Obama Arts Ohio blog

The following was received via Facebook:

I am coordinating a project called Obama Arts Ohio, a component of Arts and Creative Industries for Obama (www.obamaarts.blogspot.com). It is a viral campaign and a state-by-state, grassroots movement to encourage artists and creative people to use their talents loudly and clearly in these last days of the most important presidential race of our time.

Here’s how it works. If you want to be a part of Obama Arts Ohio, send an email to obamaartsohio@gmail.com with your preferred email address. You will then receive up-to-the-minute information on artist created events for Obama happening all across Ohio.

Next, please forward this email to all artists and creative people you know! The bigger the list, the stronger the community will be.

If you are involved in any artistic event supporting Barack Obama, send the information to obamaartsohio@gmail.com, and it will be forwarded to everyone on the list. Even if we can’t attend all the events, we can be inspired by the work of our fellow artists to not only get out the vote for Barack, but to create our own events in our communities.

I know some of you are not physically in Ohio at the moment, but that’s the beauty of the internet, isn’t it? Send this to all your friends who are.

Also, I realize this may reach someone who is planning on voting for McCain. If so, no offense meant, and if you have any questions or concerns about Obama as a candidate, please, please, please email me and I will be very happy to engage with you in a thoughtful conversation and exchange of ideas about the candidates and the issues.

So, paint a picture. Sing a song. Produce a play. Mold a sculpture. Make a film. Create a happening. Throw a party. Do it for Obama, let us know, and we will spread the word!

Peace,

Kelly Swinehart Wehrer

art-related events for 10/17-19

The 24 Hour Comics Day event at the Ogre is on tap this weekend, but there's other art stuff going on as well:

- The Couchfire Collective presents Agora V, a semi-annual art exhibit. Friday night is the preview, Saturday night is the show proper.

- Two new gallery hops begin this Friday evening: one in Clintonville and one in Newark.

- The Columbus Film Festival offers an encore screening of How Ohio Pulled It Off, Sunday at 5:30 PM at Studio 35.

Akron Ohio in the Comics News again

Ohio native Derf (John Backderf), author of My Friend Dahmer (yes, that Dahmer) and the alt comic strip The City, has recently been getting a fair amount of attention from both the comics press and mainstream news for his latest book, Punk Rock and Trailer Parks. If you're up in the Akron area visit Square Records (824 W. Market St.) on Friday from 6-8p and maybe you can get Derf to sign your Winnebago.

Video Underground: Behind the Counter at MOC

I just got an email from Richard Katterjohn of Video Underground/ Behind the Counter and they want to feature Sunday Comix in some of their upcoming video podcasts about comics. They have six videos from their time at last weekend's Mid-Ohio Con (you can go to their home page or their ComicSpace gallery page or their YouTube page and see what what it's all about). It looks like they've been doing this since 2003 with 133+ podcasts and counting (2003, incidentally, is when this little group began).

If you read this blog regularly, you'll find out how things develop as they happen (more or less).

Worthington Arts Council calling for artists

The Worthington Arts Council invites all arts organizations and artists to submit an application to have their artwork on display at one of three exhibition venues for their 2009 visual arts exhibition series. The WAC currently holds exhibits at the Worthington Community Center, the Worthington Municipal Building, and Park National Bank.

All content must be suitable for public viewing. All works submitted for consideration must be current (within the last 3 years). Due to space restrictions, the Worthington Arts Council requests that only 2D art or art that can be hung flat on a wall be submitted for review.

To apply, please download an artist information form and return it to:

Worthington Arts Council
C/o Linda Swingle, Administrative Assistant
777 High Street, 2nd Floor
Worthington, OH 43085

Electronic submissions are also accepted, but must include the artist information form, all requested materials, and digital files of art work. Email submissions with only links to the artist websites will not be considered. Send to: lswingle@worthingtonarts.org.

For more information or questions, please contact the Worthington Arts Council at 614-431-0329 or email lswingle@worthingtonarts.org.

