Artists on Artists: A Conversation with the Visual Shapers of .WAV Zine
- 15 hours ago
- 7 min read
As a writer & editor for .WAV, I have always admired the Art Team’s capability to produce such unique and eye-catching visuals. I watched our style develop through the years and have seen two artists in particular shape .WAV’s brand into a distinctly recognizable, yet ever-evolving force. I am sat here today with those two artists: former Art Director Abbott Swanson and current Art Director Sam Thome.
Julia: Hello
Abbott and Sam: Hey
We are sat in Abbott’s new bedroom in San Francisco, and I’m already intrigued by the art around me: their concept drawings for an oil painting in progress form a kaleidoscope of evolution on one wall, and vintage magazines line a shelf on the other. I am intrigued by the constant development through both consumption and creation artists take on, and am curious about the ways in which these artists have grown.
Julia: At what point did you both start making art, and how has its function shifted for you throughout the years?
Sam: “I feel like I always had a drive to make something and get it out, even if nobody was really asking for it. In fourth grade, I would write my own little books—little zines—and staple them together to put in the class library. I started getting more into art in high school as well. A lot of journaling and collaging, and I worked on an art magazine with my closest friends. When I got to college, I started taking art more seriously because it was a really good coping skill for me. Feeling so disoriented and having art as a thing to come back to to make sense of all these new experiences—it became a much more central part of my life. I just knew I wanted to find a community of artists, which led me to .WAV.”
Abbott: “For me, elementary and middle school was a lot of just doodling, and it kind of felt more like a nuisance because you're not supposed to do it in class. You're not supposed to make art. And the rare time you do make art, it's like, two hours out of your whole week.
In high school, I started taking commissions of people’s pets and painting hydro flasks and stuff. I didn’t really develop my own style until a high school art teacher encouraged me to. I took AP Art and got to investigate whatever medium I wanted, so I chose mixed media, and did a bunch of paintings and collages and colored pencil work. It was kind of like, okay wait I can do this.”
Abbott shares that by the end of high school, they met someone who studied Graphic Communications at Cal Poly, and realized they could pursue an art degree as well. SLO was the first time they experienced being among a group of other artists. Participating in art fairs and meeting people in the major led them to .WAV.
From zines to posters to graphics, Abbott and Sam’s work has defined .WAV’s style. Sam’s artistry manifests in a plethora of forms, including collage, digital design, pen drawing, oil painting, and sculpture. To me, his art often dips into the nostalgic, the divine, and a charged sense of ordered chaos. A quote from one of his 2023 collages encapsulates this feeling succinctly: “Let ambiguity linger. For in ambiguity lies the itch of creation.”
And whether digital or analog, colorful or grayscale, Abbott’s work tends toward to the strange, layered, emotional, and surreal. No matter the subject, Abbott’s pieces take on a life and personality of their own. Each print residing on my bedroom wall I consider an old friend.
Julia: How would you describe your creative processes and the themes present in your work?
Abbott: “There’s no way I could create without taking in other media. Architecture and writing and movies. Music too—I will listen to songs on repeat, certain lyrics just get stuck in my head for so long they become their own thing. Seeing the way people storytell and picking out aspects that feel super visual for me. The most interesting subjects and themes to me are digestible disgust. When something is uncomfortable but you can’t stop being fascinated by it is something I think a lot about.
In SLO I had a really prominent theme. When I first got into my style, I noticed I was interested in very deep shadows and bright highlights and it kept me making faces and bodies that had these interesting forms and wrinkles and creases so that I could keep making them look more dimensional. That shifted into studying perspective. I moved away from doing close-up faces and portraits and starting using the body a lot. I became interested in studying form from memory — like I’ll look at my hand and the way it moves and what I depict of it on the page is a little uncanny but resembling.”
Sam: “A lot of it for me starts with writing. I journal a lot, and I’ll take bits from that for collages or as seeds for pieces. I think a lot of my personal work is very confessional and expressive. So then that obviously touches on recurring things about my identity and my life.”
I ask the artists what mediums have stuck with them the most and they both say that they’ve gone through phases with many, but tend to return to a few favorites.
Sam: “I definitely always come back to collage, I think because it's just so conducive to free expression. You don't really have to go in and pre-plan everything. It can be very spontaneous.”
For Abbott, their affinity for mixed media has carried through...
Abbott: “Something I learned designing for .WAV was how to use a whole junk pile of stuff to create. I loved working on the zines and it’s because they’re so focused on mixed media. Which can take longer, but is so much more interesting.
I hate drawing on the computer to be honest, but incorporating my physical media into digital work makes it more personal for me. One of my favorite solo graphics I made for .WAV was the “Ins and Outs of 2025.” I referenced something in it for type composition and then I had to run with that. I even included a chunk of my hair. It’s all a trial and error and sometimes you hit road blocks, but just playing around with something is so helpful.”
Abbott and Sam share that curating zine themes, taking submissions, and designing the final products has been a standout experience in .WAV. For Zine 9 Going for Seconds, they knew what they wanted the theme to be, but didn’t know what it would look like. Pinterest boards of food fights led to finding vintage recipe books on the side of the road, and the rest grew from there. Their work often reflects this meeting of analog and digital processes.
Abbott shares that when they first became manager of the Art Team, the prospect of leadership was nerve-racking...
Abbott: “I don’t think I would have offered myself up for the position if the manager before me, Grace Therriault, hadn’t come to me with the opportunity. I was, like, wait, yeah, throw my worries away. Let's fucking do this. Like, why the fuck wouldn't I? I kind of eased into it. But the first year was so hard, like, super, super tough. That's when I really had to look in the mirror and be like, you can be a leader, don't keep believing every little thought that you had before. You can do this thing.”
Julia: What was it like for the two of you working together as collaborators and co-managers?
Abbott: “I knew I wanted to bring on another person, and Sam and I’s processes are similar and different in the way that I felt like we connected really quickly in working together. It's really interesting being an artist and realizing how much love you have for other artists. And in my brain thinking everybody I know who's an artist is a genius. But then sometimes that can turn into you not believing you're also a part of that artistic, creative genius. And so working really close with someone who you have a strong admiration for really punches you in the face like treat yourself that way too, because this person thinks that of you.”
Sam: “I talk to the art team all the time about how much I miss Abbott. I learned so much from them in regard to forming style guides, having a vision, and seeing that come to fruition. There was a couple times too where we’d meet up and just work on one graphic together, and we'd be on the same computer moving stuff over one pixel at a time, and we're still like, no, that's not quite it. As a designer, especially with minute little things, it can really drive you crazy. So that's why it's so important to have another set of eyes.”
After this formative time working together, both artists continue to develop and explore their skills and passion. Sam shares that he is planning to continue directing the art team this coming year, this time alongside his new co-director Loretta Philp. As for Abbott, they have relocated to San Francisco and are immersing themself into the ecosystem of artists there.
Abbott: "It was so bittersweet having to leave this team after four years of building it and developing my style and my ideas. Everything that happened with .WAV is my standard, which is hard because it’s gonna take time to find something that meets it. But at the same time the city is so big and with my goals here I’m starting to realize I led so much with WAV, I can step into a leading role again. Or I can do my projects on my own time and then gather people who are also the same page."
Julia White is the Editor-in-Chief of .WAV Zine. She conducted the interview and wrote the article. Sam and Abbott designed the cover themselves.
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