Gallery Show: #20FTSANTA

It's surprising enough when a big 20 foot tall statue of Santa Claus disappears one night from the Coffee Caboose cafe in West Ossipee, NH, never to be seen -- but now there's a gallery show based on this event at the 17Cox Gallery in Beverly, MA.

Yes, really!

The reception is tonight. and the juried show continues through December 23, 2012.

And I have a cartoon on exhibit at the show.

Here's my original blog entry about the missing Santa and the really big sign that was along Route 16 for a couple of years:

FYI: The 20 foot tall Santa Claus is still missing.

A home made sign from a town north of me in NH: The 20 foot tall Santa has was stolen many months ago. $1000 reward for the arrest and conviction and return of giant Santa! I still wonder what exactly this 20 foot Santa was and who created it and, moreover, who would spend the time and energy to steal such a thing.

The subject verb agreement is scary. The money will be awarded only if

• The 20 foot tall Santa is arrested,
  
• convicted,
  
• and returned. 

Hmm. Maybe he's hanging out with Paul Bunyan and the Jolly Green Giant ....



Here's my cartoon:

HE DREW, SHE DREW Reception

Rochester, NH: Friday night, July 8, 2011, was the reception for the gallery show I'm participating in this month with my friend Stephanie Piro. Titled HE DREW SHE DREW, it's the inaugural "Art in the Pantry" original art show.

My thanks to Susan Jackson-Rafter, the chef and owner of The Portable Pantry for hosting.

The event was very well attended, with many artists, business people, musicians, members of the press, curiosity seekers and people who just like cartoons. Well, I suppose that "people who like cartoons" is the common denominator. More thanks to my friends and neighbors who dropped by. Above: Stephanie talks about her cartoons. Paraphrasing one of her comments: "Women like stories and men would rather just read a punchline."

I talked a bit about my cartoons as well, crediting Stephanie with one of my favorite sayings about cartooning: "I cartoon for love, but money's better!" Here are a couple of points I made:

• I am fortunate that editors who like what I do
• A good cartoon is based on a universal truth
• I get ideas by being aware, reading the news, understanding trends, etc.
• A secret of cartooning: it's hard work

There were other points too, but I can't recall all of them.

 

Above: nicked from Stephanie's blog: Stephanie Piro and Mike Lynch. Photo by John Klossner.

The show is through Saturday, July 30, 2011 at The Portable Pantry, 12 Hanson Street, Rochester, NH.

HE DREW, SHE DREW Gallery Show

Rochester, NH: All this month you can see HE DREW, SHE DREW, a collection of original cartoon art by Mike Lynch (that's me) and Stephanie Piro (she's GREAT!) at the Portable Pantry Cafe. This is the inaugural Art in the Pantry event. It's a unique opportunity to see original cartoon art by two local professionals (and get some good eats, too)!

Tonight, Friday, July 8th is the reception. Come on over between 7 and 9pm. Say hello and stay for some hors d'œuvres and wine.This event is free and open to the public.

Video: The Uncanny Adventures of Okie Cartoonists

Opening June 12, 2010 in Oklahoma City, OK: The Uncanny Adventures of Okie Cartoonists.

From the press release:

Did you know that Chester Gould, creator of the classic Dick Tracy comic strip, grew up in Pawnee, Oklahoma? Discover this and more in The Uncanny Adventures of Okie Cartoonists, an interactive, kid-friendly exhibit at the Oklahoma History Center! Oklahomans have played a major role in the evolution of comic books, comic strips, and editorial cartoons. You will discover how industry pioneers such as Chester Gould, award-winning editorial cartoonist Jim Lange of The Oklahoman, and current Supergirl and Superman writer Sterling Gates have created, drawn, or written some of the most recognizable characters in American popular culture.

This exhibit opens in June 2010 at the Oklahoma History Center.

NYTimes: Berndt Toast Gang Exhibit

Above: A great shot of MAD Magazine master caricaturist Mort Drucker at the board in his studio. Photograph by Ruby Washington for the New York Times.

The Berndt Toast Gang, a group of Long Island cartoonists, will exhibit members' work September 16th through November 30th at the Art-trium Gallery.

Article about the Gang here.

Joe Wos & the Toonseum

Above: From the May 17, 2008 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Wonder Woman, Joe Wos, Betty Boop. A big tip o' the hat to Dr. Lynch for cutting this out of the PG and sending it along.

Last month, I had the chance to visit Joe Wos at the Toonseum, which is part of the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. Joe was kind enough to show my wife and I around, and we all went to Joe's office to peek at some treasures. So, here are a few behind the scenes photos.


Joe took us up to his office. On a table were a couple of boxes and plastic bags full of HALF HITCH originals by Hank Ketcham (with an able uncredited assist by Dick Hodgins, Jr.). These are all awaiting cataloging.


