Category Archives: Minneapolis

Altered Esthetics’ Fifth Anniversary!!!

The Cartoonist Conspiracy is immensely fortunate to have found Altered Esthetics gallery to collaborate with. A non-profit, community and artist centered gallery, we have collaborated with them on the Eric Lappegard Benefit and Lutefisk Sushi Volume C, and this Summer we will be working with them to put together Big Funny (submissions due May First!).

Mark your calendars, because next month is Altered Esthetics fifth birthday, and to celebrate they are having a party/art show/fundraiser April 17th!

They are requesting wood-themed art donations for their fifth ‘wood’ anniversary. Find out the details of how you can donate art to them here.

One other very cool way you can contribute is by donating art to be in the Art Vending Machine
… mini-comics seem made for this.

Please consider donating art, and please let them know the Conspiracy sent you!

Celebrate Ae!

alteredesthetics.org/fiveyears

April 2009 marks our fifth birthday! We’re having a giant celebration to commemorate the occasion, in conjunction with our Spring Fundraiser.

Please join us on April 17, 2009 for a celebration and fundraiser featuring:

– A wood-themed art exhibition and silent auction
– A raffle with awesome prizes and goods from local businesses
– Live music
– Refreshments
– Wood themed games
– Awesome company
– And more!

Schedule of Awesomeness
5:00pm: Raffle, Silent Auction, Games, DJ
9:00pm: Silent Auction and Raffle ends, winners announced
9:30pm: Live music begins, festivities continue, the people rejoice.

Microcon Volunteers Needed! Sunday April 26th

FALLCON’s sassy little sister MICROCON is coming up very soon! Sunday April 26th from 10AM to 4PM… a whole lot of fun packed into six little hours. The Midwest Comic Book Association always does a wonderful job making cartoonists feel welcome… you won’t want to miss it.

We need volunteers to meet and greet, draw, and spread the good word. Please let me know if you’re interested in the comments or via email at webmaster (at) cartoonistconspiracy.com… thanks!

Here is a chicklet to put on your website to help promote it:

Cartooning Events Over the Next Week in Minneapolis

This is turning out to be quite the week for cartooning events in Minneapolis… to recap:

This Thursday, March 5th:
Conspiracy Jam at Diamond’s Coffee in Minneapolis

This Friday, March 6th:
Eric Reynolds Lecture at MCAD
MOMEntum Opening at MCAD

(Not comic related, but worth checking out: Creative Blood opening at Altered Esthetics)

This Saturday, March 7th:
Open Studio at The Center for Book Arts
Deadline for submissions to Superfantastica Comix #4

Next Tuesday, March 10th:
Zander Cannon reading at the Loft

JAM IN MINNEAPOLIS THIS THURSDAY! (March 5th)

The Minneapolis Cartoonist Conspiracy meets at 6:30 until 10:00 the first Thursday of every month at Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe in Northeast.

Generally, we draw collaborative “jam” comics, socialize and drink caffeinated beverages. Afterwords, we often have uncaffeinated beverages somewhere else.

The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results are posted here sooner or later (and sometimes even printed).

Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe
1618 Central Avenue Northeast
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Bus info here.

Please spend some money at Diamond’s while you’re there, even if it is just a cuppa coffee… they are excellent hosts, and we wanna stay welcome there.

Big Time Attic

Big Time Attic hosts our monthly jam meetings at Diamond’s… they will be supplying us with a big old plate of pastries or something. Thanks fellas!

Zander Cannon Reads from Top 10 at The Loft in Minneapolis March 10th!

Conspirator Zander Cannon will be giving a free reading from/”director’s commentary” on his recent collaboration with Gene Ha on Top 10: Season Two next Tuesday March 10th at 7PM at The Loft Literary Center. This is partially to promote his upcoming class at The Loft, Writing for Comic Books and Graphic Novels, which I would tell you to go register for, but it already sold out!

MOMEntum at MCAD March 6th!

Quite a week coming up at MCAD… they are also having a show 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, you won’t want to miss this.

MORE INFO HERE.

When: March 6 – April 19, 2009
Where: MCAD Gallery: Concourse Gallery
Reception: Friday, March 6, 6-8 p.m.
Gallery Talk with Tom Kaczynski and Zak Sally: Thursday, April 9, 6:30 p.m.
Note that MOME editor and cartoonist Eric Reynolds will be speaking Friday March 6th at 1PM in MCAD auditorium 150.

mome noun (1553) 1. archaic: fool; blockhead. 2. a quarterly anthology showcasing the best new talent of this decade’s rising cartoon generation.

MOMENTUM: The New Comics presents a retrospective of comic artworks published in the Harvey and Eisner award-nominated quarterly Mome (Fantagraphics Books), one of the industry’s leading contemporary anthologies. Anchored by an ever-evolving core roster of contributors, the lauded series showcases comic art’s best emerging talent alongside some of North America and Europe’s most respected creators. MOMENTUM artists include rising stars such as Sophie Crumb, Tim Hensley, R. Kikuo Johnson, Tom Kaczynski, Zak Sally, and Dash Shaw. Check out a gallery of sample work from MOMENTUM.

