Straight Up Magazine in 2006

Straight Up Magazine was published from January 2006 to June 2007. Its content consisted of art, music, & cultural articles about the Metro-East, across the river from St.Louis, Missouri. It also contained an extensive event calendar section publishing events from all over the region. It began as a 28 page/5,000 copies issue & ended its 8 issue run as a 40 page/10,000 copies magazine.

My involvement consisted of being Sole Graphic Designer, and later on Head Graphic Designer, for the magazine as well as Sole Web Designer. The website operated as a content companion and archive to the magazine. For example, to promote Art on the Square in Belleville, Illinois, articles were written about the art fair & the website offered additional articles on some of the artists. More samples from this project are available upon request.
Original Issue #1 PDF Proof

Straight Up Magazine in 2013

In early 2013 I was approached by members of the original staff of Straight Up Magazine from 2006-07 with a driving interest in re-launching the magazine, better, smarter, and even more driven than its previous run. I naturally jumped at the chance. Straight Up Magazine made its return to the Metro-East with its April 2013 issue with great anticipation and popularity, and the response from the public, artists, and venue owners alike has been nothing short of explosively positive. The last issue of this run was printed in April 2014. We archived all our issues on the website Issuu.com, including this last issue.

Gesso Magazine

In 2020 the magazine launched again under a new name, Gesso Magazine, with a much great focus on the St.Louis side of the river. What was different is that the magazine was only available in a digital format. One of the big assets to the magazine was an active street team that would go to various events around the area, and shoot photos and videos which were later posted on the website and social media.

With Covid and many events being shutdown, much of the magazine’s reporting went dormant and they stopped producing full “issues” but occasional articles have continued to be posted to the website. The website remains live and active at GessoMagazine.com.You can find a PDF version of the last Gesso issue here.

There is talk of bringing back the online magazine in some fashion, and if this happens I will most definitely be a part of it.

Photojournalism

More of my photojournalism work can be found on my Photography website at: PhotographyofMarkPolege.com.