This was one of the minor hits of the show, because it was so novel. On the left is a cropped image from a crowd shot I took on Saturday. There are two guys with the huge bags that the WB was giving out to promote their show, Smallville. Lots of people had them: I’ve got three that I collected during the Con. They are made from a synthetic cloth and very sturdy. Well, pictured on the right is a very clever woman who took that bag and made a dress from it. She wore it to the Con on Sunday, and I saw a lot of folks stop and ask to take her picture. It was very cool. Of course, as Harriet pointed out, she’d look good in a burlap sack.

Costumes are everywhere, and some are pretty amazing. How much blue can one really wear? (that’s Mystique, a classic X-Men villain) What comics does Jesus collect? (that guy was very popular with photographers) How many Wolverines do you really need? (I saw several but these two looked the best) Who is the woman in red suppose to be? (I think she was promoting some game) Or the guy with the long white hair? (I have no idea) At what other events do you have a pirate band? (actually, they were pretty good, although the exhibitors kept trying to shoo them away from their booths) And remember, this is only a small sample of the complete range of costumes. They often get much more grotesque, violent, and revealing.

Which brings up the ironic point that Sunday is suppose to be “kids” day. There are lot’s of art activities for kids, movies for kids, kids TV, kids this, kids that, etc. I don’t know that I saw any increase in the proportion of kids attending, but the program of activities was aimed their way.

For me, the last day of the Con focused on art. I picked up pieces which I’d won at silent auctions (have I mentioned there were three benefit auctions – that I was aware of?), bought pieces I was admiring, and collected posters from booths that were getting rid of their last inventory.

These three pictures are from an event put on at many Comic-Cons (yes, there are other conventions – this is just the biggest in the US). Several popular comic artists draw and ink pieces based on suggestions from the audience. Although all of the artists are working at the same time, they trade off so that one of them is working at a station where a camera captures the work and displays it on a large screen for the audience to see.

Later, the pieces are auctioned off as a fund raiser for the CBLDF (OK, so there are four auctions that I’m aware of). The two artists you see in these pictures are Jeff Smith (known for his comic Bone) and Matt Wagner (known for his character, Grendel). Jim Lee (incredibly well known for work on Batman, X-Men, Superman, Fantastic Four, and as one of the founders of Image Comics) and Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise) were also participating . It’s really a fascinating program, and interesting to see how differently the artists approach their craft.

I also had the chance to attend a Friends of Lulu membership meeting. They’re a national non-profit whose purpose is to “promote and encourage female readership and participation in the comic book industry.” I joined them a year ago and I was curious to learn more about their goals, accomplishments, and membership. They’ve just released an anthology titled The Girls’ Guide To Guys’ Stuff, and I picked up my copy at the show.

The broad nature of Comic-Con lends itself to a lot of ironies, and this picture along with its placement in my narrative is in keeping with that nature.

As Sunday wears on, booths start slashing prices on their stuff to unload before packing. And, I was still discovering booths that I hadn’t really noticed before, especially some retailers that have inventory from small or obscure publishers. I was able to find a lot of the hard-to-find items on my shopping list. Yes, I do go with a shopping list – several in fact. I just don’t feel constrained to limit myself to the shopping list.

Well, that completes my reflections on Comic-Con this year. Concerned over how often they sold out this year, the last thing I did was buy my pass for next year! I left the exhibition floor a few minutes before they closed the doors (5:00 pm Sunday) and drove back to Santa Barbara.

I’ll leave you with a couple of shots I took on my final sweeps through the exhibition hall.

One of the differences on Saturday is that it’s heavily booked with presentations by the big movie and TV studios. Although I didn’t attend any of the presentations, I will admit to standing in line to get a few autographs. This is Amanda Tapping, one of the stars from the Stargate franchise. This autograph booth was promoting her new project Sanctuary, a video series available only on the internet. So far there have been 6 webisodes, and I’ve devoured them all. The special effects are amazing, and the production values are stunning. Don’t think YouTube quality, think DVD. Anyway, she was delightful with the fans and it was probably the best organized line with the nicest people I’ve experienced at any Con.

