Showing posts with label Visual Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Visual Art. Show all posts

Monday, April 13, 2009

KEVIN COLDEN AT ROCKETSHIP

This Friday, Fantagraphics and Rocketship present Miss Lasko-Gross signing her brand-new graphic novel A Mess of Everything and Kevin Colden signing copies of his 2009 Eisner Award-nominated graphic novel Fishtown at the Rocketship store in Brooklyn.

ROCKETSHIP
Friday, April 17, 2009
8:00 p.m.
208 Smith Street
Brooklyn, NY

Friday, April 10, 2009

INBOUND #3 BOSTON COMICS ANTHOLOGY

Boston Comics are for Lovers

Inbound #3, a Boston Comics Anthology

BOSTON, MA (April 6, 2009) – Ah, spring is in the air. To celebrate the season of romance, the hard-working comics artists of the Boston Comics Roundtable have released Inbound #3, a Boston Comics Anthology. The theme of this tri-yearly publication... love and relationships.

Yes, nobody knows perfectly-requited love and totally un-awkward dating like an indie comics artist. Pick up a copy of Inbound #3 and you'll have more than just an evening's entertainment; the book practically doubles as a 72-page how-to guide for all you Mister and Misses Lonelyhearts out there. All for the low price of $7.95.

It's their biggest issue ever! Included in this volume:
* Franklin Einspruch
* "First Kiss" - Robert Sergel
* "Puppy Love Eternal" - Aya Rothwell
* "Fear" - Chris O'Neill
* "Just an Old Fashioned Zombie Love Song" - Eric Boeker
* "Wish Me Luck" - Donna Martinez and Joesph Peters
* "Colossa" - Braden Lamb
* "An Afternoon Session" - Hyun Supul
* "A Winter's Prelude" - Roho
* "The Prince" - Carl Tsui
* "From Afar" - Dan Mazur
* "A Gothic Romance" - James Mobius

Inbound #3 is on sale at your favorite stores. In the Boston area, check out Million Year Picnic, Hub Comics, New England Comics, Comicazi, Harvard Book Store, Comicopia, and more. You can also visit the BCR Online Store. They ship tenderly packaged comics anywhere in the world.

The Boston Comics Roundtable was created in 2006 to unite Boston-based comics creators in the spirit of camaraderie and professional development. It is an independent organization of comics creators in the Greater Boston area. The group meets weekly for workshopping, teaching, and social gathering. Meetings are open to the public.

Dude, I already bought mine, so what are you waiting for?



Friday, April 3, 2009

THE ANIMATION OF DOUG LITOS

A friend of the co-op (and Mike's brother!), Doug Litos, just launched a new website to show off his animation talents. He's in New York City, if you have animation jobs or connections for him, and he's super cool. So take a minute to check it out, inquire about his work, and let him know what you think.

Friday, October 24, 2008

SHOCK FESTIVAL - STEPHEN ROMANO'S ILLUSTRATED HOMAGE TO B-MOVIES

IDW RELEASES SHOCK FESTIVAL
– STEPHEN ROMANO’S LAVISHLY ILLUSTRATED HOMAGE TO THE B-MOVIE WORLD



(San Diego, October 23, 2008) IDW Publishing’s Shock Festival, a lavishly illustrated tribute to the world of B-movies in the form of a “mockumentary,” hits bookstores October 25, 2008.

Created by screenwriter/author Stephen Romano, the book will be released in a deluxe, oversized 9” x 12” hardcover edition. It is recommended for mature readers only.

An elaborate work of illustrated fiction, Shock Festival is a raunchy and hilarious tale of imaginary exploitation films, brought to life with hundreds of original movie posters and memorabilia items.

Romano (The Riot Act, Masters of Horror) joined forces with legendary comic artist/film designer Tim Bradstreet and film actor/director Thomas Jane (The Mist, The Punisher) to create Shock Festival.

The story depicts an alternate universe of B-movie actors, producers, and directors, all struggling for the brass ring as they churn out films in the B-movie universe.

According to Stephen Romano, “We wanted to do a book that was a complete fabrication, but remain completely true to the spirit of these films we love. Basically what you are looking at is a sort of ‘historical novel’ that uses the period and the art styles of movie posters of the ‘70s and ‘80s to tell a compelling story. It’s an epic tale disguised as a garish, over-the-top work of ‘psychotronic’ film journalism,” he explains.

Romano combined his own experience of working in Hollywood with a longstanding passion for the world of B-movies to create the story. “There’s a rogues’ gallery of wacky characters populating this story, which begins in 1970 and ends in 1987,” Romano says. “I'm also a character in the book — a nerdy journalist who tracks down his heroes and eventually gets to make his own movie at the end.”

HC • FC • 356 pages • 9" x 12" • $39.99 • ISBN: 978-1-60010-322-3. Shock Festival is co-branded by IDW Publishing and Raw Entertainment.

