The Minneapolis Cartoonist Conspiracy meets at 6:30 until 10:00 the first Thursday of every month at Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe in Northeast.

Generally, we draw collaborative “jam” comics, socialize and drink caffeinated beverages. Afterwords, we often have uncaffeinated beverages somewhere else.

The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results are posted here sooner or later (and sometimes even printed).

Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe
1618 Central Avenue Northeast
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Bus info here.

Please spend some money at Diamond’s while you’re there, even if it is just a cuppa coffee… they are excellent hosts, and we wanna stay welcome there.

Dec Krampus Jam

Our collaborators at Altered Esthetics have some big news that I’m sure some of you will want to participate in…. see below

Altered Esthetics is excited to commemorate our 10th year with the launch of “Ae Without Walls” – a pop-up exhibition tour of the Twin Cities.

We have exciting news to share with you!

Celebrating a decade in the Arts District, Altered Esthetics will bring exhibitions directly to the audience in a series of pop-up installations and exhibitions around the Twin Cities entitled “Ae Without Walls.”

No stranger to pop-ups, Altered Esthetics has hosted exhibitions in alternative venues. From the Dinkytowner, to installations at the Hennepin Central Library, to its solo exhibitions program, Altered Esthetics has curated installations in a variety of spaces – but never before on such a grand scale. The hope of Ae Without Walls – to increase accessibility, opportunities for exposure to the arts, and to celebrate 10 years of being a voice for artists.

Altered Esthetics will still base out of the Q’arma building, maintaining a presence at its home in the Arts District, but will no longer have a permanent space housed there. Exhibition locations will be announced monthly.

Altered Esthetics is a community gallery run by artists, for artists. Want to get involved in Ae Without Walls? Email contact@alteredesthetics.org to find out more about showing opportunities, internships, volunteering and more.

Hello fellow cartoonists! I am finally tip-toeing into the world of web comics.

I am not abandoning The Civil Four (Casey and I are actually working on issues 5 and 6 right now, and those will be paper printed because it fits the book) but I am starting something else — I did my take on epic space opera (Ex Novo Libris) and this will be a less tongue-in-cheek epic fantasy comic. It’s a web comic with interspersed animations and collaborations from musicians: www.loravvu.com

Meet Avvu!

external Avvu PNG image clickable space age hyperlink

Avvu is an intersexed hero on a large Earth-like planet undergoing a vast war between its three main genders (female, lale, male), and naturally the main character wants to stop the gender war but has to spend a lifetime of adventures learning the lessons on just how to do so … or whether ze can do it at all! We begin the story outside the story, on Earth, listening to a couple of old creative grandparents begin the tale for their village kids.

Grandma and Grandpa are promising magic, adventure, unique races (the main race is basically a fairy people) and unique languages particular to the world. I am putting a lot of effort into making it rewarding for people who spend time exploring it, but quality enough to just entertain the eyes. So please feel free to read it casually or in-depth. (It is at www.loravvu.com and also accessible from www.maxeem.com) Current chapter is updated every Tuesday. And you have my word on that. I have no idea how long it will take me to finish it but I estimate about 10 to 20 years.

Next open studio:
Saturday, December 21
Noon to 4 pm
At the Minnesota Center for Book Arts
We’ll be in the bindery (the high tables).

Minnesota Center for Book Arts
Open Book building
1011 Washington Avenue South
Minneapolis
mnbookarts.org

Future Saturday Open Studios:
January 18, bindery (high tables)
February 8, bindery (high tables)
March 8, bindery (high tables)
April 26, typesetting room (lower level)

Coffee, tea, beer, wine, and food are available. Also wi-fi.

Parking options:
* Free in the lot immediately east of the building
* Metered street parking on 3rd Street (one block south of Washington Ave.) for 25 cents an hour
* More expensive metered street parking on the other streets
* Walk or ride your bike

Mpls Dec Jam

Mpls Nov Jam

MORE INFO

Saturday December 7th @ CO Exhibitions
1101 Stinson Blvd, Minneapolis, MN10:00 a.m. thru 6:00 p.m.
FREE ADMISSION

As part of CO Exhibition’s fourth annual World Craft Fair, Autoptic is curating a small, one-day exhibition and sale featuring zines, independent comics, books, prints, and more!

Come see us this Saturday! A perfect chance to support independent artists in the Twin Cities and load up on comics and zines for your winter reading at the same time. We will also be raffling off fabulous PRIZES from the organizers at 12pm, 2pm, and 4pm! Enter for a chance to receive a mermaid-portrait by Caitlin Skaalrud, a portrait by Anders Nilsen, or, finally, a prize-pack of publishers’ books from all of us!
Exhibitors scheduled to appear include:

2D Cloud
Anna Bongiovanni
Alexis Cooke
Will Dinski
Grimalkin Press
Sam Hiti
Meghan Hogan
in absentia press
Tom Kaczynski
Bart King
La Luz Comics
La Mano
Coryn LaNasa
Ryan V Lower
King Mini
Anders Nilsen
OVRABNDNC
Evan Palmer
Zak Sally
Eric Schuster
Caitlin Skaalrud
Uncivilized Books
Jessica Underhill
Derek Van Gieson
Peter Wartman

INFO HERE

Friday, December 6; 7pm
Isaac and Abraham and Video Games:
Book Arts Roundtable with Anders Nilsen
Free and open to the public

Join us in welcoming local artist and author Anders Nilsen! Nilsen will do a slide reading from his new accordion book Rage of Poseidon (published by Drawn & Quarterly) and discuss the book’s themes, including the role of mythology and religion in his work and what it means to re-imagine ancient stories and set them in the present day. Nilsen will also share examples of his many forays into unusual storytelling formats from hand-made, screen-printed artist books and photocopied zines to accordion books and poster-comics, as well as the relationship between these and his work in more traditional publishing.

Anders Nilsen is the author and artist of the graphic novels Big Questions, Rage of Poseidon, Don’t Go Where I Can’t Follow and The End, among other works. He has received three Ignatz awards as well as the 2012 Lynd Ward Graphic Novel prize. His work has been translated into numerous languages and his drawing and painting has been shown internationally. He lives in Minneapolis.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts is located in
the Open Book Building in downtown Minneapolis
1011 Washington Ave S, Suite 100
Minneapolis, MN 55415
Phone: 612.215.2520
Fax: 612.215.2545
Email: mcba@mnbookarts.org