TCAF 2012
So! You guys!
I was tied up in TCAF (Toronto Comic Arts Festival) festivities this past weekend, and it was absolutely fantastic. I had a lot of fun, both as an exhibitor and an attendee, and going to the afterparties and meeting neat people. I’ve never really been an ‘afterparty1!1!1′ type of person but I’m really glad I went out.
Anywho, in the picture above you can see one of my lovely interns lying on the TCAF exhibitor map. (Sometimes my interns are more in-the-way than helpful, sadly, but alas.) I’m so happy with the direction the festival is headed – the 2nd floor was filled with a bunch of amazing stuff this year. Back in 2010 when I was in the small press room, we were up on the 2nd floor (and I think that’s pretty much all that was up there). TCAF is transforming into this awesome massive thing that is internationally acknowledged as badass, and I think that’s so great. The people who run it know what they’re doing and do it well. Really honoured to be a part of it!
Oh look! There’s my name! Such an honour to be in a room with all these other talented individuals. Check out their work!
Here was my table setup with the lovely Kat Verwho! It was an awesome table pairing, and Kat was a sweet table buddy. Look at that sweet setup. Yeah!
Table closeup!
I’m not going to bother posting pictures of the event itself – many news outlets have done so already, and much better than I have. It was packed! Comics moshpit!
Also – massive massive massive thank you to everyone who came out to TCAF, and an even bigger thank you to everyone who came out to my little area to give me a high-five and some support. Thank you to all of my lovely pals who ventured out, and to all of the neat new people that I met.
Anyway, here’s some stuff I picked up while I was there – a pretty damn good haul if I do say so myself! Look at all this fantastic stuff! Here’s the list, from left to right and top to bottom, if you want to take a gander at any of this loveliness for yourselves.
- Florid Fauna by Meg Hunt (can’t find this zine online)
- Cramond Island by Irkus M. Zeberio
- Temporama by Clayton Jr
- The Complete Talamaroo by Alabaster
- Little Day by Lisa Vanin (can’t find this zine online)
- Eve’s Diary by Meg Hunt
- Even the Giants by Jesse Jacobs
- Chute et Ascension by Micah Lidberg
- Hellberta by Michael Comeau
- Gilded Lilies by Jillian Tamaki
- Witness My Shame by Shary Boyle
- Gentle Soul by Lisa Vanin
TCAF THIS WEEKEND! YAYYYY!
You guuuyyyssssss!
I’ll be in the Small Press Room (curated by the lovely folks at Wowee Zonk) at TCAF (the Toronto Comic Arts Festival) all weekend! Thankfully this year we appear to be on the same floor as everyone else, and won’t be forgotten about (hopefully)! Very much looking forward to it. If you’re in Toronto, do come say hi, will ya? It’s at the Toronto Reference Library at Yonge & Bloor. On Saturday the hours are 9-5, and on Sunday 11-5.
Cya there!
POKEMON BATTLE ROYALE @ LIGHT GREY ART LAB
I know I’ve talked about this a bunch, but I have a piece in Light Grey Art Lab‘s Pokemon Battle Royale exhibition! It’s in Minneapolis, MN, USA – so if you’re down there why not go take a gander? The show is up until May 11, and you can check LGAL‘s website for a list of times the work is available for viewing. Go check it out! I also have my Weepinbell print up for sale in their shop – so if you like droopy Pokemon who look a bit out of it, my picture might just suit your fancy. The print is only available through them until May 11!
NYC ZINE WANDERINGS! ABC NO RIO, BARNARD, & FEMINIST ZINE FAIR 2012
Somewhere else I visited in NYC was ABC No Rio’s zine library. They had a really interesting space, which was a bit chilly and dingy, but also really down-to-earth and hip to the street (or something), which was neat.
