The next Pioneer Valley Comic & Cartoon Schmooze will be Tuesday May 13, 7pm @ Bub’s Bar-B-Q, 676 Amherst Rd, Sunderland MA. It’s a monthly informal gathering of cartoonists & other comics-interested folk, so come out to eat, drink, chat, draw, and (this month) try Bub’s deep-fried Twinkie - if you dare! For more info, contact E.J. Barnes: art at ejbarnes dot com.
On Saturday, May 17 at 2pm, the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge MA will host a screening & panel discussion of Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist. The Museum has some video clips on YouTube: click here and check out the clips labeled “Comic Arts Festival” (including four clips of Howard Cruse discussing his work), “Will Eisner Documentary”, and “Peter Kuper meets Norman Rockwell”. This is yet another event in conjunction with the stunning “Litgraphic” exhibit of comics art, closing May 26.
The long-awaited reconstruction of the Trees & Hills website is now in progress, so please pardon our appearance. There are a few things that will take a while to get to, but everything should be pretty functional soon, and I’ll post about the new features.
I hope everyone is having a nice 2008 so far. Marek Bennett has redesigned his website around the popular Wordpress blogging platform, and now has individual feeds for Mimi’s Doughnuts and his comics workshops. You may notice several of those entries in the trusty T&H Blogwatch Box right here; that’s because sometimes when you add a new feed to Google Reader, it treats all the existing posts as brand new. C’est la vie…
The Trees & Hills website is due for a makeover as well. I’ll be working on this, also using Wordpress, and hope to have it done this month. I think I am going to convert the distro first, then the rest of the site. As with any construction project, things may go wonky for a little while, so please bear with us. It’ll be much nicer in the end, though!
Daniel Barlow has called in to report the good vibes so far at SPX - I imagine he’ll have a full report when he returns. In the meantime, here’s a look at the cover and table of contents of the NEW STARS anthology: That eye-popping cover is by Gregory Giordano of Burlington, VT. If you’re near Bethesda, drop in and pick up a copy at SPX! Otherwise it’ll be available online next week, and at finer local retailers as we get it to them.
In honor of the new anthology, plans are afoot to revamp this site to make it easier to use and maintain, so we can keep it updated better; click here for a preview.
Page two of “The Cosmic Cocktail Conundrum” by Dan Barlow, Keith Moriarty and Tim Hulsizer. This is just one of more than a dozen comics that will appear in NEW STARS, a new mini-comics anthology published by the Trees & Hills comics group that will debut at SPX.
September 22nd, 2007 by Daniel Barlow · No Comments
I sat down with James Kochalka (American Elf) earlier this month at his home in Burlington, Vt. Here’s the result, which ran in the Sunday Times Argus/ Rutland Herald on Sept. 16.
Cartoonist mines daily grind for new book, comics September 16, 2007 By DANIEL BARLOW Vermont Press Bureau Photo by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur BURLINGTON – “Squirrelly Gray” may not be the first book James Kochalka has written and drawn for children.
It may, however, be the first he’s authored that will be read almost exclusively by kids.
“I think my other books intended for children were mostly read by my adult fans,” said Kochalka, a popular indie cartoonist and musician from Burlington. “But I think this book will actually make it into the hands of kids.”
The 40-year-old Kochalka, who has spent the last nine years drawing a daily cartoon diary about his life called “American Elf,” has long straddled the creative line between entertainment for children and subversive adult humor.
But Kochalka had Eli, his 4-year-old son, in mind when he created “Squirrelly Gray,” his first children’s book, published last month by Random House. He was appalled by the limited number of books that held his son’s interest.
“They’re all too safe,” he said. “Kids like a little danger and excitement.”
The Trees & Hills anthology release party on Saturday was a blast! We took pictures the old-fashioned way, so it will be a few more days before they go up here on the site. But until then, here’s a video of cartoonists Cat Garza and Marek Bennett jamming on the back porch of the Main Street Museum. They closed out the party!
I just wanted to remind you about the Trees & Hills 2007 anthology release party at the Main Street Museum in White River Junction, Vt. this Saturday, July 21.
Cartoonists and other comic creators from all over the region will be celebrating the release of “Field Guide to Cartoonists.” The 52-page mini-comic anthology features new work by members of the comics group, including Stephen R. Bissette, Colleen Frakes, Cat Garza, Jennifer Omand and Ethan Slayton.
And everyone is welcome to join us! RSVPs, which are appreciated but not necessary, can be sent to barlowdaniel at gmail dot com
New Hampshire cartoonists Marek Bennett and Colin Tedford will be presenting their groovy musical sounds for everyone’s delight, follow-up by a rocking set by Vermont-based Web comic pioneer Cat Garza and Center for Cartoon Studies fellow Gabby Schulz. Don’t be surprised if they all just end of rocking the house at the same time.
In addition to having copies of “Field Guide” for sale (only $3) or trade, the Trees & Hills comics group will be announcing the details of their next anthology, which will come out in time for SPX 2007 in October.
The fun begins at 3 p.m. with a potluck. There is a $5 suggested donation at the door for the musicians. White River Junction’s amazing and unparalleled Main Street Museum is located at 58 Bridge Street. Check them out at www.mainstreetmuseum.org
The whole darn thing will probably end around 6 p.m., followed by which some of us will retire to a nearby establishment to be merry some more.
The Trees & Hills comics group is a collective of comic creators from Vermont, New Hampshire and western Massachusetts. We formed two years ago during a comic drawing event at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center that challenged creators to draw a 24 page comic in 24 hours!
In addition to hosting monthly drawing parties for cartoonists, the Trees & Hills comics group publishes and distributes comics throughout the three states. The past year has seen the group featured at several comic conventions, including the 2007 MoCCA Art Festival in New York City.
For more information, please visit www.treesandhills.org
The Calendar is finally updated! This month’s events (see calendar for more details):
Tuesday 2/6 (6:30-8:30pm): Western MA Comic Creators’ Group every 1st Tuesday (Northampton, MA). Tuesday 2/6 (8:30-10:00pm): monthly Pioneer Valley Comics & Cartoon Schmooze (Northampton, MA). Saturday, 2/17 (12-5pm): Trees & Hills Drawing Social every 3rd Saturday (Keene, NH).
Hourly Comic Day was swell. At least 3 T&H folk participated, and we’ll show those comics off here when I have all three in hand. In the meantime, there are 2 more jams up in the Comics section.
Keene Free Comics, long dormant, will walk the earth once more to honor TV Turnoff Week, which this year is April 23-29. This special issue of KFC will be 8.5″ x 11″, hopefully 12 pages, and will be aimed at a wide audience (including young folks). The deadline for submissions is March 18. (To contribute a comic and/or help print & distribute, contact: Colin Tedford, colintedford at gmail dot com)
