Grinding Up The Gears

Jezinkas!  My 18-page adaptation
of a Bohemian folk tale.
Now available on NoelFranklinArt Etsy.

Hello, Etsy!

So I've launched an Etsy shop.  Right now it only has a few mini comics on it, but I will be bulking it up with additional stories and lots of original arts in the coming two weeks.

You can find it here:  

https://www.etsy.com/shop/NoelFranklinArt

Once upon a time I had a shop associated with my website.  And then I foolishly allowed my URL to lapse and it was purchased by some URL brokerage and is being held ransom.  

DO NOT DO AS I HAVE DONE.  I totally need to relaunch a website.  

Until then, come on over and check my Etsy out!

Also know that I am available for commissions, including portraits, album and poster art or....try me.   You can contact me with requests at m.noel.franklin@gmail.com

 

Hometown Heroes and ECCC

The location of Hometown Heroes.
Emerald City Comicon is happening literally right up the
street, where Pine Street runs into Interstate 5.

Quick reminder come check out Hometown Heroes, an awesome sounding new comics event where you can sample the art and minicomics of 30 local Seattle independent creators.

The event happens on Friday, April 8th from 6:30 to 11:00.  The location is 1927 Events, just down the street from Emerald City Comicon.

You can check out the details on the Hometown Heroes Facebook Page. 

If you are going to be in attendance at Comicon, you can find me at the I Heart Comic Art Table, Booth L13 in the Artist Alley.

You can find full details here.

A work by Aaron Morgan from

Push/Pull Book Club Presents: The Master & Margarita

But What About Saturday?
Two Art Shows of Note.

Push/Pull Book Club Presents: The Master & Margarita

You already know I'm a big fan of Push/Pull Gallery in the Ballard district of Seattle.

Well, they are having a fantastic art show of works inspired by Mikhail Bulgakov's brilliant book The Master and Margarita.  

The show will feature work by Seattle artists Corianna Garrels, Maxx Follis, Melissa McClintock, Aaron Morgan and Mark Campos.
 

The event runs from 6 -10 PM on Saturday April 9th.  Full details here.

But wait, there's more!

A Tribute to CREPAX: Art Show + Book Launch

I would be remiss to not mention Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery's tribute to late Italian cartoonist Guido Crepax. The event features an exhibition of original art by contemporary American cartoonists including David Lasky, Peter Kuper, Benjamin Marra, Roberta Gregory, George Pratt, and Mark Wheatley, as well as reproductions from the Complete Crepax Volume 1. 

The opening on Saturday, April 9 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM includes film shorts by Brazilian artist Alex Korolkovas, a sound installation by Sérgio Rocha of Portugal, a limited edition Crepax companion publication, and other exclusive merchandise.

NEXT WEEK. . . Twilight Gallery!

Defeo's Deadly Rose.
One of two works I'll be exhibiting at
Science +/- Art show at Twilight Gallery.

I will have two works in the Science +/- Art show at Twilight Gallery.

Science+/-Art examines the interplay of art (empathy, creativity, subjectivity) and science (categorization, rules, objectivity).

The show opens April 14th from 6-9pm during the West Seattle Art Walk and runs through May 28th.

Featuring artists include myself, Marie Hausauer, Jody Joldersma, Satpreet Kahlon and Jess Rees.

I LOVE THIS SHOW!!! And it may be my last gallery show for a while.  So stop on by!

Until next week!

C-log posts on comics, publication and community that publishes on Tuesdays.

 

PUSH/PULL Seattle Gallery

If you live in Seattle and have any interest in comics and underground art, you likely already know about PUSH/PULL, an indie-arts gallery and sometimes cartoonist lair.  They are located squarely in the heart of Greenwood, at 85th & Greenwood.  (8537 Greenwood Ave N, underground in the Greenwood Collective, to be exact.)

Comic Life / Between Two Worlds

Maxx Follis, Director of Push/Pull
Gallery, accepting art this afternoon for
the Comic Life/Between Two Worlds shows.

Push/Pull presents a number of monthly shows, and this Friday, August 14th, I'll be one of 20 artists to present work in Comic Life.  The work presented includes original art that was actually used in the creation of a comics story or art related to the cartoonists art and process.  You can find the event page here.

I am more than grateful to have been invited to the show and I can't wait to see what everyone is dreaming up to display.  One of the works I'm showing is my first experimentation with M. C. Eschers "Division of the Plane" depicting Patti Smith getting her hair pulled by a crow. 

In addition to Comics Life, Between Two Worlds, a Twin Peaks art show at Urban Light Studios curated by Push/Pull, will be opening at the same time, in a slightly separate space.  The two shows display an amazing array of fine Pacific Northwest Artists.  Check check.

Exterminator City #4

 

Exterminator City #4 happens August 22nd.  Details can be found here.

I've written about Exterminator City before (here).  What is it?  It's one of the only neighborhood comics tabling event I know of in the United States.  Artist and Organizer Seth Goodkind, one of the resident artists at Push/Pull, converts the labyrinthine gallery spaces into a sort of farmers market for local artists to hawk their minicomics, zines and merch of all array.   

There is nothing NOT TO LOVE about Exterminator City.  First, it is professionally organized and promoted.  Second, Seth is going out of his way to outreach to new and diverse creators.  Third, I have literally never sold more books at a tabling event with the exception of Short Run.  This includes some major regional events....people who love comics come to Exterminator City to buy comics.  Art and ideas exchange hands.

But don't take my word for it.  The Comics Journal sang high praise of Exterminator City in Paul Tumey's article covering the first Exterminator City in April of 2014.   The Seattle Underground Comics Scene is Alive and Oozing, shouts the headline.  And it is!   You can read it here.

Kick Start It!  There's a Push on for a bigger, better Push/Pull Gallery

 

Click through if you dare!  And contribute if you will.
Push/Pull Kickstarter here:  http://tinyurl.com/nfju6pr

Push/Pull is growing and evolving in remarkable ways.  They already provide great programming like monthly shows and Exterminator City.  Now they are looking for funds to create a bigger and more luminous atmosphere for underground artists in Seattle.  I encourage anyone who can to toss a coin into the well  to do so at their Kickstarter site here.

 

The Long Arm of Community

 

Max Clotfelter, the mad genius
behind the community-in-a-publication
otherwise known as DUNE.

I had intended to write about two components of the Seattle comics community that feature heavy crossover with Push/Pull's activities, artists and mission.

DUNE is a comics drawing night that occurs every 3rd Tuesday at Cafe Racer in Seattle.  That's right.  NEXT TUESDAY you should absolutely show up with drawing utensils and $2 bucks in hand to be part of DUNE. 

Until then, all you need to know is that you arrive at 7:00.  You draw a maximum of two pages of comics art.  You turn in the art and $2-3 to Max Clotfelter (the mastermind behind the venture) and next month you come back and receive not only your original artwork back but also an anthology of everyone's work from that night.  You can find details here.

I love DUNE to the ends of the earth.  It is too luscious an event to break it down in a few sentences and I will spill A LOT more ink on it in the next month.

SO--look forward to more writing about DUNE.  Also Intruder, a free comics newspaper published and distributed here in Seattle that features a rotating stable of artist who also exhibit regularly at Push/Pull.

Until next week!

C-log posts on comics, publication and community on Tuesdays.