This is what the interior of the library space looked like – super DIY. I was expecting/hoping to see some art zines, but they exclusively had radical 70s-90s 8 1/2 x 11 in black & white photocopied & stapled zines. I found the term ‘zine library’ in their case to be a bit of a misnomer, to be frank… they’re really more of an archive. They do invite people to submit their zines to their collection, but when all they have is one thing, it does feel a bit odd asking if they’d be interested in something more colourful, printed on higher quality paper, and hand-bound. So if you do artsy shit, this probably isn’t the space for you to donate – but it’s definitely somewhere interesting to visit, and I’m glad I went. Happy that that particular type of zine is being archived somewhere… even if I feel it’s a bit stuck in the past re: what zines are and can be.
The above picture is from the Barnard College zine library (at Columbia, just south of Harlem in NYC). They had a bit of a wider variety of zines, and less emphasis on the standard 80s radical b&w super low-fi stuff. It seemed like the subject matter mostly revolved around radical issues, too, and there weren’t any ‘art zines’ on display (that I could see, anyway – there might have been some there that I didn’t find). There’s a weirdness about these two spaces in their really slim definition of what a ‘zine’ is – for me, zines have always been more about reclaiming methods of production and creating DIY objects (regardless of their fanciness/artiness/not-artiness). Sure, the content can concern radical politics, but I don’t think it has to. Barnard didn’t find my work suitable for their collection, on those grounds – which is A-OK by me, it’s all good (and be warned, fellow artsy types) – but being more familiar with the Toronto zine scene with its emphasis and acceptance on art zines and DIY comics, I was totally not expecting to get the cold shoulder in NYC at these places. Oh well! It was still fun to visit, and I’m glad I did! (And I couldn’t help but surprisedly ask myself, Is Toronto actually more progressive than NYC in its definition of what a zine is? Or did I just go to the wrong spots?)
The above photo was taken by zinester Kate Wadkins. Thanks Kate! Anyway, this picture was taken at the Feminist Zine Festival in Brooklyn, which I also hit up while I was in NYC. It was definitely more my speed, and I got a ton of awesome stuff! I wasn’t there for very long, but there was a lot of interesting zines, and some cool artsy zines there too. You can see some of the stuff I bought below!
WITCHES ARE PEOPLE TOO
I posted the WIP shots from this a bit ago, but here’s the final. It was finished back in February – I have no clue why I’ve held off on posting it, but this has got to be my favourite illustration that I’ve ever done. Like, ever – for real. I think it’s pretty self explanatory, but since I’m sure people will disagree with me on that I’ll say a little about it. This was inspired by a lot of prejudice and ignorance directed towards contemporary magical practitioners of all stripes, particularly witches, since the word has a lot of medieval-esque baggage that goes along with it. For that reason, witches can often lose their jobs or face discrimination because of their spiritual practice and/or religion(s), like this lady from the TSA. Similarly, genius G. W. Bush said “I don’t think that witchcraft is a religion” – which it kind of isn’t, but it does often (though not always) come with some spiritual/religious belief(s)… anyhow, Bush’s statement (though it’s not surprising it came from him) speaks to a larger attitude that is prevalent in most of North America (around the world it’s both better and worse). Can we all just agree to get along and stop being assholes to each other based on what our religious and/or spiritual beliefs are? Okay cool, thank you.
Speaking of hullaballoo re: witchcraft and public practice, it took one Wiccan (Wicca and witchcraft ain’t the same thing, but anyway) a massive battle with the American military to allow a popular Wiccan symbol (a pentagram – sacred to many other people as well, and to many witches, regardless of their affiliation or lack thereof with Wicca) on military tombstones. So I decided to move away from the typical super old-school image that a lot of people associate with witchcraft (pointy hat, crooked nose, black gown, cauldron) and create an image which would look pretty typical and devoid of any religious/spiritual over/undertones, if the type had been removed. That, to me, is the point of this image, and when you mix that together with a close working relationship with the earth, you have this picture. I hope you like it as much as I do!
Prints are also available: