Big Funny: Artists Biographies & Information

Are you one of the Big Funny ARTISTS? Scroll down to the bottom of this page for important information about the show.
KIRK ANDERSON [page 12] Staff political cartoonist for St. Paul Pioneer Press for eight years; drew weekly Banana Republic feature in Minneapolis Star Tribune for another two. Work has also appeared in America's most trusted news sources, including New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, and The Onion. Share the love at: kirktoons.com KEN AVIDOR [page 13] Ken Avidor (1955- ?) commonly known as Avidor. Known for an indistinct style totally lacking in awe-inspiring grandeur, he is considered one of the least influential and seldom revered cartoonists of Fin de sicle Southwest Minneapolis. As a celebrator of boredom and butt-ugliness, it has been said that "Avidor is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from obscurity to oblivion." avidorstudios.com BRIAN BASTIAN [page 10] tommychicago.com TERRY BEATTY [page 2] Terry Beatty is the co-creator of the long-running crime comic Ms. Tree, and is currently inking Batman: The Brave and the Bold for DC Comics. He teaches comic art at MCAD and lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Erika, and new son, Kirby. terrybeatty.blogspot.com HILLARY BERG [Editor] BUD BURGY [page 22] budburgy.wordpress.com KEVIN CANNON [Editor / page 8] Kevin Cannon is a cartoonist and part-time newspaper layout guy. His first solo graphic novel--an arctic adventure story called Far Arden--was recently published by Top Shelf Productions. kevincannon.org ZANDER CANNON [Editor / Header art] Zander Cannon is a cartoonist who has worked as both an artist and a writer in the American comics industry since 1993. Among his credits are Top Ten, Smax, The Replacement God, and The Stuff of Life. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife Julie and son Jin. bigtimeattic.com HENRY CHAMBERLAIN [page 30] Henry Chamberlain is a cartoonist living in Seattle. He has written and drawn a number of comics including the graphic novel, Alice in New York, and the brand new comic strip, Inkwellspring. He is a regular contributor to Newsarama. Keep in touch with him at aliceinnewyork.blogspot.com. He goes the whole hog with his comics. RYAN DOW [page 36] Ryan Dow delivers hand-made picture-stories through the amazing power of Interweb packet distribution. He also utilizes cutting-edge electronic duplicator machines to manufacture hand-stapled "art objects" of notable value. You can find his astounding work at introspectivecomics.com. CRAIG EDE [Writer, page 1] Craig is a painter, draftsman and occasional cartoonist. He is currently working on a series of portraits of people affected by the immigration raid that took place in Postville, IA on May 12, 2008. A comic book on that topic is in the works. mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=76688 WILLIAM R. EDE [page 46] Please refer to the article about William Ede by his son Craig on the front page of this publication. PAUL FRICKE [page 45] Paul Fricke is an author, illustrator, cartoonist specializing in comic book art for many applications for twenty-five years. Co-creator of Troll Lords and Terror Tots, his first word & picture book, Night of the Bedbugs is due for release December, 2009 Image/Silverline Books. He lives in Minnesota, working from his home studio, surrounded by his wife and two daughters, a family of artists. bluemoonstudios.com JESSE GILLESPIE [page 3] From quiet Cambridge, Minnesota, Jesse boasts a plethora of amateur illustration miscellaniousness from flyers to flagons, comics to clothing. Ready to face any artistic challenge with a grin and claymore. Likes real ramen and woodsy Danish women. tetheredhawk.wordpress.com CAANAN GRALL [page 23] A Short While Ago, Caanan dug up his Australian roots for the Canadian winter wonderland, where he draws, writes, and receives Vegemite in the post from his parents. You can follow his funny book adventure, Celadore, at DC's new-fangled zuda.com. DONN HA [page 25] A rail labourer responding to "donn-ha" has gone missing and may be wandering about our borough drawing traditional far eastern pigducks. If found, please return him to the Central Pacific Railroad offices, 92 J Street, Sacramento. BRITT HAMMERBERG [page 37] Britt Hammerberg has worked long and hard to rise to her current level of complete and utter obscurity. She contentedly spends her days working as a mild-mannered web developer, and never lets slip that she spends her free time drawing comics. 'Cause, you know, the shame. brittch.com BLAKE HIMSL HUNTER [page 31] Blake Himsl Hunter is an illustrator working out of the Twin Cities. He is also behind the web-comic govcheese.wordpress.com. URSULA MURRAY HUSTED [page 9] Comic artist, adventurer, and rogue academic, Ursula Murray Husted lives deep below the surface of Saint Paul Minnesota and has somehow talked her way into being allowed to corrupt young brains at three fully accredited institutions of higher learning. Send help. apocalyptictangerine.com DANNO KLONOWSKI [Editor / pg 10] (1853-1922) Prior to the murder/suicide, Minneapolis resident Danno Klonowski was a writer and/or artist on such comics as Manly Tales of Cowardice, Tommy Chicago, False Witness, and many others. He was joined in death by his wife, kids, cats, dog, and beloved childhood sled "Rosebud." staplegenius.com HAWK KRALL [page 33] Hawk Krall is an illustrator and cartoonist residing in the great metropolis of Philadelphia. His work has appeared in a plethora of publications including Typhon, Swindle, The Philadelphia Independent, and many alternative newsweeklies. When not toiling away at the olde drawing board Mr. Krall enjoys traveling the world in search of the perfect frankfurter. Please review his latest work by directing your mechanical communication devices towards hawkkrall.blogspot.com and hawkkrall.net. BOB LIPSKI [page 39] Bob Lipski started the monthly comic book Uptown Girl in the spring of 2003. After 6 years and 75 monthly issues, the series was concluded. Uptown Girl's adventures will continue in a series of original graphic novels. Lipski lives in Saint Paul, MN with his wife and two children. More about Uptown Girl can be found at uptowngirlcomic.com. ROGER LOOTINE [page 16] residuecomics.com EARL LUCKES [page 34] Thanks to math class, Earl learned to draw. His work is featured in the acclaimed Muscles & Fights and Superfantastica. Earl continues down the long, painful road of drawing little pictures with Mob Zombie from Maverick Comics out later this year. He loves his wife and son, whom inspire Rocket Steven. Contact Earl at turnidoffcomics [at] yahoo.com LUPI [page 38] Lupi is a bearcat who can really deal out a pack of fives. lupiloops.com STEPHANIE MANNHEIM [page 28] Stephanie Mannheim is a high school student in Ann Arbor, MI. She currently puts out two mini-comic series, Nate the Nonconformist and Roxie, as well as various other self-published comics. Steph is also a regular contributor to the Ann Arbor hippie rag "Armistice." stephcomics.blogspot.com STEVE MASON [page 35] Missing since 1952, Steve was recently discovered wandering Minneapolis alleys looking for cans with his tricked out, hi tech, alloy shopping cart. He's planning on converting it to a fixed gear. A life long non-motorist, Steve responded to his re-discovery by saying: "This is Minneapolis?" whitelinerider.com MAXEEM [page 43] CASE NO. 3002 - Believes himself a kind of cosmic nomad whose only fleeting joy "on Earth" is to make comics for unknown and mysterious "audience." For stability, allow occasional graphic outbursts. Records/monitoring of activity at maxeem.com. KEVIN McCARTHY [page 27] Kevin McCarthy's credits as editor, writer, and/or artist include Casual Heroes with Motown/Image, Marvel's Spider-Man Team-Up, DC's Orion, Top Cow's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Dynamite's Red Sonja, ALIEN8 for Disney, and Dark Horse's Eisner Award-winning anthology Michael Chabon Presents