Related Recap Round-Up

Chuck Moore over at Comic Related has put together a phenomenal amount of coverage on last weekend's Mid Ohio Con, both in print (so to speak) and audio. A couple of the Related Recap Podcasts feature Sunday Comix members (Sean Forney, Bob Corby and Max Ink) and many other episodes feature various Ohio comic book creators (Thom Zahler, Sean McKeever, Jay Fife, Wes Molebash, Eric Adams, Johanna Estep to name a few). There are seven RR MOC podcasts in all with over seven hours worth of interviews! You can listen to them online or download them via iTunes.

Akron, OH Editorial Cartoonist Buyout

Just got this update from Tom Surgeon's Comics Reporter feed. It's a link to The Daily Cartoonist's news blurb about Akron Beacon Journal's editorial cartoonist, Chip Bok, retiring. Tom's going to write a more detailed post on his blog tomorrow. So do yourself a favor and check that out, in fact subscribe to his feed, okay?**

In other Ohio editorial cartoonist news (thanks to a little searching on the Daily Cartoonist site): There's good news & sad news about Mike Peters... I was fortunate enough to see Mike last year at the OSU Cartoon Research Library Festival of Cartoon Art and he's a total goof. Seriously.

One more from The Daily Cartoonist: although Sam Milai wasn't an Ohio editorial cartoonist, his work is being exhibited through the end of the year at the OSU Cartoon Research Library.

**Update 10/13/2008: Chip Bok will continue on with the paper until November 7 - election day.

current and upcoming art events this weekend

This weekend is Columbus Day Weekend, and once again Experience Columbus is celebrating the occasion with "Experience Columbus Days," in which a number of attractions and restaurants provide special discounts. The Columbus Museum of Art and the Wexner Center are among the parties involved; just print out this flyer and present it at one of the places on the list and you're good to go!

- The latest exhibit at the Columbus Museum of Art is "Objects of Wonder," a collection of odd, esoteric and unusual objects from OSU's archives, including material from the Cartoon Research Library. Runs through January 11.

- The Franklin Park Conservatory currently has a show called "Bending Nature," a multi-media exhibit that draws its inspiration from the beauty of nature. Through March 29.

- The Ohio Art League hosts "One Night: High" this Friday, a party with a silent auction included.

- The Grant Avenue branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library hosts the Ohio Online Visual Artists Registry exhibition, beginning today and running through November 29.

- CCAD has their Faculty Biennial up and running, now through December 6. Also, on Tuesday the 14th, there will be a fashion show and fundraiser called "Proper Attire," benefitting Planned Parenthood of Central Ohio.

In addition:
- The Columbus Italian Festival is this weekend.

Happy Birthday Chevy Chase

Today is Chevy Chase's 65th birthday.
So, what the heck does that have to do with comics, you are probably asking yourself. (If you're in public, best not to do it aloud.)
And it's not the Marvel Team-Up issue from the late 70's that teamed Spider-Man with Saturday Night Live's original Not Ready For Primetime Players. Chase had already left the show by that time.
Well, it turns out, as revealed in a Comics Journal interview with one of my favorite comics writers, Bob Haney, writer of the Batman team-ups in The Brave and The Bold and creator of the Teen Titans, Metamorpho, Eclipso and a host of other off-beat characters from the height of the Silver Age, that Chase's father, Ned, was Haney's brother-in-law. (I suppose this means Haney's sister is Chevy's mother, though that isn't explicitly stated.)
Do you remember the SNL 25th anniversary special where Bill Murray, in his lounge singer persona, goes up to Michael Douglas in the audience and says "I am a huge fan....of your father." If I ever met Chevy Chase, I don't know if I could resist the urge to say, "I am a huge fan...of your uncle Bob."
For more about Bob Haney and The Brave and The Bold, check out this five part series that I posted on my blog The Word From On High a couple of years ago.

MOC Report LinkRound-Up (part 2)

Here are some more links from MOC exibitors (starting off with Sunday Comix's very own M.A.D.):

http://symphonyoftheuniverse.blogspot.com/2008/10/mid-ohio-con-report.html

http://caitlyn1701.blogspot.com/2008/10/post-mid-ohio-con-report.html

http://americaawry.blogspot.com/2008/10/mid-ohio-con-2008.html

http://www.lurid.com/blog/archives/448

That last one is by Wayne Alan Harold and features some photos of P. Craig Russell.

Oh! And how can I forget the official MOC Blog? Oy. I'm tired.