Category: Books, Comics, Music
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Reading ‘Pretty’
“When I was dreaming of what the future of women in comics could be, I was dreaming of her. I just didn’t know it yet,” -Gail Simone, comics writer and activist ( Women in Refrigerators Blog) on Kelly Sue DeConnick. Pretty Deadly Volume I (Image Comics) makes one of its stronger statements right on…
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Fascination Vacation
Both my daily news cycle and my own personal bathroom are leaking a disgusting slime. While waiting for the plumber, escape is imperative, so I’m moving to my go-to in pleasant subjects- reading. I finished Nick Hornby’s Ten Years in the Tub. It collects his Believer Magazine columns, in which he lists what books he’s bought and…
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Doings and Viewings, Hodgings and Podgings
I’ve had a busy fall, as noted. Here are some of the things I’m working on. Holiday Shows: Most artists here do at least one holiday show because they sell. Small works go well during the holidays, and $2-300 extra cash during the season is never unwelcome. Small, interesting galleries also depend on this yearly…
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A Good Used Bookstore, For the Love of God
Size does matter. Mine is a bit small by most people’s standards I’m sure, but honestly, I’d rather it be a bit small than too large. Because really, it’s what you do with it. And mine does a lot. I don’t often brag about it because I don’t want to attract a crowd, but it’s…
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Falling Into Old Habits
I’m slowly ( once a week right now) getting going in the studio again as other commitments drop away. Hello, fall! I’m re-taking up watercolor, too, which has a similar subtractive composition to printmaking. In simpler terms, the whites- and thus the full range of values- disappears the more paint or ink you add. So…
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Formal Invitation
My experiment with mainstream comics is over, for now, and I’m returning to my favorite category of graphics- the alternative comics. My tour through the mainstream publishers’ offerings- the superhero genre of DC and Marvel, and the sci-fi and action thriller books of creator-owned Image, was rewarding in some ways, and continued much longer than…
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The Wonder of It All
When Gloria Steinem needed a powerful feminine icon to put on the cover of her new magazine for and about self-empowered women, she chose Wonder Woman. The first Ms. Magazine even published a companion volume of WW stories from her Golden Age, when she often lectured young girls about the importance of letting no man…
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Women and Comics: Coming in from the Cold
Pop culture is often where small battles play out in the larger culture war. Libraries have discovered comics -as a way to spur reading in young people and English second language readers- but so have the censors who see not a revival of creativity, but a challenge to the established bland infantility of the 50’s.…
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Drawing a Crowd
Unlike past shows, I’m sharing a booth at the #SummerArtMarket2015 with another monotype artist, Taiko Chandler. I’ll post some of her work soon. It has allowed me to dial back the preparation of the small-to-medium-sized prints that usually sell there in favor of some larger work, which I will still need more of to crack…
