INPUT REQUESTED: What should we do for the 2011 comic art show at Altered Esthetics?

The Lutefisk Sushi Volume D show is coming up this August… and we’re already thinking about what we want to for our collaboration with Altered Esthetics for NEXT year. Let’s get it figured out shall we?

Here are some of the many possible ideas we have discussed for next year’s comic art show, in no particular order:

PUBLIC DOMAIN BOOK — Wherein each artist illustrates a chapter from a public domain book.

ANTHOLOGY — An anthology of some sort.  Specific topic and printing details TBD.

COMIC COOKBOOK — Spiral bound cookbook with recipes and art submitted by artists.  Could cook some of the dishes during the opening.  Categories can be split among the potential artists based on last name just like when dividing up a potluck (e.g. A-D salads, E-J meats, etc.).

LOOSE SHEETS — Each artist makes a multi-page comic and they are bound like loose leaf newspaper pages, or in a 3-ring binder.

SONG COMICS — Each artist picks a favorite song and creates a comic based on this song.  This allows for maximum flexibility as artists may create whatever type of comic art they want.  Musicians could cover some of these songs during the opening.  We could produce a “mix tape” list to give out (people would have to purchase their own songs). Karoake?  — Comic – Oke.

SCRIPT SWAP — Artists could draw comics based on other people’s scripts.  This would give comic writers a chance to collaborate with local artists.  We could also create comics based on the scripts of young children, which could get pretty hilarious.

EDUCATIONAL COMICS –Each artist makes an educational strip on a subject of their choosing.

COMIC POSTER ART — Partner with poster artists who would print comics designed by cartoonists.

Suggest ideas you would like to participate in in the comments below, and we’ll discuss and vote on them very soon on the message board.

14 thoughts on “INPUT REQUESTED: What should we do for the 2011 comic art show at Altered Esthetics?

  1. I like the idea of an anthology book, but the public domain book is pretty fun, too.
    What about a “cover” story, where we redraw favorite comic stories? I’d love to see Danno redrawing an issue of ‘Spider-Man’ or whatever.

  2. I’m with Bob on the first two, but I also like the idea of the poster art.

  3. Loose sheets — with reservations. Could we get them all spiral bound? Binder = blegh.

    An extension of this idea would be to print everyone’s comics on ruled paper and then spiral-bind them together. Like it’s just some notebook we all passed around in high school. But maybe that’s ridiculous.

  4. What if we have someone create a basic template for a comic strip character… think homage to “Flash Gordon” or “Dick Tracy” plus 2 supporting characters, all with basic costume designs etc. Then each artist takes that common material and does a single Big Funny sized page strip and breathes life into their interpretation. The fun would be all the variety we’d find within these loose constraints.

  5. Could this possibly be stretched – whatever it is – to our “sister” gallery in the Hague? Cartoonist Conspiracy Holland cell is truly interested in a collaboration.

    As an aside, something we were discussing, though it is only vaguely connected to the topic of public domain … was one of the earliest comic books – a thing from Italy discussed by fancy-pantsers called “the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili”, printed in 1499 by famous venetian press Aldus Manutius.

    My friend says: “Their kind is called emblem books, and many of them are in the alchemical/gnostic tradition, and are in their intelligent use of picture-language definitely a comic-book progenitor. The Hypnerotomachia is an especially fine example. Googleable, too. Check it out if you’ve time. Maybe a nice starting point for an art show…”

  6. As an extension to my comment, I like Sarah’s idea of a bound volume. This would lend itself well to both long- and short-distance collaboration.

    Plus don’t all us indoorsy types like to sit and work in private on our own papers and materials anyway?

    What if the only necessity is that the final “inclusion size” must be a certain size like 8.5″ x 8.5″ and must be devisable by 2 so that both sides are used – on any material you want – then each person prints only their pages of the book using any method – screenprinting, xerox, etc. – like 300 times. Then when it’s constructed you have 300 copies of a very cool and rare book. 🙂

  7. re:maxeem’s 1st comment:calling it sisterhood might be stretching things a bit, but, yes, we have a space at our disposal which i should like to offer as a tool to
    strengthen the bonds between cartoonists internationally.Let’s please discuss the possibilities of mutually curating a show of cross-continental comix, in whatever form or way. For the curious:www.barbarianparlement.blogspot.com

  8. I think my favorite ideas are Song Comics and Script Swap.

    While I am intrigued by the idea of illustrating chapters of a public domain book, it may just be too hard to coordinate with dozens of participants.

    Maybe we could combine that with Jason’s idea and have everyone make up their own strips about a public domain/folkloric character, which could then be compiled into some kind of book. That way we could have fun seeing different interpretations of familiar material, but we wouldn’t have to worry about continuity as much as we would if it were a chapter book.

  9. A quick note on the cookbook. We weren’t thinking only a plan 3-ring binder, but something more along the lines of the traditional Better Homes and Gardens cookbook –

    http://purenoumena.org/images/2010/2010-07-14%20_Cookbook.jpg

    (Yes, I have this. Please don’t shun me. 🙂 )

    Like the Bento Boxes for Lutefisk Sushi, we could hopefully have these custom made, and designed by either a comic artist or a collaboration of artists and designers.

    The pages wouldn’t just be pages, but something nice, simply laminated or clearcoated perhaps, that people could either buy a complete set of or by individual ones they like. We’ve talked about trading cards before, this is almost along those lines even.

    http://purenoumena.org/images/2010/2010-07-14%20_OpenCookbook.jpg

    The possibility of having sections would be fun, too. Instead of “Meat,” “Desserts,” etc we could have “music,” “ninjas” or whatever. The possibilities are endless. 😉

    We could figure out the details, but I just wanted to include more information about the idea itself.

    Planning this far in advance, I would also try to write a few grants for the project to help curb printing/laminating costs. That’d be neat!

  10. The comic cookbook just seems so very Minnesotan to me. Like you would get this at the local bake sale and give it to new neighbors.

    It may even make a fun thing to keep in stock and sold all the time.

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