Raw Entertainment is the brainchild of artist Tim Bradstreet, who serves as art director/designer and illustrator on the project, and Hollywood actor/director Thomas Jane, who appears in the book as the wild and crazy B-movie tough guy Elliot Swann.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

BOSTON COMICS ROUNDTABLE ANNOUNCES 2ND COMICS ANTHOLOGY

INBOUND #2
– BOSTON IS THE NEW COMICS HUB

Boston Comics Roundtable releases its second anthology


BOSTON, MA (OCTOBER 6, 2008) – The Boston Comics Roundtable has returned with their second anthology, featuring a wide variety of comics from Boston-based creators. From would-be supermen to foibles in space to real-life stories from the streets of Iraq, Inbound #2 is the best of Boston. This 64-page book retails for $7.95.

Contributors include:
"Might" – Matt Reidsma (High Maintenance Machine)
"Watcher Wanted" – Shelli Paroline (Harvest is When I Need You the Most)
"Bad Topology" – Charles Schneeflock Snow (Sordid City Blues) & Erik Haines
"The Walk" – Kevin Kilgore (Center for Cartoon Studies)
"Little Cody Visits the Underworld" – Rachel Maguire
"Too Many Robots!" – Ron LeBrasseur
"Endlessly She Said" – Jay Kennedy
"unWendy" – Cathy Leamy (Geraniums and Bacon)

Cover – Braden Lamb

The Boston Comics Roundtable was created in 2006 to unite Boston-based comics creators in the spirit of camaraderie and professional development. Their ever-growing membership roll - now over fifty people – and the publication of Inbound #2 reaffirms that Boston is the hot new town for comics!

The Boston Comics Roundtable is an independent organization of comics creators in the Greater Boston area. The group meets weekly for workshopping, teaching, and social gathering. Meetings are open to the public. Information regarding publications, artist galleries, and meetings can be found at their website.

For more information or to contact for interview, email Dave Kender.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

KEVIN COLDEN'S NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL: FISHTOWN

IDW presents
Kevin Colden’s
award-winning true-life crime tale,

Fishtown,
in deluxe hardcover format

"A fresh version of an old true crime pulp novel."
-Philadelphia Weekly

“Stark and chilling”
-Comicon.com

(San Diego, October 8, 2008) In 2003, the city of Philadelphia was shocked by an act of violence so brutal it almost defies description. The ensuing trial and intense media scrutiny unearthed the story of the murder of a 16-year-old boy who was led into an empty lot in the city’s Fishtown section by his girlfriend and beaten to death by three boys he knew—one of them his best friend.

IDW Publishing’s upcoming, fact-based, fictional hardcover graphic novel's author and Philadelphia native, Kevin Colden, examines the motives of the murderers through loosely-based characters, imagined conversations, and confessions directly aimed at the reader.

Inspired in 2005 by newspaper articles, television coverage, and snippets of trial testimony, Colden originally intended to create a more fact-based account of the story, but hit a roadblock due to inaccessible trial transcripts and ongoing litigation. Says the author, “At that point, I began to think about the reaction the public was having to the story and wrote the events how I imagined they occurred. When I finished the script I realized I had hit on a deeper emotional truth than the facts alone could have shown.”

In March 2007, the first chapter of Fishtown was awarded a self-publishing grant from the Xeric Foundation which Colden declined in order to publish the piece as a weekly webcomic at ACT-I-VATE.com, a web-based collective of established and up-and-coming cartoonists. “I mistakenly put Fishtown online before hearing from the Xeric committee. It turned out there was a conflict with their policy regarding simultaneous web and print release, so I chose to decline the grant money and take my chances with the limitless potential of the web.” The Xeric Foundation remained supportive of Fishtown, and in 2008, partly as a result of Colden’s decision, reversed their policy to now support concurrent web serialization for grant recipients.

Fishtown presents a chilling portrait of teenage angst gone horribly wrong by threading fact with fiction, reality with fantasy, and weaving a tapestry of connected vignettes that add up to a devastating treatise on the human condition. In its yearlong run at ACT-I-VATE, it garnered near universal praise for its confrontational and unflinching dramatization of the events leading seemingly average kids to turn into vicious killers.

Fishtown, a 120-page hardcover-with-dustjacket (ISBN 1-60010-273-8, Diamond order code SEP08 4143) will be in stores on November 12, 2008.

About IDW:
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. As a leader in the horror, action, and sci-fi genres, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry including: television's #1 prime time series CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation; Paramount's Star Trek; Fox's Angel; Hasbro's The Transformers, and the BBC's Doctor Who. IDW's original horror series, 30 Days of Night, was launched as a major motion picture in October 2007, by Sony Pictures and was the #1 film in its first week of release. In April 2008, IDW released Michael Recycle, the first title from its new children's book imprint, Worthwhile Books.

