Tonight at 7:30 at Powell's Downtown!

August 31st at 7:30 PM
At Powell's books on Burnside in Portland.
Theo Ellsworth and Aron Nels Steinke!

We're not a band who makes money.

One of our good friends and one of the wisest people I know, Julia Wertz, has an interview up on Inkstuds right now that I am about to listen to, and she took part in this great series of interviews about money in small-press comics:
osmosis-online.com/2009/08/22/indie-comics-artists/

"'If I’m just sitting in my studio drawing all day, where’s the story? Also, sitting in a studio drawing day after day makes my brain turn to mush. The stress and inconvenience of a day job keep me motivated,' she said. 'I think that most artists — but definitely not all — should keep some kind of part-time day job, just so they can stay grounded. Oh yeah, and pay rent and stuff.'"

An article about the SF Zine Fest.

San Francisco Chronicle/ SF Gate has a great article about the San Francisco Zine Fest this weekend:

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/19/NSTH197OEJ.DTL

San Francisco Zine Fest Next Weekend

Next weekend Sparkplug is going to be at the San Francisco Zine Fest. One of my two favorite shows of the year. Please come by and check out all the amazing zines and comics.

Saturday, August 22 from 11:00am – 6:00pm
Sunday, August 23 from 11:00am – 6:00pm

SF County Fair Building (formerly Hall of Flowers)
9th Ave. at Lincoln Way (in Golden Gate Park) map

I'm going to be doing a workshop with John Isaacson and Matt Leunig:

Comics and Commuinty
• 12:15pm - 1:15pm Sunday August 23rd
An open and audience inclusive discussion about the role independent comic creators, publishers, and distributors play in the comics community and how we can work together using principles of community organizing and resistance.We're going to talk about the internet, drawing nights, DIY networks, stores, distributors, publishers, friends, fans, clients, media outlets, tours, pooled resources and convention. Bring your ideas.
-Dylan Williams, Matt Leunig, John Isaacson

Austin English at Union Pool in Brooklyn, NY this Saturday!

Austin English (Windy Corner, Christina and Charles), Lisa Hanawalt (Stay Away From Other People, I Want You), and Dash Shaw (Bottomless Belly Button, BodyWorld) will discuss the relationship between image-making and drawing for comics. How do pictures work differently in comics than they do on gallery walls? At Union Pool - 484 Union Ave. - Brooklyn, NY

Then stick around to get a book signed, hit the taco truck, and sip a summer drink with our featured cartoonists.

This panel discussion will be moderated by series curator Bill Kartalopoulos (The New School, Print Magazine).

$5 suggested donation. All proceeds go to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Aron Nels Steinke at Ristretto Roasters in Portland

For the month of August Aron Steinke is having a solo show at Ristretto Roasters. over in the Beaumont neighborhood in NE Portland to promote his new Sparkplug/Tugboat book Neptune. Ristretto is at 3520 NE 42nd Ave @Fremont, Portland, Oregon 97213 hours: 6:00 to 6:00.

They have about twenty pages of original artwork from NEPTUNE on display but not for sale. Plenty of copies of Neptune are, however, available for sale at the store and available online here.

Theo Ellsworth and Aron Nels Steinke reading at Powells

You are going to need to save this day, for sure: Monday August 31st at 7:30 PM
At Powell's books on Burnside in Portland.

Art Shows in Portland!

Check it out, Portland has four crazy art shows this week, First Thursday and First Friday.


Thursday:
Nuts & Bolts is an art show curated by two smaller Portland publishers that are deserving of more recognition. Robopocalypse is a collective of zine makers that have been self publishing and collaborating on anthologies since 2007. Teenage Dinosaur is an independent publisher run by Tim Goodyear. For this show he is curating work by Ian Sundahl and Dylan Williams, who also runs Sparkplug Comics. Plus: Jamie Rich & Joelle Jones will be present to sign copies of their new graphic novel from Oni Press: YOU HAVE KILLED ME WHO: BT Livermore, Terry Blas, Bryan Fleming, Nathalie Heizenrader, Matt Grigsby, Kevin M. Arnold, Matthew Seely, Agnes Hamilton, Andrew Keller, Ian Sundahl, Dylan Williams, Joelle Jones, Jamie Rich
WHAT: Group art show curated by two local indy publishers
WHEN: Thursday, August 6th, 6-10pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 20 NW 5th Ave #101


Thursday:

Night Poems

MULTIMEDIA INSTALLATION
AIDAN KOCH AND PAUL WAGENBLAST
PONY CLUB
625 NW EVERETT #105

FIRST THURSDAY OPENING
AUGUST 6TH
6PM-10PM

Friday:
The Inkwads show with Sparkplug Artists and Friends at the Grass Hut Gallery. Tom is coming up for the weekend so now is your chance to meet the mad genius behind the Blot and see art by him and Hellen Jo too.

Hellen Jo
Brent Wick
Kiyoshi Nakazawa
John Black
Tom Neely

811 East Burnside, Portland OR 97214
503-445-9924
The opening is August 7th 6-9pm
Through August 30th

Friday:

JULIA GFRÖRER is part of a show at Zhu Lin Gallery. The show is called "Three Muses", and will feature figure drawings and paintings by Lindsay de Armond, Elena Cronin and Julia. The opening reception will take place Friday August 7th, 6 - 9 pm at the Bamboo Grove Salon Gallery 134 SE Taylor (entrance on 2nd).