I’ve been struggling with my attempts to express the breadth of experience here at the Con. I realize the name implies comic books (although at least one person in my improv class thought Comic-Con might be a festival for stand-up comedians), and there are a lot of comic book creators and publishing houses. But, nowadays they are not the major players here. I’d be hard pressed to identify one industry as dominant.

I’ve mentioned the movie and TV studios quite a bit, and they probably had some of the biggest booths. Sony Pictures, LucasFilm, Disney, Warner, and New Line were all pushing their upcoming movies. Sci-Fi Channel, WB, BET, NBC, Cartoon Network, and Starz were all promoting their current and upcoming TV shows. They brought stars, showed clips, sold DVDs, and gave out promotional swag by the bagfuls. All of these players are looking to generate a buzz among early adopters and mavens (for those into the Tipping Point references). It’s big business for them.

But the toy and game manufacturers have a big presence here, also: Hasbro, Mattel, Lego, WhizKids, and a lot you’ve never heard of – especially the Japanese manufacturers and designers. They had special give aways, contests, unique “Con-Exclusive” items; all of which I am a major sucker for. Hence my nightly review of what I carry out of here.

The book publishers are here: Penguin, Pocketbooks, Scholastic (BIG Harry Potter presence), Random House/Del Ray, Disney (lots of cross-over), and a lot of smaller publishers. They bring authors for signings, free books, special samplers, and gobs of bookmarks (which makes my bookmark collecting head swim).

And then there are the artists. Many are mixed in with the publishers, but there are a couple of areas set aside for them. Artist’s Alley is the name of their primary ghetto where they sell original art, limited reproductions, prints, posters, and commission sketches. Some of these folks are the rock stars of the industry, with fans and wannabes surrounding them. Most are struggling to make a living, and conventions are a place for them to make some money plying their craft.

I think this last batch of costume photos have spoken for themselves. I just want to point out that this last one is a group of kids who happened to meet together upstairs. They are all in elaborate costume, and on their own they set up this image of Batman threatening a Jawa with a blaster as Darth Vader looks on. All the adult geeks in the crowd stopped with an “ahhh”.

I mentioned that Saturday has the popular movie and TV show sneak previews and panels. This is one line that snakes through the hall, out the door at the far end of the hall, and back along the windows outside. I can’t even tell you how long this sucker went. The start is not too far to the left, but the “middle” is some 100 yards away from me, and the end is somewhere very far behind me and to the right. I think they were in line for the Heroes panel, but I don’t really know (I was not in that line).

Saturday evening was a fund raising auction for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. They’re a first amendment rights legal defense organization that represents comic creators in a variety of censorship cases. Pictured here is Chuck Rozanski who served as auctioneer. He’s the owner of Mile High Comics in Denver, one of the biggest comics retailers in the country. He was perfect. An old hippy who is passionate about the first amendment, an experienced auctioneer, and a trader in comics and comic-art for many years. He has a great gift for gab, and kept us (or me at least) entertained for the many hours of the auction. Early reports are that they raised approximately $36,000. I know I contributed a fair share and came away with some pieces that I’m quite pleased with.

After the auction (I told you that these are long days), I caught the end of something called the Masquerade. Originally a costume competition, nowadays each entry seems to have some sort of performance component. My pictures aren’t very good since I arrived too late to get into the main exhibition hall and ended up watching on some big video screens set up in one of the ballrooms reserved for overflow viewing (this is a very popular event). Anyway, the costumes were over the top, the skits were amateurish, and the entertainment value was out of this world.

And finally, a picture of Saturday’s acquisitions. My auction pieces (which I’m very pleased with) are lined up in the back. It was the end of a very long day.

In retrospect, I’m glad that I’ve had the chance to come home and review some of the blogs that are really covering the Con in depth. Despite attending everyday, and just about every hour possible, I still missed quite a few bits of news, announcements, and appearances. I realize that these entries of mine are more of a reflection on my activities at the Con and a place to give a brief view to folks who don’t normally see into this world. There are a lot of other blogs that provide analysis and reporting which is focused on the interests of their readers: movie announcements, creator interviews, new product releases, etc. I don’t think many of the folks who read this blog care that Mark Waid has moved to Boom! Studios as Editor-in-Chief (but if you do, here’s the announcement).