The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist. mccarthy-comics.com D.C. McNAMARA [page 40] What?? You liked the Underground Funnies? You thought it was the Apis mellifera's tibiae? Or perhaps you prefer the "bee's knees"? Maybe you like to draw bug-sized comics! If you do, and I think you might, then why don't you trade your minis with other microdoodlers through the Minicomix Co-op! Free trade really works! minicomix.org ERIK NELSON [page 29] Dis Nelson Guy's an all wet abercrombie who blows his wig over makin' funnies. Now THAT'S a trip for biscuits, eh pally? This one here has a hard boiled jelly bean gumming up the works until he gets filled with daylight. It's nuts awright! nelsonerik.com DIANA NOCK [page 4] Diana Nock likes to draw comics, so much that she went to school for it. Graduating with a BFA in Comic Art in 2006, she settled down for a life of constant toil and inky fingernails. Her artwork is mainly inspired by both a love of storytelling and a misplaced sense of childhood nostalgia. Online portfolio: jinxville.com. Ongoing webcomic: intrepidgirlbot.com. DANIEL J. OLSON [page 7] Daniel J. Olson is a former coal miner turned part-time cartoonist. During his free time Daniel listens to his portable gramophone and enjoys spending time in the St. Paul caverns. Visit bewilderedkid.com for more art. DAVID PALEO [page 44] Stupid, stupid David Paleo moronically draws harebrained comics, and then idiotically publishes the inane trash in asinine mags like this one. He witlessly lives in imbecilic Argentina along his cretinous pet, Pedro the Amazing Mathemagician Turtle. monsterwithoutacause.blogspot.com BILL PRENDERGAST [page 18] biasedliberalmedia.com MADELINE QUERIPEL [page 19] Madeline is a 54 year-old Mormon mother of eight whose only purpose in life is derived from serving her obese, Joseph Smithing husband. She enjoys tennis and giving birth. You can see her work at qlady.livejournal.com and be sure to check out betterzits.blogspot.com for some laffs. BJORN ROLVAAG [Editor / page 11] Bjorn Rolvaag was Tool Academy's class of 1909 valedictorian. His arm bears banded tattoos akin to the aborigines of New Zealand. Designed woolen menswear adorning dragon visages with inscription. His leisurely distractions include hurling chairs upon inference of emasculation, fits of pugilistic rage, and mimicking the workingman's skin tone. B. SABO [page 14] bsabo.com DAVID SANDBERG [page 20] Dave went off to art school in 1970 expecting to be a sculptor. Neither minimalism nor poverty was his thing, so he switched to animation. And that was a good thing. JASON SANDBERG [page 6] Jason Sandberg discovered the artwork of Jacob Kurtzberg in 1977 and soon acquired a love of drawing. Sandberg specializes in acrylic painting and his work has been purchased by collectors in New York, Europe and Asia. PREVIEWS magazine described his Pop Art as "base alternative art on mescaline." Critic and historian Scott McCloud classified his art as "uncategorizable." jasonsandberg.com JENNY SCHMID [page 15] Jenny Schmid lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota where printmaking is the cat's meow. She earns her pennies as an Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Minnesota. She makes her fancy pants prints and drawings working with new-fangled and old-fangled gadgetry from printing presses to moving picture machines. bikinipressinternational.com JAMIE SCHUMACHER [Editor] J-me is the founder of Altered Esthetics. She has a degree in Philosophy and Art, which makes her completely unemployable and incredibly difficult to work with. Why the editorial team keeps her around is to be discoveredÉ in the meantime she's lost in contemplation, on a quest for the existential origin of "big," "funny." alteredesthetics.org MIKE SGIER [page 5] Mike Sgier's mind is a miasma of competing ideas vying for their author's attention. As of this writing, the two most victorious are Supernova Lullaby, a weekly internet picture story, and The Ballad of Toby & Sara, an