The Made at MCAD/MOMENTUM opening reception on March 6 will feature live music by hip-hop duo Elliot Looney and DJ Danny Sigelman, snacks and refreshments, and much more. No tickets required–fans of all ages are welcome to join in the fun, connect with other comic heads, and check out exciting new work.

Also on March 6 is an afternoon lecture with Mome editor Eric Reynolds. Find out more about this related event.

Just added! Join us for a gallery talk with comic artists Tom Kaczynski and Zak Sally on Thursday, April 9, starting at 6:30 p.m. in the second-floor Concourse Gallery.

To get caught up with Mome, read interviews with Mome artists, view galleries of their work and more, head to the anthology’s page at Fantagraphics Books.

The exhibition and gallery reception are open to the general public. Admission is complimentary. Click for gallery hours and directions to campus. E-mail gallery@mcad.edu or call (612) 874-3803 for more information.

Free Screening! Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist

I received information this afternoon from Minneapolis College of Art and Design’s Assistant Professor Barbara Schulz about Will Eisner Week events and the free screening of Montilla Pictures’ Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist.

Will Eisner Week public events are beind held all around the United States including venues such as The Minneapolis College of Art and Design, The Savannah College of Art and Design, and by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in New York City.

Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) Comic Heads Scheduled of Events: Lecture Series and Documentary Screening

Will Eisner his influence and spirit. by Guest Speaker N.C. Christopher Couch, author of the Will Eisner Companion.

Special Screening: Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist. Directed by Andrew D. Cooke

March 1st. MCAD Main Auditorium 150. 1 p.m.

MCAD: Minneapolis College of Art and Design. 2501 Stevens Ave., Minneapolis MN

Jam in Minneapolis This Thursday! (February 5th)

The Minneapolis Cartoonist Conspiracy meets at 6:30 until 10:00 the first Thursday of every month at Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe in Northeast.

Generally, we draw collaborative “jam” comics, socialize and drink caffeinated beverages. Afterwords, we often have uncaffeinated beverages somewhere else.

The meetings are open to anyone who wants to draw with us, and the results are posted here sooner or later (and sometimes even printed).

Diamond’s Coffee Shoppe
1618 Central Avenue Northeast
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Bus info here.

Please spend some money at Diamond’s while you’re there, even if it is just a cuppa coffee… they are excellent hosts, and we wanna stay welcome there.

Big Time Attic

Big Time Attic hosts our monthly jam meetings at Diamond’s… they will be supplying us with a big old plate of pastries or something. Thanks fellas!

Kirk Anderson Book talk and cartoon presentation in St. Paul Tuesday, Feb. 10, 7:30 pm

Here is a press release for an upcoming book talk and cartoon presentation by Twin Cities’ cartoonist Kirk Anderson.

“Is Your Country a Banana Republic?”
Banana Republic: Adventures in Amnesia, by Kirk Anderson
Tuesday, Feb. 10, 7:30 pm
Common Good Books
165 Western Ave N, St. Paul
(beneath Nina’s Coffee Cafe at the corner of Western and Selby)

“Is Your Country a Banana Republic?”: Local author and political cartoonist Kirk Anderson will show cartoons from his latest book, BANANA REPUBLIC: Adventures in Amnesia, discuss its timely themes and sign and illustrate books. With America’s funny little banana republic quirks like torture, rendition, surveillance, secret evidence, indefinite imprisonment without charge, an unstable currency and unsupportable foreign debt, we’re not getting rid of our banana republic ways, we’re only getting used to them — even as our republic gets used to its new top banana.

BANANA REPUBLIC is a collection of the weekly, quarter-page cartoons of the same name that ran on the Star Tribune’s opinion page for years. Come on down for a fun, provocative and irreverent presentation.

For more about the book, visit Molotov Comix Press at www.MolotovComix.com

____________________________________________________________

NEW FROM MOLOTOV COMIX PRESS
The latest collection from political cartoonist Kirk Anderson
____________________________________________________________

BANANA REPUBLIC
– Adventures in Amnesia –
the small backward Third World nation
with hearts of silver and mines of gold

BANANA REPUBLIC follows the mischievous death squads and hilarious junta hijinks of Amnesia, a zany Third World dictatorship that is the polar opposite of America! In Amnesia, Generalissimo Wally engages in roughhousing practices we would consider unconstitutional in our own country, such as torture, warrentless surveillance, and imprisonment without charge! Why, even secret prisons are not unheard of! Unlike the advanced American system, the Amnesian regime only serves the wealthy elite, not the peasant classes; in fact, politicians openly take money from wealthy businessmen with direct financial
stakes in pending legislation! From the Amnesians’ overflowing prisons to their state propaganda, from their crippling foreign debt to their questionable elections, from their privately contracted paramilitaries to their millions without basic health care, you’ll be chuckling, “Thank God WE don’t live in a banana republic!”

“Kirk Anderson is an outrageously bold and talented cartoonist. [Banana Republic] entertained me hugely… a hilarious education in recent history.” – Howard Zinn, historian and author of A People’s History of the United States