The Just Add Ink Opening is Just Two Days Away! (Friday, August 5th at Altered Esthetics)

The opening party for our comic cookbook/gallery show Just Add Ink is this Friday! I can’t wait!

Click on the image for details.

Please consider using the above image to help promote the event!

Some recent press:

City Pages

Downtown Journal

The Daily Crosshatch

Opening Reception
Friday, August 5, 2011 – 7pm-10pm

Artists’ Discussion
Saturday, August 20, 2011 – 1pm-3pm

Altered Esthetics
1224 Quincy St NE, Mpls MN 55413
612.378.8888

Psychic Cartoons at AE’s 7th Anniversary Party This Friday, April 28th!

I will be drawing cartoons this Friday with the Cartoonist Conspiracy to raise funds for Altered Esthetics, the wonderful non-profit community gallery we collaborate with, at their 7th anniversary party next Friday. For a suggested donation of $5, we’ll peer into your soul and give you a drawing of one of the following:

Psychic Readings
Dream Interpretations
Fortunes
Spirit Animals
Inner Demons

Read more about the event here.

Mini-Comics Day is Tomorrow! (Saturday, April 9th)

I haven’t updated in a long time, I know. One thing I have been up to is organizing an event called Mini-Comics Day, which is happening tomorrow.

On Mini-Comics Day, participating cartoonists from around the world will write, draw, and print copies of a mini-comic, completing the entire process from start to finish in a day or less. Anyone in the world can participate.

We currently have sixteen sites listed around the world planning events for Mini-Comics Day. If you are interested in hosting an event, let me know… email me at webmaster(at)cartoonistconspiracy.com.

Here is the scoop about the Minneapolis event which I will be participating in:

As with all our events, it is free and open to anyone who wants to participate. Table space is provided on a first-come, first-served basis. We hope to be getting started at 10:00AM sharp.

The copier on site, provided by our generous hosts at The Minnesota Center for Book Arts, will be available for use for a $5 donation… however, Big Brain Comics is giving us $50 to put towards this fee, so the first 10 people to use the copier will have their fee covered. Obviously, there will be a lot of demand for the copier at certain times of the day, so please be courteous of others and don’t bogart the machine. You’ll want to bring a $5 bill if you plan on using the on-site copier.

Wet Paint will be providing some free supplies, and will have useful items for sale for part of the event.

Big Time Attic will be donating some paper.

The Cartoonist Conspiracy will be providing some copies of our How to Make Mini-Comics mini-comic for folks to assemble and refer to.

We’ll be having an after party, where we will be giving out the prize for the Best Local Mini-Comic of the Day. This will be a block away from Book Arts in the side room at Grumpy’s Downtown (1111 Washington Ave. S.) from 5:30 to 9:00PM. We’ll clear out of the side room at 9:00 (a band will be taking over the space), and the fun will continue until whenever in the main room of the bar.

There will be a prize given out for the Best Local Mini-Comic of the Day. The prize will include a copy of the book Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s, courtesy of Big Brain Comics, a Lutefisk Sushi box set and a copy of BIG FUNNY courtesy of Altered Esthetics, and probably some other goodies.

Obviously, only comics made entirely on the day of the event will be eligible for the prize. To enter your mini-comic, drop 4 copies of it in the box we will have at the Book Arts event, or bring it before 6:30 to the side room of Grumpy’s Downtown. Make sure to include your name, address, email address and other contact information you think is pertinent with your submission. All submitted comics will also be included in a reading rack at the upcoming Art? show at Altered Esthetics in May.

The submitted comics will be read and a winner will be determined by three local non-cartoonists; author of Superheroes, Strip Artists & Talking Animals: Minnesota’s Contemporary Cartoonists Britt Aamodt, Big Brain Comics proprietor Michael Drivas, and Altered Esthetics founder Jamie Schumacher.

Please do spread the word to everyone you know who likes to make comics! If you use facebook, you may want to check out the Mini-Comics Day facebook page.

The Minnesota Center For Book Arts
1011 Washington Ave S
Minneapolis, MN
April 9, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
(in the Flexispace and Gallery Space)
Copier will be available on site.
Table space will be provided on a first come, first served basis.
We’ll also be having an after party, where we will be giving out a prize for the Best Local Mini-Comic of the Day. This will be a block away in the side room at Grumpy’s Downtown (1111 Washington Ave. S.) from 5:30 to 9:00PM. We’ll clear out of the side room at 9:00 (a band will be taking over the space), and the fun will continue until whenever in the main room of the bar.
Contact: Steven Stwalley
webmaster(at)cartoonistconspiracy.com

Why This is Looking to be the Best Year Ever to Be a Minnesota Cartoonist

Springcon is this weekend, and that got me thinking about all of the exciting stuff happening in the Twin Cities for cartoonists this year. Below is what I posted here on the Cartoonist Conspiracy site.

There is a lot of evidence piling up that this will be the best year ever to be a Minnesota cartoonist! Open your calendar now and write yourself down some dates…

I’ve heard rumor of some other things as well. Get ready to be busy and have a lot of fun.

COMICOPOLIS Opens in Minneapolis This Friday (August 28th)

Comicopolis, a gallery show featuring the work of a number of Minneapolis cartoonists (including me) opens this Friday… hope you can make it!

Please join us Friday, August 28th for food, drinks and music!

Comicopolis:
Low life, high art

Opening reception:
Friday, August 28th from 6-9pm

Location:
FrameUps Minneapolis
4325 Nicollet Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55409
(612) 870-1292

Featuring comic art by:
Kirk Anderson
Ken Avidor
Shannon Brady
Kevin Cannon
Will Dinski
Roger Lootine
Brittney Sabo
Andy Singer
David Steinlicht
Steven Stwalley

Wanna help promote the event? Have a chicklet!

COMICOPOLIS Facebook Page

More BIG FUNNY Reviews

We have had some more reviews of BIG FUNNY recently…

Oh, My Lard

MN Daily

Examiner.com

Note that if you are in the Twin Cities, the show is up until the 29th… and if you are not in the Twin Cities, you can order a copy online here.

ALTERED ESTHETICS
1224 Quincy St NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413

SHOW RUNS AUGUST 7-29, 2009

GALLERY HOURS:
TUESDAY & THURSDAY 1pm-7pm, SATURDAY 1pm-5pm

INTERESTING LINKS: MOMEntum Show at MCAD: February 23rd, 2009

STWALLSKULL'S INTERESTING LINKS

TODAY’S FEATURED ITEM:

I’m very excited about an upcoming gallery show at MCAD in Minneapolis featuring the work of the artists in Fantagraphics’ MOME anthology (including locals Tom Kaczynski and Zak Sally). MOME is the best ongoing comics anthology around these days in my view, and the talent in it includes many of the best cartoonists working today. Needless to say, if you’re in the area, you won’t want to miss this… the opening reception is March 6th. More info here.

Also on March 6 is an afternoon lecture at 1PM with Mome editor Eric Reynolds. Find out more about this related event here. April 9th there will be a gallery talk with Tom Kaczynski and Zak Sally starting at 6:30 p.m.

Also of note! on March 1st, there will be a screening at MCAD of the new movie Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist. More info here.