Avy Jetter was born on December 11, 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has been a professional zine artist since 2012. A zine is an independently or self-published book/comic.

In an interview with the Black Women Read newsletter, Avy Jetter talked a bit about her background: “My family is originally from Minnesota. I was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California.” Specifically, Avy Jetter was raised in Richmond and moved to Oakland, California as an adult. It was in Oakland that she really began her career as an artist. She speaks passionately about gentrification in Oakland, which inspired her zine What Did you Just Say to Me? Her work in the Oakland art community is incredible and shows intense dedication to tackling problems such as microaggressions and gentrification, which hurt people of color.

Avy Jetter began her college education at the California College of the Arts before transferring to Fisk University for two semesters. After a year, she transferred back to CCA to complete her BFA in painting. Outside of formal schooling, Avy has experimented with many different types of art and makes beautiful pieces of tie-dye.

Avy Jetter’s first major artistic launch was in 2012 with the creation of her zine Nuthin Good Ever Happens at 4 a.m. It is centered around four vastly different Oakland friends who find themselves banding together to survive the zombie apocalypse. In an interview with the MBSFA in 2016, Jetter said, “I started making comics in 2012 after a friend showed me her webcomic. . . .I decided in March or April 2012 that I would make a comic to be ready for SF Zinefest in September 2012. . . .I dang near killed myself getting the first issue of the comic book done in five months but I did it!”

Haunts:

  • The East Bay Community Space, 507 55th Street, Oakland, CA 94609. Avy Jetter can be found attending zine fests in Oakland and San Francisco. The East Bay Community Space hosts zine events, and in December 2019, Avy Jetter’s work Nuthin Good Ever Happens at 4 a.m. was one of the main attractions of the Oakland Creates Art, Comix and Zinefest.
  • Oakland Creates 2020: No Current Location. In 2019, this event was hosted at the East Bay Community Space. The location can change from year to year, and this organization, which helps support new artists and traditionally underrepresented voices, is one where Avy Jetter can be found. Her fundraising and artistic work for this event is incredible and moving.
  • Etsy and 2019 Temescal Street Fair, 49th Street and Telegraph, Oakland, CA 94609. Avy Jetter has a business with an incredible collection of custom tie-dye clothing. Avy Jetter tends to advertise her tie-dye on her Etsy page, and she can be contacted on her Etsy page under the name StormOne. She can be found at street fairs and the farmers’ market selling her art around the Bay Area. She was at the Temescal Street Fair in June 2019.

~ by Siena Parrish ~

External Links:

Jetter, Avy. “Black Women and Comics: An Interview with Avy Jetter.” Black Women Read, July 2019, https://mailchi.mp/11e6999f8c74/black-women-read-newsletter-2019?e=7122f6517b&fbclid=IwAR0lxrPXsH3qmHSK6VD6BdD1q9afoThnjfoDOtq2fyxy9wabnLmWd2qDdjg. – An incredible interview where Avy talks a lot about her thoughts on social justice and gentrification in Oakland.

—. “Interview with Artist Avy Jetter.” Midwest Black Speculative Fiction Alliance, 27 May 2016, https://midwestbsfa.com/2016/05/27/interview-with-artist-avy-jetter/.

https://peoplepill.com/people/avy-jetter/ – Info. on the life and career of Avy Jetter

https://lbzinefest.com/the-art-of-avy-jetter/ – Interview w/ Avy Jetter and info. on artwork

https://www.etsy.com/shop/stormone/?fbclid=IwAR1g_iipA6SmHYo5mDdgnek9GgUaeNOXQAeuFV3V1cZsEFBYBYDoEYJRz-Y – This page is Avy Jetter’s Etsy shop for her tie-dye clothing.

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