Category Archives: St. Paul

An Evening With Chip Kidd in Minneapolis September 16th

event, Events, Minneapolis, mn, St. Paul

From the Minnesota Book Publishers’ Roundtable:

An Evening With Chip Kidd
DATE & TIME: Wednesday, September 16; 7:00 p.m.. – 8:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Minneapolis College of Art and Design (Auditorium 150), 2501 Stevens Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55404.

USA Today has called him “the closest thing to a rock star” in the world of graphic design. Time selected him as one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2008. His iconic book covers—from the famous T-Rex for Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park to designs for other literati such as David Sedaris and Cormac McCarthy—have helped spawn a revolution in the art of American book packaging. Join the Minnesota Book Publishers’ Roundtable at our inaugural lecture of the 2009-2010 season, as we welcome legendary designer Chip Kidd back to the Twin Cities!

Note: this lecture will occur in the evening as opposed to our normal, lunch hour scheduling, and will be held in a new venue. Food and beverage will not be served. Seating is limited and this event is expected to sell out quickly.

MORE INFO HERE.

City Pages Third Annual Comix Issue: The Meaning of Minnesota Nice

comics, Local Hero Kevin Cannon, Minneapolis, mn, St. Paul

The third annual City Pages Comix Issue will be out today at a coffee shop near you… as usual, it features the work of many members of the Twin Cities Cartoonist Conspiracy, including the above image by Local Hero Kevin Cannon. This year’s theme is “Minnesota Nice.” Cartoons are already online for those of you who can’t wait to see it in print.

St. Paul Cartoonist Conspiracy Jam! This Thursday, August 20th, 2009!

jam, Jam Comics, Minneapolis, St. Paul

Join the St. Paul Cartoonist Conspiracy Cell and create a jam comic! This jam will be extra special as we will bid farewell to our friend and Twin Cities conspirator Mike Sgier. Mike is moving out to Philadelphia in a couple of weeks and this will be your last chance to jam with him in the Twin Cities! So, come on out, say goodbye to Mike and jam with us. It’s easy and fun! Just bring some drawing utensils, an idea for the jam, and a few bucks to get a tasty beverage — the baristas really do appreciate that.

The jam will start promptly at 6:30 and run until…whenever.

The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results are posted here sooner rather than later.

To join us come to:
Cosmic’s Coffee Shoppe
189 Snelling Ave N.
St. Paul, MN 55104
(Northwest corner of Snelling and Selby)

More not than often we head on over to grab a brew at:
O’Gara’s Bar and Grill
164 Snelling Ave N
St. Paul, MN 55104
(Southeast corner of Snelling and Selby)

Bus info here.

Hope to see you there!

Can’t afford BIG FUNNY? Well, how about some little funny?

anthologies, BIG FUNNY, event, Events, gallery show, little funny, mini-comics, Minneapolis, mn, Projects, show, St. Paul

I just put up a gallery of photos of all the issues in the little funny sideshow, which you can see here.

little funny is an ongoing series of mini-comics boxed and sold out of an old cigarette vending machine.

The little funny set 1 box sets each contain 6 accordion-style mini-comics.

The 6 comics in a set 1 box are randomly selected from the 29 issues in the first set.

Boxes sell for $2 each.

They are only sold out of a vending machine currently housed at Altered Esthetics gallery.

They will make their premiere at the BIG FUNNY show opening this Friday, August 7th, 2009.

BIG FUNNY Reviewed on Optical Sloth, Plus Photos From the Hanging

anthologies, BIG FUNNY, event, Events, gallery show, Local Hero Kevin Cannon, Minneapolis, mn, reviews, show, St. Paul

BIG FUNNY has just been reviewed at Optical Sloth. Read it here.

It’s a remarkable achievement, and if anybody is going to be in Minneapolis on August 7th you should click that website for details on picking up a copy. If you get one there, it’s a measly $5 for this beast. If not you’ll have to pay for shipping, which just about doubles the price, but this thing is utterly unique in the comics world and worth the expense. I’m old enough to remember pulling the funnies out of the Sunday paper, spreading them out on the ground, laying down to read them and have them actually be funny.

Also… a photo preview of the show from editor and Local Hero Kevin Cannon on the Big Time Attic Blog!

Please Help Promote BIG FUNNY (Premiering This Friday, August 7th!)

anthologies, BIG FUNNY, event, Events, gallery show, hype, Minneapolis, mn, press, show, St. Paul

We’ve been doing really well on getting the word out about BIG FUNNY so far… for a list of places that have mentioned the show or the publication, check out the ongoing list on our Facebook page.

