TCAF answers! from Angela Hsieh

by Mike Rhode

A few local cartoonists were selected to attend TCAF in Canada this year - it's a curated show, and not a lottery like SPX is. I think it has invited guests and people who apply to exhibit. I reached out to ask about their experiences. Angela's recent interview is here.

How did you get selected for this show? Did you have to apply?

I applied back in January and was accepted at the end of February. The TCAF application was fairly straightforward: they want your portfolio and your bio, and notably, they're interested in what comics work you'll be debuting the year you apply. I believe I was selected this year because I had a graphic novel come out this year, plus I'd never been to TCAF before.

Was this your first time?

First time at TCAF, not to mention first time in Toronto! I went a few days in advance so that I could explore the city, but I tired myself out even before the con began. Unwise? Perhaps. Regrettable? Not in the least. 

How was the experience? How does it compare to SPX or other local cons?

This was my first international con. I tend to stick with local cons and festivals, so this was by far the furthest I've ever traveled for one—and probably the biggest con I've ever tabled at. Imagine SPX times ten. It's frankly overwhelming how much talent is on display. I wish I had more time to walk around and admire all the incredible work.

How were your sales? Did you reach a new audience?

I did pretty well! But because this was my first TCAF, I have no previous experience to compare to. For what it's worth, I heard some people who exhibited in the past say that sales were slower this year compared to previous years. 

I saw a couple of familiar faces, and I met a whole lot of new people. Plus, I finally got to meet some artists I've been mutuals with for years but have never met in person. Definitely one of the highlights. Another highlight: meeting kids and their parents who'd borrowed Lu and Ren's Guide to Geozoology from the library and stopped by my table to tell me how much they loved reading it. 🥺

How did Canadians react to Americans in light of the current administration's misbehavior to our ally?

With sympathy, when it came up, which it rarely did. People generally assumed I was Canadian, and when they found out I wasn't, the most frequent response was a nod of commiseration before we went back to the thing we showed up for: comics. 

TCAF answers! from Sierra Barnes

by Mike Rhode 

A few local cartoonists were selected to attend TCAF in Canada this year - it's a curated show, and not a lottery like SPX is. I think it has invited guests and people who apply to exhibit. I reached out to ask about their experiences. Here's Sierra Barnes' thoughts on it. Her 2020 interview can be read first here for background. And here's a brief 2022 interview about Lower Your Sights, a Ukrainian benefit anthology that I didn't know she had work in.

How did you get selected for this show? Did you have to apply?

This year was my 6th year applying for TCAF and the first year I got in! I'm not sure if it's a lottery or not, but I do know it's not uncommon to take a couple of years to get in and a ton of people apply every year.

So, this was this your first time?

Yes!

How was the experience? How does it compare to SPX or other local cons?

I had a fantastic time! The venue was different this year than in years past, it used to be held at the reference library in downtown Toronto but this year was at the Mattamy Athletic Center. There were two floors of comics--exhibitors were split between the hockey rink on the third floor, and the basketball court on the second floor. I was on the basketball court. The hockey rink had a majority of the exhibitors and I think all of the publishers, so if you wanted to go do a lap of the floor on a quick break, it was a bit of a pain to get all the way up and over unless you were already at the hockey rink.

The big drama was on Saturday afternoon, when a pipe broke in the ceiling of the basketball court and water spilled onto the con floor. They managed to move the tables out of the way, but it was a pretty dramatic moment. I wasn't able to talk to anyone affected, but I could see it dripping from my table. I tried to get a picture but I don't know if you can really see it that well.

Biggest frustrations was the inability to take card--Square doesn't work out of country, and while the option existed for international exhibitors to rent Square readers from TCAF, the organizers recommended for first-time exhibitors to just use Paypal with a QR code. Most people didn't have Paypal, and when they did the app was a pain to use, so there was a lot of standing around frowning at phones involved. Fortunately word spread pretty quickly, and most people had cash by Saturday afternoon. If I can get in again, I'm definitely springing for the reader.

Getting Kate Beaton to sign my copy of Ducks was definitely a highlight. Lots of incredible artists were there, and I got to meet some Canadian artists I had been online friends with for a long time in-person and that's always a magical moment.

How were your sales? Did you reach a new audience?

My sales were great! I think with the conversion it was about equal to my SPX sales, maybe a little less, but I got to talk to all new people and meet some really incredible cartoonists.

