We are in the very early planning stages for the Minnesota Conspiracy’s Lutefisk Sushi Volume D project, which will be opening next Summer at Altered Esthetics gallery.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with our three previous Lutefisk Sushi shows (ABC), they have featured the work of any Minnesota cartoonists who choose to participate (we had 50 last time). The shows are focused around a limited-edition, hand-silkscreened box stuffed full of mini-comics by Minnesota artists.
Each Sushi show has also had a featured artist. We want to figure out who this will be for next year pretty quick so we can feature their work on next year’s Altered Esthetics calendar.
This poll will determine next year’s featured artist. All nominees have been suggested by people intending to participate in the Lutefisk D show … and all have been contacted & expressed willingness to participate (note: if you don’t see your suggested nominee on here, they declined).
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.
The Cartoon Art Museum bookstore and the Cartoonist Conspiracy San Francisco present:
CAM JAM #2: Once Upon a Time
Sunday August 16, 2009
Where: Cartoon Art Museum – San Francisco CA
When: 11am to 5pm
The Cartoonist Conspiracy San Francisco art group and the Cartoon Art Museum Bookstore are proud to present the second Comic Book Art Jam at the Cartoon Art Museum (CAM JAM). The event invites artist of all levels into the Museum’s lobby to create sequential art (i.e. Comics!) and to push their creativity.
Our Goal: To draw complete short comic book stories between 11am and 4pm, then to get them printed at the copy store nearby so artist can take them home. NOTE: The price per-book cost will not be determined until we know what the final page count is.
Space: There is room for at least 18 artists, but no one will be turned away and every effort will be made to find space.
Optional Theme: Once Upon a Time.
In honor of one of the museums newest exhibit ‘Once Upon a Dream – the Art of Sleeping Beauty’ the theme will be Fairy Tales. Of course who knows if the Three Bears had superpowers or if Hansel and Gretel were secret agents?
Cost: The event is FREE and will be held in the Museums Lobby. All artists who participate in the Jam will get free admission to get into the Museum as well.
Goodie Bag: The CAM bookstore will also offer goodie bags for a $2.00 donation that will include: a bottle of water, sweet treats, ‘mood’ pencil, 15% off coupon, raffle ticket and other surprises.
SCHEDUAL:
11 am – Museum Opens. Bring your comics, portfolio and favorite drawing tools on down and come ready to create.
Warm-up art challenge: To get ready to draw we will have a warm-up art challenge. Inspired by the by the evil fairy Maleficent who is seen in the current exhibit ‘Once Upon a Dream: the art of Sleeping Beauty’ our challenge will be to draw OUR interpretations of the great Disney animated villains. The artwork will be posted in the bookstore afterward and everyone (including the museum guests) can vote on their favorite and the winner will be picked at 4pm. Also, with the artists permission the art will be displayed both in the store as well as used for a Halloween window display.
11:45 am – Let’s get started!
We will regroup into teams of 2-3 artists to create a variety of different art jam collaboration through out the day with a goal to finish our comics by the end of the day.
Lunch Break: Artist can take a break whenever they want with a bag check available at the front desk. The CCSF and Cartoon Art Museum are not responsible for the loss of items.
…
3:30 pm – The home stretch to finish our stories by 4 pm.
4 pm – PENCILS UP! Time to stop.
– Members of the CCSF will take the artwork and run it over to a local copy shop to produce some books which (hopefully) will be ready by 5pm at the latest. (See 5pm.)
– We will count up the votes for the Warm-up Art challenge and Contest and pick a winner. You do not have to be present to win.
– Network, Chat and Clean up.
5pm – Mini comics of the days work will be available to the artist at the cost of printing. (We might require the help to assemble the books.)
– After jam drinks and snack at a nearby establishment.
Legal stuff…
*By participating in the Comic Jam you give permission for the CCSF to post your work on-line and to print a one time run of books to be sold to the participating artist at-cost. Extra copies will be sold to the general public as fundraising for the Cartoon Art Museum and CCSF.
RSVP:
If you think you will be joining us, why not drop us an email so we can get an idea of the number of people attending. Email organizer Brian Kolm at theatomicbear@gmail.com with your RSVP and/or questions too.
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.
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:
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.
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).
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!