That said, the BEST promotion is word of mouth. Please help us to make the opening a huge success! Some suggestions:

1) Please do tell your friends, family, co-workers, associates and potential love interests, you sly dog. In person, via email, via a social network invite, using two tin cans and one taut string, or by serenading outside their windows at three AM. Here is the Facebook event to invite friends to.

2) Please do tell your readers. If you have a blog or website, please post about the event this week. Here is a “chicklet” for your site, if you want it:

BIG FUNNY

3) Please consider distributing some of the postcards and newsprint posters that can be picked up at the gallery.

4) If you know members of the press, please consider directing them to our press release.

5) Please consider hassling strangers on street corners, wearing sandwich boards promoting the event, floating over the city in a BIG FUNNY painted dirigible, or using other means of guerrilla promotion as your fancy dictates. Due to their lack of implements of modern communication, we anticipate an unfortunate shortage of hillbillies… so if you wish to hike the Appalachian Trail with a bullhorn, please contact Jamie.

Please don’t forget to direct folks to our website.

Thanks for your help, and thanks much to those of you who have already done some or all of these things (although it was taking it a little too far shaving the logo in your chest hair, Kevin).

Big Funny: Things You Should Know

anthologies, BIG FUNNY, event, Events, gallery show, Minneapolis, mn, show, St. Paul

About Big Funny
(Things about the project you may not know that we think are cool.)

* Big Funny, at 48 ginormous pages, features the work of 47 contributing artists.

* Only 2,000 copies were printed!

* The project was coordinated entirely by volunteers, who have contributed 1,000 hours to the project to date.

* Big Funny was printed locally in Minnesota.

* The newspaper size, (16″ wide by 22-3/4″ tall with an image area of 15″ wide by 21-1/2″), is true to an original newspaper from the 1910-30’s eras.

* Proceeds earned from Big Funny benefit two affiliated groups: Altered Esthetics, a nonprofit arts organization that works to support artists and The International Cartoonist Conspiracy, a community of comic artists.

* Artist submissions were open to all and chosen democratically by the editorial review panel.

* The original Big Funny Logo was designed by editor Steven Stwalley. The Big Funny Logo featured on the cover of the paper was hand drawn by editor Zander Cannon, and features all the characters from inside the paper itself.

* Even the ads in Big Funny are cool! The ads for sponsors on the back of the paper were hand-drawn by editor Kevin Cannon, with the words for “the Source” ad penned by editor Steven Stwalley. The classifieds feature a mix of original limericks, artist bios, vintage ads from old comics and more.

* Big Funny arrived to the gallery on two ginormous pallets and copies were hand-loaded by the editors to a super secret location to be stored until the day of the opening. Copies of Big Funny narrowly avert both floods and theft while they wait to be released this Friday, August 7th.

Big Funny: A celebration of the Newspaper Comic Strip!

The 48-page oversized newspaper will premiere at Altered Esthetics this Friday featuring poster-sized comic artwork from 47 artists.

In addition to having copies of BIG FUNNY for sale ($5 each), the opening reception will include:

* Original artwork from the publication,

* examples of historic comics pages (some over a century old),

* a retrospective of unseen comic artwork by William Ede,

* live music from The Roe Family Singers and

* the little funny sideshow- a vintage cigarette machine repurposed to vend mini-comics and comic art!

Opening Reception
Friday August 7, 2009 7pm-11pm

Show runs August 7-29, 2009

Gallery Hours
Saturdays 1pm-5pm
Tuesdays & Thursdays 1pm-7pm

Altered Esthetics
1224 Quincy Street NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413.
612.378.8888

cartoonistconspiracy.com/bigfunny

St. Paul Cartoonist Conspiracy Jam! This Thursday, July 16th, 2009!

jam, Jam Comics, Minneapolis, St. Paul

Join the St. Paul Cartoonist Conspiracy Cell and create a jam comic! It’s easy and fun! Just bring some drawing utensils, an idea for the jam, and a few bucks to get a tasty beverage — the baristas really do appreciate that.

The jam will start promptly at 6:30 and run until…whenever.

The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results are posted here sooner rather than later.

To join us come to:
Cosmic’s Coffee Shoppe
189 Snelling Ave N.
St. Paul, MN 55104
(Northwest corner of Snelling and Selby)

More not than often we head on over to grab a brew at:
O’Gara’s Bar and Grill
164 Snelling Ave N
St. Paul, MN 55104
(Southeast corner of Snelling and Selby)

Bus info here.

Hope to see you there!