Evan Chelsee
Evan is a working artist, living in Long Beach, California. They create across mediums and genres, but have a special affection for zines and podcasts.They loves blending things that others see as separate, like the creative and the analytical. Evan's personal maxim is "make it more weird."If you have a project you’re trying to get into the world, they would love to help you bring it to life.
Evan is a zine maker and teacher. They're an experienced workshop facilitator, who loves introducing new people to the world of zine making and helping experienced zinesters find new and clever ways to share their ideas.
Print Evan's Zines
Settings vary by printer, but these zines have been designed to be printed at 100% scale on 8.5x11 paper.
Templates
Here are a few of the digital zine templates Evan has created, so you can make your own zines.
Zine-A-Day
In November 2024, Evan made 30 zines in 30 days. They shared about the process and their creations on instagram and in their newsletter.
To learn more about the project, read the introduction.Many of the zines from this project are now available for sale in Evan's online shop.
Poetry
Recurring Characters
It is 2014 and you are in Los Angeles...
This is a story about the scripts we have a hard time letting go of and the moments we focus on, to the exclusion of everything else.
Through playlists, text messages, flowcharts, and other forms, Recurring Characters tells the story of one chaotic year and its reverberations.
Published by Double Text Media.Order wherever books are sold. Signed copies available at Page Against the Machine in Long Beach, CA.
Newsletter
Body of Work
Reflections at the intersection of process, productivity, and self-making.
Selected Essays:
The joy of being in the world
Make it weird
Back catalog
creative resources & support
uncommon practice studio
Craft a different relationship to making and getting things done.
Through DIY resources, groups, 1:1 support, and reflective writing, uncommon practice studio supports creative people (writers, designers, artists) to move away from toxic productivity bullshit and toward supportive practices and containers that reduce friction and make it feel good to make again.
The Bi Pod
A queer podcast about bi+ experiences.
We cover all things bisexual, including our own identities & experiences, mental & public health, bisexual representation in media, and the experiences of guests from across the LGBTQ+ spectrum. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Selected Episodes:
The Ways I Tried to Do Comp Het
What do we want from relationships? (And can AI provide that?)
Am I Queer Enough?
The in-here is the out-there: empathy, self-compassion, and the pursuit of Beloved Community
Producing Support
Casually Obsessed
The pop culture we can't stop thinking about. [2020 - 2021; credited as Chelsee Bergen]
Long form conversations about the pop culture and content we can’t stop thinking about. That book we want everyone to read, that television show we rewatch. A new guest joins each episode to go deep on our latest obsessions.
Selected Episodes:
Dickinson: Make Your Own Dickinson
Sarah Dessen and the magic of the early internet
Orphan Black: Don't Say the C Word
Producing Support
Evan Chelsee (they/them) is a working artist, living in Long Beach, CA. They grew up in Las Vegas, NV, which is both more and less interesting than out-of-towners imagine it to be.
Evan creates across mediums and genres, but has a special affection for zines and podcasts. They are a founding organizer of Biggest Little Zine Fair, and the co-host and producer of The Bi Pod.
In 2024, their chapbook Recurring Characters (Double Text Media) made its debut. They are currently working on their first full length collection, about love and apocalypse.
Artist's Statement
Evan Chelsee’s work explores relationality and self-making, examining the interdependent construction of self, others, and the world. An interdisciplinary artist, they work primarily in multi-genre writing, performance, podcasts, and zines to create work that can live in many spaces, reaching beyond institutional confines, and connect with people in the course of daily life. Evan is inspired by restorative culture praxis, and through their art aims to develop intimacy and connection with the reader/listener/viewer beyond the limits of a particular space or time. As their practice evolves, they are currently exploring archival work as creative and personal practice and imagining archives which are dispersed and distributive such that massive tech companies aren’t the sole depository of personal and collective histories.