Summer Fun

WRJ is hopping! It's really amazing how much has been going on here, socially. There have been parties, movie marathons, 4-square games, potlucks, shows and film screenings every night of the week. The community has really come into its own. I'm excited about the future.

In the near future, I have an event of my own!



"For Immediate Release:


A.W.P. Comic Book Reading
Friday August 1, 6pm

Main Street Museum
58 Bridge Street
White River Junction, Vermont


AWP (Artists with Problems) is a Brooklyn-based cartoonist collective. Since 2003, the group has held weekly comic drawing parties at secret locations throughout Brooklyn. Its members include some of the best emerging talent to come from New York's comics community (including Vanessa Davis, Jonathan Bennett, Gabrielle Bell, Aaron Renier and many, many more).

On August first (first Friday!) AWP members Robyn Chapman, Jon Lewis, Alec Longstreth and Karen Sneider (AWP's founder and President For Life) will offer a slideshow comic reading at the Main Street Museum. This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided."


I hope we draw a decent crowd. I've never done a reading before! If nothing else, it's a good excuse to spend some quality time with my AWP friends. And that includes Alec, who (as of today) is a WRJ resident! He will spend the next year as a CCS fellow. I know he will be a valuable part of the community here.

In other news, Dennis and I just got the keys to our new apartment. It's spacious, light-filled, pet friendly, and a short walk from CCS. It's also located above a thrift store, how cool is that?

For clarification: yes, our new apartment is in WRJ. Earlier this year Dennis had planned to move back to New York City. About mid-summer, we decided to stay. Our employers were happy to keep us on, and the community here grows more inviting by the day. I think it was a good choice, and the right choice. It did mean moving to another apartment however, since we let some CCS students sign the next lease on our current place.

So started the great apartment hunt! Not an easy task considering our requirements (pets friendly and within walking distance of downtown). Dennis and I collaborated on an Apartment Wanted poster. It didn't help us find our apartment, but it was fun to draw.

Teaching and Biking in Burlington

This week Dennis and I took a midweek, 2-day vacation. I gave a cartooning workshop in Colchester at the Burnham Memorial Library, which is a short drive from Burlington. Jon Chadurjian lives nearby, so we teamed up for the workshop. We each gave presentations about our cartooning process, then we worked with the students to make a comic anthology. Each student made a page of comics based on characters and a location that we provided. I drew the character designs and Jon Chad drew a map. It was a fun activity. I brought home the pages, and I'll print up some mini-comics this weekend.






After the workshop, it was vacation time! Jon showed Dennis and me around Burlington, a town (or city?) I had never explored before. We took a 20-mile bike ride around Burlington and along the coast of lake Champlain. I highly recommend the Lake Champlain Bikeways in Burlington; it's scenic, shady, and it has few challenging hills. It was definitely a highlight of the trip!






We visited several stores and coffee shops while in downtown Burlington. I'd describe Burlington as a pedestrian-friendly college town and tourist destination. It's a nice place, but certainly different from the Vermont towns I know. I was very pleased to find an Indian restaurant, a Caribbean restaurant, and a Japanese restaurant — all on the same corner!

Create Comics!

As usual, the Create Comics Workshop was a whirlwind week of 11-hour days for me. But I wouldn't change it! Along with their cartooning wisdom the faculty brought enthusiasm that was contagious.



It's always a treat to watch Steve Bissette at work. Anyone who wants to teach should pay close attention to this man. Jason Lutes is a great speaker; he’s a smart cartoonist who expresses his ideas concisely. James Kochalka got the students cranking out character designs. Aaron and Alec brought concept to paper and got the ball rolling on two amazing class anthologies. AND, we had special guest artist Jon Chadurjian in the house! Jon shared his inking wisdom and spoke about book craft. If I do say so myself, I think Jon and I pulled of an excellent screenprinting workshop (we have a rapport!)



We had a great group of students, many of whom are now my cartoonist buddies and penpals.

Check out these day-by-day reports on the CCS flickr or the AIGA blog.

And THANK YOU, CCS summer interns! Alex, Cal, Dan and Matt - we couldn't have done it without you.