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Ready To Party!

OK, Martha Thomases, you’ve gotten me in the mood for next Saturday with this installment of Munden’s Bar that you’ve written for ComicMix this week!
The only question is: Will the atmosphere at the Norman Rockwell Museum’s May 3 Comic Art Festival this weekend be deliciously raucous, like the sword-brandishing melee depicted in Martha’s strip (see above) as illustrated by Joanna Estep? Or will the scene at NRM by one of high-spirited but manageable collegiality like the opening party so many comics-lovers enjoyed when the museum’s enthusiastically received Lit Graphic: The World of the Graphic Novel exhibit opened last November?

Below: The roving camera of Jeremy Clowe, Communications Assistant at the museum, snaps a moment of opening-reception collegiality featuring ComicMix’s Editor-in-chief Mike Gold, Mark Wheatley, Marc Hempel, me, and exhibit curator Martin Mahoney.
I also learned today that several video clips of me, taped by Jeremy last fall at the Lit Graphic press reception as I fielded reporters’ questions about Stuck Rubber Baby, have recently been posted on YouTube as part of the Rockwell Museum’s publicity push for this Saturday’s festival. (Click here or on the image at right to see me in all of my glorious loquacity.
Yes, now you folks who have never met me can at last get an answer to that question that’s been nagging at you for years: Just how much of a southern drawl does Howard Cruse have?

Anyway, the museum has sent me their anticipated lineup of activities for next Saturday, so I’ll pass them on here for the benefit of any of you who are likely to be in or near Stockbridge on the 3rd thinking, "Gee, a comic arts festival would really hit the spot right around now."

Comic Arts Festival
at the Norman Rockwell Museum
Saturday, May 3 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

An exciting day of workshops, lectures, book signings, and conversation with noted comic artists and historians in celebration of LitGraphic: The World of the Graphic Novel. Got mini-comics to swap? Here’s a good place to exchange ‘em.

Refreshments will be served, and lunches will be available for purchase.

10:00AM Welcome to the Norman Rockwell Museum
Curator of Education, Tom Daly, and LitGraphic Curator, Martin Mahoney

 10:30AM Graphic Novels: An Illustrated History
A lively visual history by Robin Brenner, librarian and Eisner Award Juror

 11:30AM Drawing in the Galleries
An On-Site Demonstration with graphic novelist, Lauren Weinstein, whose original illustrations for Girl Stories are on view.

 11:30AM-4:00PM Wet Ink!
Create and Post Your Own Comic Art: A drop in, hands-on workshop with Jack Purcell, comic book artist and educator

12:00PM Wordless Books: The Original Graphic Novels
Author and library director David Berona will offer an illustrated look at his new book

1:00PM Creating Comics:
A Conversation with Marc Hempel and Mark Wheatley
The two comic creators, whose art for Breathtaker is on view, will discuss their work with comic art collector and historian Warren Bernard.

2:00PM Howard Cruse’s Comics Vault
Artist Howard Cruse will offer personal commentary on his comic art, which currently is on view            

3:00PM Collecting Comics
Personal viewpoints on collecting by Scott Eder, founder of the Scott Eder Gallery and Comic Book Art Dot Com

4:00PM Book Signing
with David Berona, Robin Brenner, Howard Cruse, Marc Hempel, R. Sikoryak, Mark Wheatley, and Lauren Weinstein

4:30PM-5:30PM Carousel and Wet Ink Reception
A series of comic slide shows by artists, with illustrator and cartoonist, R. Sikoryak, and graphic novelist Lauren Weinstein. Join us for refreshments!

Plus the All-Day Mini Comic Exchange
Share your art with fellow artists and comics aficionados. Tables will be available for your use.

Festival admission is free with regular Museum admission. Children 18 and under are free. Please be advised that graphic novels sometimes address adult subject matter. Parental discretion is advised.

For more information call 413-298-4100 ext 260

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 at 1:52 pm and is filed under Life & Art, Me, Me, Me!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Ready To Party!”

  1. Martha Thomases Says:
    May 1st, 2008 at 9:59 am

    The videos make you look adorable, and that’s great. However, I think it would do more for the museum if they showed more of your work, and less of the crowd watching you talk.

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