Mail Art call for entries

My dear letter-writing friends at PodPost are now working on a book about Mail Art. They've put out a call for entries for mail art and correspondence that may be published in this book, are you interested? Download this pdf to submit, and find out more about them at PodPost and superdilettante.

Hi from Penland, this week's drawing

I'm having an amazing time at Penland for these 2 weeks, working as an assistant for Julie Leonard (and as a student) in a Boxmaking class. I'll tell more and post photos when I get home, but for now here is my drawing.The text reads, "Can you hear me now?"

This Week's Drawing

My partner Scott has been publishing a webcomic, Peas, once a week for the past year, and celebrated it's one year anniversary last Friday! I was so impressed by the show of dedication, I've decided to take on that challenge. So, here is the very first installment of "This Week's Drawing" (I know, it's a lame title... I'll work on it):This is an ink drawing on my own handmade Japanese paper (kozo). The text reads "a Sloth of bears."

Updates

I've finally gotten around to updating my website, Heroes and Criminals Press. The gallery is still mostly older work, but at least the other links are useful (well, they are to me). I'll try to update the gallery images by the end of the summer, but just thinking about it makes me tired.

I've discovered what might be my new favorite color scheme:
These lovely eggs from the farmers' market were just so beautiful to look at. Too bad they're all eaten now.


This Saturday I will be:
but without the fancy threads. I'll be printing at the Homestead Historic Print Shop from 10am-4pm, come by and visit!

(thanks to BookNews for providing the photo)

CONvergence 2008

This was CONvergence's 10 year anniversary, and they made sure to make it big this year, starting with extending the con to 4 days. I had a great time, and now am exhausted. Here are some highlights:


Thursday: Went to panel "Fanzines Invented the Internet". It was interesting to hear from guys who were connecting long before the GUI (graphical user interface) we're so accustomed to, and long before the World Wide Web. It makes a good parallel, since fanzines were started for the same purpose - to stay connected and share ideas with others with similar interests. They also talked about the shift from printed zines to online zines, but didn't say much about how the internet changed how printed zines are used today. They didn't even seem aware that printed zines continue to exist and be a vital part of independent publishing.

Thursday night we went to the Opening Ceremony where they did a very funny interpretation of Austin Powers, Cereal Mascot Smackdown, a panel on Paranormal as TV Journalism (I'm completely hooked on Ghost Hunters), and topped it off with a few room parties.




Friday: Started off the day at the Copyright: Ethics in Action panel. They discussed how confusing copyright laws can be, and each panelist talked about their own experiences with dealing with (or avoiding) copright issues. There seems to be a consensus that even though copyright laws were originally created to encourage creativity, it's become more of an issue of greed, and tends to stifle creativity in some cases. One panelist recommends that copyright rights be reduced to 40 years or the life of the creator, whichever comes last, and I agree. There was also some discussion about Creative Commons and copyleft, which I'm a big fan of, but the panelists suggested avoiding altogether because there are no real laws to back it up.

We went to a few more panels that days, but the the best part was probably watching The Super Inframan at the Cinema Apocalypse room. It's a Chinese knock-off of the Japanese Ultraman, and it's bad but completely hilarious. Later that night we went to the 22nd floor of the hotel to watch some distant fireworks, then went to see a performance by Solylent Theater (a comedy troop "made out of people"). Finished off Friday night with more crazy room parties.








Saturday: Slept in, then went to the Working in Comics panel. The panelists were a good cross section of comics professions: a penciller, an inker, and a colorist. The only drawback was that they all work for big comics companies, and there wasn't anyone representing an independent publisher. About halfway through the panel, Scott had a hard time breathing and I ended up taking him to the emergency room. They think it's either asthma or a panic/anxiety attack, so they prescribed an inhalant and 5 hours later we headed back to the con.

That night we went to the Masquerade, one of my favorite events, but there are always some amazing costumes that you see out and about, but don't perform in the masquerade. In fact, seeing all the costumes is probably my favorite part of the convention - where else can you see Mary Poppins, Superman, Santa Claus, and a Klingon having a drink together? We ended the night at Killer B's Improve Movie Show (like a live Mystery Science Theater), and skipped the room parties after Scott's rough day.


Sunday: Woke up feeling ready to go home. Maybe 4 days of CONvergence really is too much? First we went to the art auction pickup, where I won a print of "Mouse with Pearl Earring", and found out that I'd sold "Hellfire". The we went to Iron Artist, where four artists and one puppet fight out an epic art battle. In the afternoon we went to see Peter Mayhew speak (Chewbacca), then to the Women and Comic Books panel. The panelists mostly talked about superhero comics they liked, and how so many people don't understand that even women get into superhero comics. But, I don't like superhero comics, so I didn't recognize most of the titles they talked about (except for a few that I tried but didn't like).

The biggest disappointment was when someone in the audience asked for recommendations of comics by women, or what to recommend for women friends, and there wasn't a mention of Marjane Satrapi's "Persepolis". I thought about raising my hand to say something, but I thought too long and the panel was over before I got my nerve up. I also wanted to mention Alison Bechdel and "Fun Home", Lilli Carre's "Tales of Woodsman Pete", Renee French's "Micrographica", and Megan Kelso's "The Squirrel Mother" as some of my favorite comics by women artists. Oh well, maybe I'll be braver next year.

Oh! Next year! I can't wait...


(for more photos, check out luckycreature's flickr site)

Prints up for auction

Two of my prints, "Rising Waters" and "Hellfire", will be up for auction this weekend at CONvergence in Bloomington, MN (near the Twin Cities). What is CONvergence? From their website:

CONvergence is a convention for fans of Science Fiction and Fantasy in all media, and is held at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota on the first full weekend of July each year. CONvergence is a production of The Minnesota Society for Interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy, a 501(c)3 non-profit organziation, and acts as an annual fundraiser for that organization.

A portion of the money raised from the auction goes to benefit this organization.

The prints:



I went to CONvergence for the first time last year and had a blast. I went to a lot of panels about art and comics, and was impressed by the creativity of the costumes and room party decorations. I hope to see you there!