Meet Nat Eastman | zine maker, writer, and teaching artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nat Eastman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi nat, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
Over the past few years I’ve gone from working 1 full-time and 3 part-time jobs simultaneously to only working a few shifts a week; as of now, I’m back working a full-time gig. I’ve found that trying to think of “work” and “life” as two separate things can be truly maddening. The joys and stresses of my days come with me to my job and my work problems and successes stay in my mind when I go home. Instead, I like to balance myself in terms of producing and consuming. It’s important, I believe, to take in the world around us—to consume art, content, and experiences. But there always needs to be an outlet, a pressure valve of sorts, that translates all that incoming information into some outgoing act of creation. When I hit a creative road block, I let myself rest and consume the work of others to reinvigorate myself. And when I feel over-stimulated or inundated by content, I let myself produce something of my own.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m a zine-maker, a title that I love because it encompasses so much. For my senior undergrad thesis at UCLA, I wrote about women in punk. As I did my research and was digging through the library archives of zines from the 80’s, it struck me as very un-punk to try to contain such a fundamentally liberating art form into a 12pt. Times New Roman, double-spaced essay. Somehow, I convinced my advisor to let me submit my thesis as a zine, and I’ve just never really stopped making them since.

I used to struggle with a lot of self-doubt as a creative. I didn’t know when I was “allowed” to call myself an artist: did I have to sell a painting? did I need to be hired as a photographer? did my writing need to get published? After I made my first zine I realized that that’s all there is to it: if you make a zine, you’re a zinester; if you paint, you’re a painter, if you write, you’re a writer. It was a really freeing realization, and I think that freedom shows in my art. Now, I use zines to showcase all of these practices I was interested in, but too insecure to embrace fully: writing, painting, collage, needlework, photography, and really anything else that can be scanned onto a piece of paper. In the zine workshops I lead around the city, it’s this sense of artistic liberation that I really hope sticks with folks. From the 7-year-old planning to hide his zines in neighborhood newsstands to the grandfather who couldn’t wait to show his grandkids the zine he made—there’s art in all of us, it’s just a matter of giving it the space to reveal itself.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m actually a fifth-generation Angeleno, so I love this question. I’ve been working at indie bookstores for years now, so obviously we’re gonna go on a book tour of the city: Sideshow Books, Reparations Club, and Small World Books are must-sees. For food, we’re getting burritos the size of your face from Los Tres Hermanos in Van Nuys, Hot Udon from Yuko Kitchen in Mid-City, and small plates galore at Pine & Crane in Silverlake. We’re probably gonna hang out at a skate park (either in Echo Park or Noho) and we’re definitely thrifting on Melrose.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I couldn’t do any of the things I do without my husband, Conor. We met while working together a bookstore and now he’s a barista at the coffee shop literally across the street from the bookstore I currently manage. He’s not only with me at every zine fest, workshop, and event charming everyone in sight and helping me set up, but he also somehow finds the time to pursue his own creative practices. He’s a prodigious pianist, he can paint like heck, and he even builds gorgeous dollhouses from scratch. That’s not even to mention the endless support and encouragement he shows me. I wouldn’t trust myself or believe in myself as an artist if it weren’t for his gentle, loving self.

Website: https://nateastman.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nat.eastman

Image Credits
SSP: Photo Courtesy of Side Street Projects