she`s so skirt!

Michele Roldán-Shaw doesn’t mind starving for art.

“I would never want to do it for a living,” swears the Columbian-born Bluffton dweller of her self-published “zine,” Mezcolanza. “That would take the passion out of it.” Loosely translated as a “jumble, mess, mixture,” an issue might contain Michele’s humorous reflections cut-and-pasted with photos and drawings, but there’s always the chance she’ll throw in an interview with an alligator farmer or a disclaimer from her mother. She began stapling pages of her journal together to stave off boredom in small town Washington; the latest edition, chronicling her impetuous, budget-conscious adventure to Veracruz, is Mezcolanza’s first incarnation in color. Michele arrived in the Lowcountry three years ago “with a one way ticket and duffel bag” and supports her zine habit with freelance journalism and a part-time job, though “everyone’s favorite starving artist” has begun earning commissions, including the mural at Hilton Head’s new Coastal Discovery Museum. “I take a lot of pride in the things I do and I think people are starting to know that.”