About Kevin Colden:
Kevin Colden is the author and artist of numerous graphic short stories and novellas including Strangle/Switch at ZudaComics.com, Todt Hill at The Chemistry Set (with writer Neil Kleid), and RED (with writer Elizabeth Genco). His work has appeared in anthologies from Alternative Comics, Desperado Publishing, and SMITH Magazine, and is on display in the permanent collection at MoCCA. He lives in New York City.

Maggie Begley Communications
Office: 310-301-1785
email

Friday, March 28, 2008

PHOTOGRAPHERS' RIGHTS SEMINAR: TAKING PICTURES IN PUBLIC PLACES

Washington Lawyers for the Arts Brown Bag Seminars presents:
PHOTOGRAPHERS' RIGHTS: TAKING PICTURES IN PUBLIC PLACES

Photographic Center Northwest,
900 12th Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98122
Wednesday, April 23, 2008,
6:15 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. [program begins at 6:30]

SEATTLE- Venkat Balasubramani will discuss the legal rights of photographers who take photographs in public locations. Incidents of law enforcement harassment of photographers have increased over the past six or seven years, principally in response to perceived threats following 9/11. The seminar will discuss:

  • Recent incidents in the Northwest and other parts of the country
  • What legal restrictions exist on photographing public property/infrastructure
  • What to do if you are approached by law enforcement
  • When law enforcement involvement may cross the line

FEE:
In advance: $35 Attorneys and Paralegals; $10 Artists and Students.
At the door: $40 Attorneys and Paralegals; $15 Artists and Students.

REGISTRATION:
To register, visit Brown Paper Tickets, or phone 24/7 at 800.838.3006. To pay at the door, RSVP to Washington Lawyers for the Arts at 206.328.7053. Please note that the event is subject to cancellation; Call 206.328.7053 for more information.

CLE CREDIT:
2 CLE Credits pending



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[Thanks Pat]

Thursday, March 27, 2008

LORI NIX: ARTIST OF THE WEEK

Lori Nix is an amazing artist of a strange degree. We like cool new twists on projects, and she is no exception. She makes tiny miniatures of natural disasters, her homestate of Kansas [really the entire state as one large disaster], collapsed cities, bizarre landscapes, and faraway imaginative places... and then, she photographs them with stunning photographic quality in a successful attempt to blur the lines between truth and illusion in photography. She is exquisite.




[Photo credit link]

WOODWORK MARKET OF HANDMADE WOODCRAFTS IN SEATTLE

Woodworking Market of woodwork crafts of all kinds on April 5th, 2008, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Wood Construction Center campus, located at 2310 South Lane Street, Seattle, WA, 98144, one block south of 23rd and Jackson.

It will feature fine woodworking (including furniture, jewelry boxes, toys, frames, turned wine stoppers, etc.), and probably some other fine crafts (last time they had a great selection of handmade pottery). Everything is made by students or alumni of the Wood Construction Center, including an amazing artist friend of the co-op, Michelle, who took the woodworking class. So go out and support the arts of all kinds!




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[Thanks Michelle]
[Photo from flier email]

LITTLE STORIES ART SHOW IN SEATTLE

Flight to Mars presents:

LITTLE STORIES
an art show.
(First) Thursday: April 3, 2008
5 p.m. - 10 p.m.

With contributions by:

Amy Grieshaber
Dane Johnson
Kathy Justin
Sean Hurley
Riain Callahan

All proceeds (after paying the artists) fund the Succu-Bus, the everlasting art car of joy. Please come and be entertained!



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[Thanks Bevin]

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

OBAMA POSTER WORTH MAKING, HANGING, AND STAKING IN YOUR YARD

An artist created this awesome poster idea. It is not actually available anywhere (so don't ask), but it should be, because it is jawes. Original art is taken from Obey Giant.

You can get stickers of the original artwork by Shepard Fairey from the awesome folks at Sticker Robot.

Monday, March 24, 2008

PUBLIC EVENTS CALENDAR AND ACTIVITIES LISTINGS

WE WANT YOUR EVENTS:

The idea behind the public events calendar [see it] is that it is a directory of events for you, of you, by you. We want your artistic events, so let us know what is happening in your area, no matter how big or small.

Each listing on the calendar starts off with the closest largest city, if the event is not nationwide, so you can see at a glance if the event is applicable to you. The arrow in the upper right of the calendar screen gives you a dropdown key of calendar subjects by color, so you can narrow the calendar down to show only events that are important to you.

