“Around the Neighborhood” is an exhibit of original cartoon art for the editorial page of the (Greenfield, MA) Recorder by occasional local political cartoonist E. J. Barnes, up through 31 July 2009 at Green Fields Market in Greenfield, MA.

Since 2005, E. J. Barnes has produced approximately-monthly political cartoons for the Recorder on topics relevant to Greenfield, Franklin County, and Massachusetts at large.  Her most recent exhibition of Recorder art focuses on her work from 2007 to the present.  The Recorder is the daily newspaper of Greenfield, Franklin County, and the North Quabbin region.

In addition, there are cartoons that have appeared in The Commons, a Brattleboro, VT newsmonthly, and an illustration to accompany a Recorder “Life & Times” article by Chip Ainsworth in 2008.

The art is on display in the store’s two sit-down eating areas, at the front facing Main Street near the deli, and on the mezzanine near the rear of the store.  There will be an opening reception with refreshments on Sunday, 5 July, 2–5pm on the mezzanine.

Green Fields Market is the food co-op of Greenfield, MA, located at 144 Main Street (Route 2A) in downtown Greenfield.  There is free parking at the back of the store accessible from Wells Street.  Bicycle parking is at the back entrance.  The neighborhood is also accessible via Franklin Regional Tranportation Authority buses (see http://www.frta.org).

“Five Valley Cartoonists:  Gags, Politics, Fantasy” is an exhibit of artwork by four cartoon and comics artists from Massachusetts, and one from Connecticut, showing at the Amherst (MA) Area Chamber of Commerce in July 2009.

The show will include illustrated posters by Gonzo Comix and Tours principal Rebecca Migdal, collages on Blacks in comics by Looking For a Face Like Mine author William H. Foster III, humorous reverse paintings on glass by Gallery A3 member Helena Dooley, original comics pages by Pop Cultures’ Kids creator Mark Stacy, and watercolor cartoons by (Greenfield, MA) Recorder editorial cartoonist E. J. Barnes.

The show will be open to the public Monday through Friday, 9am–4:30pm, from Tuesday, 30 June to Friday, 31 July.  There will be an opening reception with refreshements on Thursday, 2 July, 5–8pm as part of the monthly Amherst ArtWalk.

The Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce is at 28 Amity Street in downtown Amherst, at the front of the Amherst Cinema building and right next to Amherst Coffee.  There is a small, metered parking lot directly next to the building, as well as metered parking on the street and nearby on the Amherst Common, as well as ticket-machine parking a few blocks away in the Boltwood Parking Garage between Main Street and Kellogg Avenue.  Several Pioneer Valley Transit Authority bus routes stop a block or so away (see http://www.pvta.com).  Bicycle parking can be found along the left side of the Amherst Cinema building.

If you missed Tales of the Ling Master artist E. J. Barnes’s table at MoCCA ArtFest earlier this month, E. J. will be returning to Wizard World Philadelphia during Father’s Day weekend, 19–21 June, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in downtown Philadelphia.  You can find her in Artists’ Alley all three days, starting midafternoon Friday (the show starts at 12 but due to transportation connections, E. J. will almost certainly not be there before 2pm.)

E. J. has two new Ling Master publications, collecting a total of 6 “Blaster” Al Ackerman stories, including reprints of 3 stories originally printed as one-shots, now with updated art.  The new, 28-page digest-sized minis, Blaster Al Ackerman’s Tales of the Ling Master #1 and Blaster Al Ackerman’s Tales of the Ling Master #2, which premièred at the 2009 MoCCA ArtFest, will be just a few of the items that are new since E. J.’s last visit to Wizard World Philly in 2007.

If you miss E. J. at the show, these comics and other goodies are now available on E. J.’s website at www.ejbarnes.com.  You can purchase them online using PayPal, or visit any of the fine comic and book shops that currently carry E. J.’s comics, which are distributed by Trees & Hills in New England, and Tony Shenton elsewhere in the USA.

