BLIX
artist and enchantrexx
CV for Ms. Blix
The Short Version:
2006
Graduated Mt Holyoke College
Russian Eurasian Studies
Thesis work: An illustrated zine about underground punk music in Saint Petersburg.
2006-7
Russian-Speaking Case Manger
Vermont Refugee Resettlement Center
2008-2009
Became a mother and everything changed.
2009-2018
Placenta Power Encapsulation Services
Owner
2010-present
Lion Heart Kombucha
Co-owner/founder
2009-2012
Hip Mama Zine
Illustrator, editor
2014-present
Freelance designer and illustrator
2014
Graduate of Comics Certificate Program
Independent Publishing Resource Center
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2020
Graduate from Blue Iris Mystery School
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My work: Published by Someone else:
Hip Mama Zine, issues #40-50
Editorials, illustrations, comics
Rad Dad #22 "Riot Parents'
Article
Free Stooges, Free comicbook Day
"The Shell"
The Lodge #2
Inside and Back cover
Important Cats
Sound Grounds Wrecking Crew
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PDX Zine Symposium
zine anthology 2018, 2020
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New York Times "Modern Love"
Valentine's Day 2018
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My Work: Published by me:
Liner Notes by Nino Cipri
Illustration and book design
Which is Witch #1-4
Illustration, book design
Past All Limits
Self-published Comic
How it Starts
Self-published Comic
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What Happens Next
Self-published Comic
The Shell/Two Wings
Self-published Comic
Tiny Voices
Self-published Comic
Nameless Patron Saints I just made up
Self-published comic
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Rainbow and the land of Midnight Sun
Unpublished Children's Comic
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Egg in Bread
Mini-comic
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Once I met the Green Man
Self-published Comic
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When Everything Changes
Self-Published Comic
The Long Version:
I was home grown in Randolph, Vermont. A land of epic winters, the smell of maple syrup boiling in the sugar house, cold feet, rolling green hills and notoriously freezing halloweens. Did I mention the short summers?
I attended strange assortments of elementary and Jr high schools as can be expected in rural Vermont. Somehow I ended up in a suburb of Philadelphia for a semester of my sophomore year and realized I needed to get the hell out of Central Vermont! Luckily, my family moved to Burlington (the largest city in the state) where I developed a love for punk rock, feminism, zines, late nights and home-made haircuts.
I went to college in 2002 at Mount Holyoke College, where I majored in Russian and Eurasian Studies. Between 2003 and 2005 I spent 2 semesters in Russia, focusing my thesis on underground rock and roll music in post-soviet St. Petersburg. During my time there, I lived in Moscow, St. P, Vladimir and Siberia (Irkutsk and Buryatia). I attended many punk shows, drank way too much with strangers in city parks, ate pickles and trusted that I would figure out how to find my way home every time I got lost (and I did).
I attended Middlebury College for 2 summers of their Russian Immersion program. After graduating college in 2006, my fluency allowed me to land a job working at the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Center. I was the Russian-speaking case manager for post-Soviet refugees, namely Mesketian Turks from the Central Asian republics of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.
By 2007, I was thoroughly done with blizzards in April, so I high-tailed it west towards Oregon to find adventure, a new population of Russian-speakers to work with and a desire to expand my creative horizons. I found myself in North Portland, in a tiny, freezing apartment that smelled like dog pee. It wasn't much, but I knew it was the start to something great!I began medical and legal interpretation for IRCO before starting a full-time job with a chiropractor, hoping to expand my skills in the health and wellness world.
But then the unexpected happened....I got pregnant! And then, I got married! And then everything changed. I spent most of my pregnancy wondering what the hell was happening to me. By the time my son was born at Alma Midwifery in Portland, I realized that nothing would ever be the same. My body and soul had been completely ripped apart and suddenly, this tiny human creature was my complete and total responsibility. Talk about a head fuck. I was 24 and all of my friends were either traveling, partying or partaking in wild orgies. I was in a whole different category of stimulation. Namely the bleeding nipple/vagina variety. But it was the beginning of some incredible stuff (I just didn't know it yet).
3 things were born with my son: my business Placenta Power, our business Lion Heart Kombucha and my future as an artist. When my son was 5 months old, I began volunteering with Hip Mama Zine. I started with providing comics and illustrations to accompany the articles and over time became the co-editor. After 3 years with Hip Mama, we handed the reigns back to its original creatress Ariel Gore and I started focusing on my own work. I began illustrating for friends' zines and chapbooks and was accepted to the Comics Certificate Program at the Independent Publishing Resource Center.
In 2014, I self-published some crazy amount of zines and comics. I had the chance to participate several times in this amazing show called Gridlords a bunch, which took my love for performance and theatrics to a new level. My collaboration with Rhea Wolf began full steam and that totally rocked my world as an artist, a witch and person.
In 2015, I drew the flyer for the Portland Zine Symposium and one of my comics was printed in an anthology put together by Floating World Comics. In this year I also began my priestess training at the Blue Iris Mystery School. I started taking on design gigs and developed a big love for creative collaboration.
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In the last 5 years I have continued making work and have been expanding my drag performance practice, which was spear headed by participating in the Portland Zine Symposium's Monster Pageant. I continue to sing and write songs and am trying to improve my piano playing. I have an unpublished children's book that is still asking to be finished and have been playing with eco-printing on fabric.