Devoted to showcasing the best creative work, the Vibrations magazine is produced by students like Jessica Mudd, a ceramics student and Leon Huynh. The yearly visual and literary journal Vibrations is created by GRAPH 252 (Booklab) students at EvCC, only available in the spring quarter.
The purpose of the magazine is not lost on its current advisor Chris Larson. “I had work published in 2010 and was the Editor for Vibrations 2010. After I earned my Bachelor’s Degree, I came back to EvCC as an instructor. I have been teaching that class since 2017.” The Vibrations magazine has been publishing and displaying student art for the last 65 years since 1963.
The publication was impacted during the pandemic. “We worked through it remotely and the students stepped up and still created a print version of the magazine and a website edition. There was no one on campus and everyone was dealing with the fallout from the pandemic. So we didn’t have many student submissions that year. We decided to do a retrospective edition and highlight the best work over the last decade.” Larson said.
“It’s very cool to have my work in a published magazine. It is cool to have others see my work.” Leon Huynh said. Huynh was the art director for the last vibrations magazine. There is a team for online edition and the print edition operating at the same time. “There was a low turnout in my class, like only five students and we had to do multiple roles to get printed.” Huynh said.
The first and last pages of the vibrations are designed to pop out and draw the reader into the magazine. “We try not to put photos and written work that don’t relate to each other on the same page to prevent the reader connecting them together for a different meaning.” Larson said. The magazines are designed carefully to make it flow from page to page. For Huynh’s class, there were not a lot of submissions to choose from. “Not all the submissions are the best. The team has to pick and choose the best ones submitted.” Huynh said.
Both an online version and a printed version of Vibrations are available for everyone. The online version can be found on the EvCC website under the vibrations section. “The companion website has been a part of class since 2007. Those first few years the website companion was built in a program called FLASH. That program is dead. The first HTML/CSS website companion was in 2010 when I was the editor.” Larson said. Access to hard copies of books has been made available across campus and past editions can be found in Whitehorse hall, in classroom 354. “Having my work in the magazine is a good way to build my portfolio.” Huynh said.
Throughout the spring quarter, entries must be submitted online. Students are encouraged to submit work from all the creative departments like Art, Graphics, English, Music, Photography, Theater, Ceramics and Multimedia. For students like Mudd, their art made in class was displayed in the magazine. The entries are work that was created in the previous academic year. The deadline to submit is May 18th with a maximum of three entries per student.
The purpose of Vibrations is to display, encourage and promote our students’ artistic and literary creations. “For most students, it is their first time being published in a magazine publication.” Larson said. The magazine also gives students something to work towards through the academic year.
The works published in Vibrations are picked by the student designer team. At the conclusion of the spring quarter, the book and website will be released during the art show in April. “The record number of submissions that we have had was 110 submissions. We hope to beat that this year!” Larson said.