TREES & HILLS COMIC GROUP RELEASES FIRST BOOK
“First Harvest” debuts this week at major indie show in New York City

MONTPELIER, Vt. – Trees & Hills comic group releases its first book collection of comics this week at the MoCCA Arts Festival in New York City.

“First Harvest: Trees & Hills comics volume one” features more than 150 pages of cartoons from two dozen creators in Vermont, New Hampshire and western Massachusetts.

The book contains reader favorites from Trees & Hills’ first four mini-comic anthologies, published between Fall 2006 and Summer 2008, along with new work by creators in the New England region. Contributors include industry legends such as Stephen R. Bissette and Mark Martin and up-and-coming talent like Colleen Frakes and Marek Bennett.

“There’s some amazing work in here and we’re proud to put it in book form where it will remain in print,” said Dan Barlow, a Vermont writer and the co-founder of Trees & Hills. “These are the roots of the Trees & Hills comic group and they are strong.”

“First Harvest” will be available on June 6 & 7 at the Trees & Hills table at the MoCCA Arts Festival. The book features a color cover by Vermont artist Megan Baehr and will sell for $10. The book will also be available to purchase from the Trees & Hills Web site one week after the show.

Trees & Hills comic group formed in 2006 with the mission of developing a strong community among cartoonists and other comic creators in Vermont, New Hampshire and western Massachusetts.

Last year, the group published the successful “Seeds: An Anthology of Comics About Food” mini-comic, featuring comics about nutrition, eating organic and local and alternative food lifestyles. “Seeds” sold out just months after the debut and is now in its second printing.

Copies of “Seeds” will also be available at MoCCA this week. The $5 comic comes with a recipe booklet and a packet of organic seeds from a Vermont farm.

New Hampshire cartoonist and Trees & Hills co-founder Colin Tedford said the publication of “Seeds” last year has inspired the group to a new focus on socially-progressive comic anthologies. “First Harvest” closes the door on the first chapter of the group, he explained.

“Each new anthology we produced marked a progression, but Seeds was a real turning point for us - we realized, ‘This is what we need to do,’” Tedford said. “First Harvest is a record of where we’ve been. It feels good to have that, where a few years ago there was no such thing.”

Fall 2009 sees the release of “Shelter,” a new Trees & Hills mini-comic anthology focusing on issues of housing and homes. The comic will debut at the Small Press Expo in Maryland on Sept. 26.

“First Harvest” contributors include Megan Baehr, Matt Levin, Chris Grotke, Matthew Reidsma, Anne Thalheimer, Mark Martin, Bryan Stone, Colleen Frakes, Morgan Pielli, Stephen R. Bissette, Daniel Bissette, Meagan Frappiea, Colin Tedford, Keith Moriarty, Blake Parker, Benjamin Kalish, Miles Cota, Ray Prado, M.R. Wilson, Bill Couture, Marek Bennett, Jade Harmon, Mark Gonyea, Jennifer Omand, Matthew Young, Tim Hulsizer, Cayetano Garza Jr. and Gregory Giordano.

For more information, visit www.treesandhills.org

Sunday May 17: Maine Comics Arts Festival in Portland, ME. T&H-area exhibitors will include: “official” T&H table (staffed by Colin Tedford), Marek Bennett, Center For Cartoon Studies, Colleen Frakes, Hector Rodriguez, Jennifer Omand, Mark Gonyea, Mike Lynch, Robyn Chapman, Stephanie Piro, Matt Tallbot (creator of the snazzy MECAF poster above), and undoubtedly more, not to mention the Maine and Boston comics contingents and those from farther afield. Panels! Special guests! It’s going to be a great time!

The show will run from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM at the Ocean Gateway, and is organized by longtime T&H supporter Casablanca Comics.

The Center for Cartoon Studies Commencement Ceremony & Thesis Exhibition Opening

White River Junction, Vermont – The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) Commencement Ceremony takes place on Saturday, May 16 at 11am at Northern Stage Theater (at the Briggs Opera House) in White River Junction, Vermont. This year’s Commencement speaker is Jeff Smith, critically acclaimed author of the spectacular graphic novel, BONE. TIME Magazine lauds BONE as “the best all-ages graphic novel yet published.” A special opening reception for the CCS Thesis Exhibition, featuring the graduating students’ original artwork, takes place immediately following the ceremony. Exhibition runs Monday-Saturday, 11am-4pm, through Saturday, June 27.