ongoing narrative-image story. The physical manifestations of these ideas can both be found at msgierillustration.com ANDY SINGER [page 17] Andy Singer draws cartoons, comics and illustrations. If you want to see more samples of his work, to print some of it in your publication or to buy one of his books . . . check out: andysinger.com DAVID STEINLICHT [page 41] David Steinlicht's artistical proclivications became evident when he employed crayons to inscribe simple stick figures upon his parents' residential walls. He now uses modern, computer-aided drawing machines to make simple electronic stick figures. Steinlicht's E-super highway waystations: allsmall.net, cornercomic.com STEVEN STWALLEY [Editor / pg 42] Steven "Stwallskull" Stwalley, a founding member of the International Cartoonist Conspiracy, passes his free time cartooning, gardening, reading funny-books, exploring the limits of sleep deprivation, and impressing his young daughters with his ridiculously pathetic abilities at slight-of-hand magic. He is responsible for stwallskull.com, soapythechicken.com, and cutelilguy.com. MIKE TOFT [page 32] Mike Toft writes and draws his Brain Food comic book around once a year. It's about current events and zombie porn. He also publishes mini-comics and other projects. Until he gets an actual website, you can check a couple of old Brain Food pages at: cartoonistconspiracy.com/brainfood LEWIS TUCK [page 21] Lewis Tuck is not only known for drawing them funnies, but can also deliver a mean lookin' shoe shine for a mere nickel. He is also on that them there new inter-webbin' computer thing, so take a gander at: lewistuck.blogspot.com LONNY UNITUS [page 26] Mr. Unitus began his doodling shenanigans as a mere want to belong to a certain secret society of Twin City ink-slingers who commonly self-publish their wares in miniature. Prior to this he associated with a more suspect crew who print large-format advertisements for reprehensible purveyors of popular "modern" music. lonnyunitus.com ADAM WIRTZFELD [page 24] Adam Wirtzfeld resides in Minneapolis with an epileptic cat and a swell gal who looks posilutely nifty in galoshes. His frequent experiments with time travel, anti-gravity, and sleep deprivation have thus far yielded no commercially viable results. Tune your wireless outfit to WrenchInTheWorks.com for further thrilling adventures. little funny artists: B-Men Fritz Bogott Emma Chamberlain-Wescott Henry Chamberlain Adrean Clark Athena Currier David Huyck Ibrahim Ineke Danno Klonowski Max Konrardy Stephanie Mannheim Sarah Morean Erik Nelson Dan Olson James Powell Mike Sgier David Steinlicht Esther Stwalley Steven Stwalley
INFO FOR ARTISTS: POSTCARDS Postcards will be ready by July 2nd and can be picked up at Altered Esthetics, 1224 Quincy Street Northeast. Postcards can be picked up 24/7 - there will be stacks available in the foyer of the building, to the right of the mailbox. They will also be some available this Thursday, July 2nd at the Cartoonist Conspiracy jam session, starting at 6:30 at Diamond's Coffee Shoppe in Northeast Minneapolis. You can see the postcards here: FRONT BACK GETTING YOUR COPIES OF BIG FUNNY Big Funny will be released and available to the public Friday, August 7th. Artist contributors, however, can pick up their copies on Thursday, August 6th at the Cartoonist Conspiracy jam session, starting at 6:30 at Diamond's Coffee Shoppe in Northeast Minneapolis. If you can't make it to the jam session, you can pick up your copies at Altered Esthetics anytime during gallery hours (Tuesdays and Thursdays 1pm-7pm, Saturdays 1pm-5pm). Out of State Artists, your works will ship out to arrive shortly after the opening. PRESS RELEASE The press release is now available: http://www.alteredesthetics.com/pressreleases/BigFunnyPress.pdf Please pass it on to any journalists, editors or other press folks you may know.

Questions about the Big Funny Gallery show: contact [at] alteredesthetics.org	Questions about the Big Funny Newspaper: kevin [at] bigtimeattic.com