Ellenville art lovers are invited to the opening of… a vending machine.

Zine Machine might remind you of a time before doomscrolling. Created by Amanda Wylie, the project is a set of coin-operated vending machines that dispense works from local artists. Wylie started Zine Machine last year with a machine at Camp Kingston in Kingston. Since then, she’s expanded to four vending machines and is planning one more at InnWay Art Co-op in Ellenville.

The concept behind Zine Machine, Saugerties-based Wylie told us, is simple: to “give opportunities to artists that are alive, and make something people can hold in their hand and get them off their screens,” at, notably, a low price. The highest cost of an item in the machine is $1.25. The items dispensed from the machines vary from stickers, prints, photographs, writing, and small zines.

Wylie attributes the low cost of the art to her learning about local resources for printing and doing most of the work, like cutting, transferring machines and connecting with artists, on her own. Wylie emphasized that Zine Machine accepts all types of art, and if somebody submits something that needs to be converted into a handheld form, her and the artist can collaborate on how to make it compatible.

“I love things that are mini, small and tangible, so I thought it would be a great opportunity for myself and other people to share their art not online, but have it be just as small and cute as when it’s on your phone,” Wylie said.

Each machine has 5-6 artists included, who are all selected through an open submission process on the Zine Machine website. Once an artist submits, they are placed in a list and get first priority when there is an upcoming open call or if Wylie is looking for a specifically themed machine where the art will fit into a category. So far, there have been around 50 artists whose work has been sold in the machines.

The project is meant to be “low stakes” and “no pressure” for contributing artists. Their pieces are sold individually and are compiled into the titular 8-page zine for sale in the machine. There have been around 24 zines made in the past year.

Wylie uses the coins collected in the machines to print the art.

Robyn Squires of the InnWay art collective connected Wylie to Ellenville. Now, Wylie has an open submission call for her Ellenville-based machine and collection of zines she hopes to make throughout the summer. The call is open for everybody – though local artists will get priority.

The plan is to make five zines connected to upcoming happenings in Ellenville. There is going to be an issue about Upstate Art Weekend, Borscht Belt Festival, Blueberry Festival, Fourth of July and one catch-all issue. She encourages artists to submit with art that would fall into one or more of these categories.

Wylie hopes to attend some of the summer festivals to sell the zines and also to create a mini-exhibit at InnWay with art collected in Ellenville.

Meanwhile, Wylie is working on releasing a book of every zine created in Zine Machine’s first year. The book will be pricier than the zines, but Wylie said that she is wiling to implement a sliding scale payment method for those who cannot afford the book at full cost. Another upcoming goal is working on her website, https://www.zinemachine.org/, which will include a page for each artist who has ever sold art in a machine, as well as including information about the locations of her machines around the region and a tab for submissions.

Interns are a new addition to the Zine Machine world. Wylie noted that any college students interested in working with Zine Machine in a way that would benefit their degree should reach out. “This is an opportunity I want to see flourish,” Wylie said.

She also is interested in acquiring more machines to expand her project to even more venues. There’s currently a waitlist for locations. “I want to continue doing this project,” Wylie said. “It’s something I look forward to working on every day. I want artists paid and bring opportunities to people including myself.”

Wylie is also looking for sponsors to help keep Zine Machine afloat. Interested parties can reach out through the link here, which also includes a link of all current donors to the project: https://www.zinemachine.org/donors.

“InnWay is a cool place that harbors artist’s works. There’s cool stuff going on in Ellenville, I’m happy to be a part of what they’re doing over there,” Wylie said.

Ellenville artist can submit their work at https://www.zinemachine.org/submissions