This calendar is a free, great, public place to list your artistic, social, political, or scientific event. Here's how:

Email us with:

  • Closest big city to the event, if it is not national or Internet-based
  • The who
  • The what
  • The where, as exact as possible
  • The when, including time and time zone, and if the event repeats, etc.
  • The why
  • The how
  • A copy of a flier or photo, if you have one, and photo credit name/link
  • Any links/contact info where people can go to find more info
  • Other necessary info: cost, 21+, sponsors, parking, etc.

Your event will show up as soon as we can upload it! We do reserve the right to refuse to list someone's event if it doesn't comply with our standards, ethics, or general overall good-for-the-peeps gut feeling, but if you're being cool, then we probably won't refuse it. Send in as many as you want (but please check to see if they are already listed, first! No repeats!)

RETRIEVR: THE BEGINNING OF IMAGE AND SKETCH RECOGNITION

So I had been wondering for awhile when I would be able to search for an image from an existing image that I already had, when I could upload an image to find its creator/origin, or when I could sketch out something and have an image-finder recognize it and pair it up with whatever seemed closest. The device isn't perfect by any means, in fact not even close, but the beginning stages are here in the first of its kind that I've seen: Retrievr, a Flickr-based image-recognizing search engine.

The idea is that you can sketch out a picture (in color, even), and Retrievr does a scan of Flickr images to match, in size, shape, and color, the sketch that you have created. You can also upload an image and find images that match yours, as closely as possible.

Now, clearly, it has a ways to go. The return images are sometimes not even close to the initial sketch, and, as a Flickr member, I should be able to load an image that I have in my photo archives, and, if it is scanning Flickr, then it SHOULD, in theory, be able to find my EXACT photo, something that I have had no luck with thusfar. It does, however, match the colors quite closely, if you use the sketch color palette. Flickr is also utilizing a smart tool, which is storing, rating, and using your created sketches [they each get their own url, too!] to better their matching.

One thing I would like to see here: a more structured list of results, like Amazon, where a query search returns a list of items, each one having another subcategory of items under it [i.e. "see the other 173 items like this," etc.]. Another thing I would like to see, of course, is this company (or ANY company doing this type of image-search) not limiting the results just to Flickr or to any one site. I want something that encompasses the entire expansive world of the Intertubez... is that so much to ask?

I hope that the awesome folks over a Google are looking at making something similar like this to be able to find images on the web; with their extensive and quite accurate search engines, I'm sure they could come up with something perfectly genius. Hint hint.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

CRITICAL MASSIVE ART & WORKSHOP GRANTS ANNOUNCED

[If you are unfamiliar with Critical Massive, read our previous posts on the event and the grants.]

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2008 Critical Massive art and workshop grants:

Art grants for large-scale art projects awarded to:



Workshop grants for art workshops awarded to:

  • Napalm Dragon for Fire Breathing Workshop
  • Vern Claire for Giant Puppet Workshop
  • Dawn Bustanoby for Hoop Workshop
  • David Van Arsdale for Neon/LED/EL Workshop
  • Sarah Johnson for Poi Workshop
  • Snow Dragon for Wing Making Workshop


Microgrants for small-scale art projects awarded to:

  • Teri McFarland for Eh-cuP-Tay
  • Sven Liden for Umbrella Favela
  • Dylan Bergeson, Daif, and Mattress for Balance
  • Jed Vasallo for Levitation
  • Rusty Oliver and Hazard Factory for Sex Toy Drag Races


Ideas, layouts, designs, details of these grants and art installations will be available soon on the Ignition Northwest Critical Massive site. All art installations and workshops will be featured at Critical Massive 2008. Tickets for this event have sold out.


[Thanks Stuart]

Thursday, March 20, 2008

TIMELAPSE VIDEO OF DYEING CHICAGO RIVER

It is a St. Paddy's Day tradition in the Windy City, and here, caught on film by a cousin of a co-op member [Raphael Rodolfi] is a video capturing a timelapse of the dyeing green of the Chicago River. Beautiful bird's eye view.

SCUBA: AWESOME PUPPET SHOW THIS WEEKEND IN SEATTLE

Check out this absolutely cool puppet show going on this weekend in Seattle, called SCUBA: Super Cool Underwater Blacklight Adventure, incorporating marine biology, machine invention, blacklights, and amazing artistic puppetry. Decent prices, great visuals, kids are welcome, and adults are, too.


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[Photo credit link]

TITANIUM'S GIANT LEGO HOUSE

Artists and friends of the co-op, Titanium and Zebra, are in the process of putting together a tremendous Lego house/camp/ yard/landscape/ possibly village that they will make entirely by hand and showcase at the 2008 Burning Man festivities. It truly is an awesome sight to see the work in progress, and I can't wait to see it finished. Here are a few pictures and a little information about the project. If you want your input in designing the project, sign up as a Fist of Righteous Harmony [not for sissies!] and tell Titanium [a.k.a. Absinthe] what you think of the project.


[Photo credit link]