MPLS jam is Thursday Aug 6th–the night before BIG FUNNY. Contributors BF copies to be distributed at jam.

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bigfunnytable

If you have work in BIG FUNNY, you will be able to pick up your 6 creator copies during the jam.  Please stop by and pick them up Thursday, cause although you CAN pick them up Friday at the opening, its just easier all around to do it the day before when there arent a couple hundred people milling about.  THANKS again so much for your brilliant contributions!

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.

Big Time Attic

Big Time Attic hosts our monthly jam meetings at Diamond’s… they will be supplying us with a big old plate of pastries or something. Thanks fellas!

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

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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!)

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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

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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

Far Arden on MPR’s Art Hounds

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From the Big Time Attic Blog…

Minnesota Public Radio’s Art Hounds is a weekly series where local artists talk about something they’re enjoying in a medium other than their own. This morning Britt Aamodt — journalist, local radio personality, and author of an upcoming book on Minnesota cartoonists — talked about Far Arden. Thanks, Britt!

You can hear Art Hounds archived on mprnewsq.com, or listen in today at 4:45pm to 91.1 FM for a rebroadcast.

Mpls. Sat. Open Studio, Aug. 1, noon to 4 p.m.

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[Uncle Sam at the Drawing Board]

Dog days of summer. Get out of the heat and join us for air-conditioned drawing and socializing at Minnesota Center for Book Arts. Sorry, no pets allowed.

Sat., Aug. 1, noon to 4 p.m., MCBA Bindery (Flexi Space, the metal tables)

If you can’t find us in the MCBA building, ask the friendly person working in the MCBA bookstore. This is an open studio — all are welcome.

Minnesota Center for Book Arts
(Just down the street from Big Brain Comics)
1011 Washington Ave S, Suite 100
Minneapolis, MN 55415
Phone: 612-215-2520

Future Sat. Open Studio schedule:
Sept. 12 – Flexi Space (metal tables)
Oct. 31 Oooh! – Bindery (high tables)
Nov. 28 – Flexi Space (metal tables)
Dec. 12 – Bindery (high tables)

Art teacher needed

Opportunities

The teacher who was going to lead this class dropped out. The class is next week, so if you’re interested, get in touch with Mary Cummings at 952-563-8569 or Kathleen Corley at 952-563-8745 or e-mail Kathleen at kcorley [at] bloomingtonartcenter [dot] com

Drawing Fantasy & Sci-Fi
If you are into fantasy (Eragon, Twilight, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc.) and you are interested in learning how to draw these figures, this is the class for you! Using a variety of techniques and materials, we will work from pictures, models and, most importantly, your imagination. Join us for this fantastical art experience. Grades 7 – 9 August 3 – 7 (M – F). (Kids arrive via bus about 9:50 a.m.; teacher should be in classroom setting up by 9:30 a.m., and expect to stay until around 12:15, until kids leave) (Pay: $375 for the week).

NOTE TO POTENTIAL INSTRUCTORS: This class description allows for your interpretation and has considerable flexibility. We anticipate kids will be familiar with graphic novels and manga/animae, but will want help with drawing styles and storydevelopment/storyboarding.

Mary Cummings
Education Director
Bloomington Art Center
1800 W. Old Shakopee Rd.
Bloomington MN 55431
www.bloomingtonartcenter.com
952-563-8569