These are gorgeous strips, and deserve to be seen. Above is one wonderfully illustrated panel. Ketcham had donated these originals to an armed forces facility. The personnel discovered that they could not file the strips away in traditional filing cabinets -- so they cut each original down so it would fit. Arrgh! So, not only do the strips need to be cataloged, first they have to be matched up and affixed together.


Joe has an amazing story about this lightboard that I am totally forgetting. I'm sorry Joe! I know it's an animation lightboard from the 1930s and some seminal animation was done on it. Arrgh! again.


Above: Joe Wos, Mike Lynch (Photo by Stacy!)

He's collecting cartoonists' drawings. One day this board will be full of original doodles!


Above: a closer angle. You can see Dan Piraro, Morrie Turner, Robb Arnstrong, Mike Lynch ....


Above: just a portion of Joe's bulletin board with all sorts of fun stuff; originals by Dan Crum. Tom Yeates, a lovely photo of Mssrs. Wos & Guisewite. Click to super-size.

My thanks to Joe for the time he took out of his schedule to show us around. There is a new exhibit of titled Just Kidding Around!: Children in Cartoons and Comics opening June 7th, featuring original art and rare items related from newspaper strips and kids TV. The exhibit runs through August 3rd.

NYC: Artists Against the War Reception Tonight

If I lived in NYC, I would be at the Artists Against the War reception at the Society of Illustrators tonight.

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE Party

Hey, Ariel Schrag and some of the gang she edited from STUCK IN THE MIDDLE will be having a party over at Rocketship this Friday, May 18th. And a slide show, too. Hope it's not vacation photos. Ha ha ha ha.

Stan Lee Retrospective at MoCCA

The opening reception at Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art for Stan Lee: A Retrospective is Friday, February 23, 2007. MoCCA has all the details here.

The reception will cost $250 per person, which, states MoCCA, a little defensively, reflects "the unique and exclusive nature of the event." There will only be 100 guests.

At left, a gorgeous bit of art on the site that -- as far as I can tell -- goes uncredited.

Masters of American Comics and Schulz' Vision

The Milwaukee Museum of Art hosts the Masters of American Comics exhibition through August 13th.It moves to New York City, to The Jewish Museum beginning September 15th.

This is all fine and good and I look forward to seeing the show. For now, you can view these wallpapers. There's the Spirit one above, and the Peanuts one below, as well as a Jack Kirby and a Crumb. And the cool thing is that you can see the Pro-White or Wite-Out on the art. I don't know why, but I find it interesting to see these pieces of art with their blemishes. I guess because it's a peek into the process of the artist. Keeping with tradition, Schulz work is without any Wite-Out. I was told by the person employed by the United Media syndicate whose job it was to open up Schulz original strips, that Schulz did not have any Wite-Out on his strips. This person's job was to check the strips for grammar and spelling. There were, I was told in a serious tone, no grammar or spelling mistakes. I think this story is retold in a Schulz book. Anyway, I heard it from the source, and tend to believe it. That's one heckuva persistence of vision.

Friday's Rocketship Comic Book Store Party

Rocketship is spoiling us with good parties. They had one on Friday, June 9, 2006. It was to honor Megan Kelso, Jordan Crane and Steven Weissman. There are originals on the wall from all of them, plus Jaime Hernandez. And there's beer too. Damn civilized of co-Rocketshippers Alex & Mary & Joe Rice.

And it was also a kinda pre-MoCCA Fest celebration.

A few photos:

Here's Alex, one of the "people behind the curtain" at Rocketship, and my friend Jim Salicrup. They're holding up a copy of Bill Roundy's latest mini comic.

And here's Jim again, along with Gina Gagliano of First Second books. These 2 publishing wizards hold one of First Second's new books: The Fate of the Artist, a graphic novel by Scottish cartoonist Eddie Campbell. It's a beautiful book.

Oh and here is Jim again, along with me, Mike Lynch. We're sitting in the patio outside in the back of the Rocketship comic shop. You can just make out Jim's MoCCA pin on his lapel. Check out Jim's Papercutz line of award winning graphic novels!

MoCCA Fest & Rocketship

Just in case you didn't know, there's this MoCCA Art Fest this weekend in NYC.

Tonight, in a pre-MoCCA event, Rocketship hosts a signing

It's from 8-10pm.



I live a few blocks away from the Rocketship comic book store/gallery, located at 208 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Smith Street is now a virtual hive of bars and restaurants. It's a safe area of New York, and Rocketship is very close to the Bergen Street stop of the F and G subway lines. Look for the giant Stride Rite Shoes sign that still hangs on the building.

I thought I'd post this since I don't see any directions on how to get there at the Rocketship blog site.