s zines using it - thanks @linobill for teaching me how to use the one at @super_g_printlab ! I’ve always wanted to learn risography, and it’s been top of mine since I visited the @ichigaya_letterpress factory in Tokyo (their risograph is pictured in the thought bubble) - it’s a hybrid analog/digital printmaking method invented in Japan! A very tricky technique and took a lot longer to print all my layers for this design than I thought but learned a ton about the nuances of this machine 🖨️

Had a great time doing some live printmaking at the @dukewomenscenter ’s Women’s History Month kick-off last week featuring this design. I’ll be sharing more throughout the month about the women featured in this month’s zine!

Since I made the exciting and terrifying decision to go full-time on my creative work, I am re-opening commissions! Some of you may remember I was experimenting with these two formats for commissions for the holidays last year, and here are some of the prints I ended up making for folks. There’s a link in my bio if you’re interested in commissioning me for a custom one!