How did Canadians react to Americans in light of the current administration's misbehavior to our ally?

At least in my experience, people seemed pretty understanding and sympathetic to us Amis. I think the understanding was there that the Americans coming to TCAF were not in support of the regime (if there were any, I certainly didn't see them!). Lots of people were curious about what it was like or what we thought about the news, especially when I told people that I was living outside of DC. I hadn't been keeping up with the news while traveling so I learned about some US news from the visitors!

Exhibit Review: The Comic Art of Lynn Johnston

by Mike Rhode


The Comic Art of Lynn Johnston. Kate Grumbacher. Washington, DC: Embassy of Canada Art Gallery, September 13, 2019-January 31, 2020.

The Canadian Embassy on Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, between the White House and Congress is a striking setting for this small exhibit on For Better or For Worse, the long-running and popular comic strip. From 1979- 2008, the strip followed the lives of the Patterson family, a wife and husband (a dentist) and their three kids and dogs as they grew up in Canada. The strip is still running in reprints. The exhibit was originally shown in a gallery in Canada and modified by Grumbacher for exhibit in Washington. Johnston was in town for the exhibit opening, and also spoke at the Library of Congress the following day. She noted that she can no longer draw the strip due to tremors, but she’s being creative in other ways. On the back of the introductory plinth is fabric that she’s designed and goofy paintings of dogs and cats, but the exhibit largely concentrates on the comic strip.

 

 

 

As you walk into the exhibit, a large panel depicts a collage of her characters over the life of the strip, and has the title of the exhibit in French and English. The exhibit is bilingual throughout. In French, for the record the title is L’Art de la Bande Dessineé selon Lynn Johnston. Turning left from the title plinth, Johnston’s desk is featured along with some early drawings framed above it. The desk looks barely used compared to some other cartoonists’. The ‘office area’ is bounded by a small wall, and on the other side of that is a small interactive section where a visitor could color a sheet with characters from the strip, or create their own four-panel strip in a blank sheet of squares. A large set of labels explains the process of creating a comic strip. Next to that is a small enclosed exhibit case with family photos, toy cars and other materials she used as references to draw the strip. Next to the exhibit case is a group of several original Sunday strips matched with color prints to show how they 

 actually appeared in the newspaper. 

 

 

 

The main characters of the strip are introduced, and then large panels with purple headers explains the high points of the strip over the years. These included “Michael & Deanna” (the oldest son and his wife), “April’s Birth” (the third child), “Infidelity,” “Lawrence Comes Out” (when the character was revealed to be gay, it was a major controversy), “Mtigwaki” (the eldest daughter Elizabeth goes to work in a First Nations community), “Shannon Lake” (an autistic character introduced in a school setting), “Elizabeth’s Sexual Assault,” “Elizabeth’s Wedding,” “Death & Illness,” and “Farley’s Death” (also controversial when the family dog died saving April from a stream).

 

The exhibit concludes with a short film, a quilt of the characters (hanging up very high), and in a nod to our locality, reproductions from the Washington Post of a page of comic strips, and Michael Cavna’s article about the end of the strip. 

This is a celebratory exhibit. There is no deep analysis of the social or historical implications of the strip, beyond the purple panels’ basic claims, and that is fine. The exhibit is both a celebration of a Canadian artist and an enjoyable hour-long stop for Washington’s tourists, in a venue they would not normally see. More photographs of the exhibit are at https://flic.kr/s/aHsmGVy4FY and Johnston’s Library of Congress talk at https://flic.kr/s/aHsmGVvahH

 

(This review was written for the International Journal of Comic Art 22:1, but this version appears on both the IJOCA and ComicsDC websites on January 8 2020, while the exhibit is still open for viewing.)

   

 

(This review was written for the International Journal of Comic Art 22:1, but this version appears on both the IJOCA and ComicsDC websites on January 8 2020, while the exhibit is still open for viewing.)

Lynn Johnston and Jaime Hernandez in photos (UPDATED)

I'm not sure if the link to the Flickr site works correctly, so I've added some images just in case.

Jaime Hernandez and Gary Groth at the Library of Congress 

The opening of The Comic Art of Lynn Johnston exhibit at the Canadian embassy 

Lynn Johnston at the Library of Congress

Johnston drew on an overhead projector and tossed the transparencies on the floor behind her.