“If it’s not fun, I’m not going to do it.” I don’t remember when I first said this, but my dear wife of 27 years, Kristin, says that this is the philosophy I live by. She’s right; wives are always right.
I started making posters for bands when I was 16, in 1991. I haven’t counted how many pieces I have created for bands since then, but I guess it numbers in the high hundreds. That’s my favorite thing to do, get involved with other people who make cool stuff. This led me to self publishing, and I started making zines (homemade magazines I make on any printer/-copier I can find) in 1993. My main zine, Perpetually Twelve, has been going since about 2002. When you make things; whether it’s a drawing, a collage, a poem, a song, a zine, or whatever comes from you, you don’t have to obey rules. You make what you feel like making.
The thing I’m looking forward to the most during my late-September residency at Portland Museum is creating with anybody who walks in the door. I invite you to create with me. I plan to take all of the stuff that we all make together and make it into a zine (or possibly a book) that can be sold at the museum. Then you can show the important people in your life the cool thing that you helped make for a museum.
No individual person is better than everybody is collectively.
If you don’t have fun, then don’t do it.
Come and create with McHank during 2026’s Portland Art and Heritage Fair, coming to Portland Museum Saturday, September 26th noon to 5PM!