All events are free and open to the public. Please join us in celebrating our 3rd ever graduation ceremony!

For directions and/or questions: cartoonstudies.org, (802) 295-3319.

1. The Keene Sentinel recently published a nice article about Trees & Hills, which has apparently been picked up by some other New Hampshire papers as well. EDIT: Arg, it’s behind a subscription wall now! I’ll see if i can get a copy to post.

2. Center For Cartoon Studies Fellow Alec Longstreth describes his current business model and the rationale behind it.

2a. Friend of T&H Matthew Reidsma discusses Alec’s post and his own experience.

3. Matt Reidsma posts the first part of his interview with T&H dynamo Marek Bennett. EDIT: Part 2 is up.

Enjoy!

Members of the Trees & Hills comic group will be at Jetpack Comics in Rochester, NH on Saturday to celebrate Free Comic Book Day. Come on by and get a free comic from the group and buy some of our new comics, including the SEEDS anthology.

We hear there may also be Storm Troopers there. Watch out!

April 27, 2009

Trees & Hills comic group announce new fall anthology

Contributions wanted for SHELTER comic anthology

The Trees & Hills comic group is proud to announce a new anthology of regional comics called SHELTER, which will debut this fall.

SHELTER features comics inspired by the themes of housing and home, including aspects such as affordability, cohousing, gentrification, green building, housing cooperatives and homelessness.

This is the second anthology themed around social topics released by the Trees & Hills group and is a follow-up to 2008’s SEEDS anthology, which focused on food.

Trees & Hills is looking for comic creators and cartoonists from Vermont, New Hampshire and western Massachusetts to contribute to the all-ages anthology. The deadline for submissions is Aug. 15 and the comic will debut at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland in late September.

“Our last anthology, SEEDS, focused on food,” said Colin Tedford, a New Hampshire cartoonist and the co-founder of the Trees & Hills group. “Shelter looks at another basic human necessity and, like SEEDS, allows us to address social issues and connect with our communities.”

Contributions that tackle local or regional issues on this theme are strongly encouraged.

“SHELTER is the next evolutionary step in connecting comics and communities,” explained Dan Barlow, a Vermont writer and co-founder of Trees & Hills. “Our creators are very interested in working with local builders, shelter workers and advocates who have expertise in housing issues.”

SHELTER will be the sixth comic anthology from the Trees & Hills group since it formed in 2006. Last year’s SEEDS anthology broke new ground by focusing on the timely and engaging topic of food, tackling issues such as sustainability, eating organics and the vegetarian lifestyle.

Trees & Hills is an all-ages community comic organization for creators in Vermont, New Hampshire and western Massachusetts. Creators of all styles are encouraged to join.

Submission details:

The deadline for submissions is Aug. 15 and comics should be appropriate for all age groups.

Size of the comic will be 5.5 x 8.5 inches, so please draw to those proportions.

Submissions should be between 1-6 pages long, although we can make some exceptions.

Files should be 300 dpi greyscale or 600 dpi B&W tif.

Please also send a sentence or two about yourself (with website or other contact info if you like) for the contributor notes section.

Comics can be sent to organize@treesandhills.org

Any questions can be directed to Trees & Hills co-founders Colin Tedford and Dan Barlow. They can be reached at organize@treesandhills.org.

For project updates, check out www.treesandhills.org.

I had a blast earlier this month at the Boston Comic Con. Trees & Hills comics didn’t have a new book of its own to sell, but we did have popular new releases by Marek Bennett, Cat Garza and Colleen Frakes. SEEDS, our 2008 anthology of comics about food, was also a hit and this show was the official debut of our second printing.

There were also superheroes there!

50 more photographs of the Boston Comic Con 2009 can be found here at my Facebook page.