Friday was the first of the ’sold-out’ days. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday all sold out to the limit of tickets allowed by the San Diego Fire-Marshal. Remember, this is for the entire San Diego Convention Center, and although the official numbers haven’t been released, I’ve seen estimates that for a single day there were 60,000 people, with the total number over the four days expected to be 150,000 to 200,000.

One of the popular activities at Comic-Con is dressing in costume. These last few pictures show a small sample of the variety of costumes: Star Wars, Steampunk, Superheroes with Western Sheriff, and I don’t even know what this last group is about. They certainly weren’t the raciest set of costumes at the show, but how many of you noticed that the woman on the left is holding a comic-book? Presumably they’re portraying characters from the book and are meant to entice readers.

All the major studios and production houses are here along with the stars from well known movies and TV shows. This happens to be the Heroes booth, based on the TV show. The fellow in the picture is Masi Oka who plays Hiro on the show. As with all the popular booths, there’s a big crowd gathered to see him, and I was barely able to get the shot.

Also making an appearance is the Society for Creative Anachronisms. They’re known for full contact dueling: weapons, armor, shields, and whacking on each other. They performed pretty regularly, and it gave me a chance to use the sports mode on my camera. When else would I be at a sporting event?

In addition to the booths, there are a lot of panels and presentations. The comic publishers, movie production houses, TV studios, and other groups all have their own time for making “big announcements”. My personal favorite was from the Jim Henson Company. Lisa and Brian Henson (two of Jim Henson’s children and pictured in the middle) are now the Co-Chief Executive Officers of the company. We had a presentation about the current status of all the established Henson properties (The Muppets, Fraggle Rock, Dark Crystal, etc) and some announcements of what’s in store in the future.

Julianne Busecher is a puppeteer on one of their new projects, The Skrumps. The unique part of this show is the use of some very cool animation technology. With it, a puppeteer is able to create a live action performance from an animated character. Julianne demonstrated the technique with this great character.

And then came the confluence of three different worlds for me. One of their new projects is called Puppet Up!. It’s an improv show using puppets where you can watch the puppeteers doing their craft. A video camera captures the standard puppet show view and displays it on the big monitors. But, watching the live puppeteers provides another level of entertainment. It was amazing to watch.

And then they added a sci-fi component! They brought in Ben Browder as an audience volunteer for an improv piece. Browder is a well known actor from two different sci-fi shows (Farscape and Stargate). So, in one show I had puppets, improv, and sci-fi. For me, it was a geek trifecta.

The Lucas Arts booth (the Star Wars folks) had quite the interesting art project on display. They sent Darth Vader helmets to a variety of artists and asked them to paint, alter, and finsh them however they saw fit. They were pretty wild.

Comic-Con is about comics, and most of my time was really spent with the artists and creators in the field. Here, the artist Moritat is signing the hardcover collection of the Elephantmen series that I bought. I enjoy talking to the creators of a book, and getting signatures and sketches from them makes it more personal.

That evening, I attended two events. The first was the Klingon Lifestyles Presentation which is a continuing, episodic play performed every year at the Comic-Con. It’s the continuing story of the crew of the IKV Stranglehold, a Klingon warship. It was a hoot, and the appreciative crowd is loud and enthusiastic.

At the end of the night was the Eisner Awards Ceremony. The Eisners are the biggest awards in the comics industry, and the event is treated like the Oscars. There’s a master of ceremonies and then a series of presenters who announce the awards from a field of nominees. The presenters are some of the most well-known names in the comics industry, as well as some crossover media celebrities. I had a great time, although the ceremony is only sparsely attended by people who aren’t nominees or their relatives. And it’s long. I got home after midnight.

And finally, here’s the days acquisitions. There’s a broad representation of comics, toys, clothing, art, trading cards, brochures, bookmarks, and assorted tchatzkahs.

And that concludes a long entry about Day 2 (Friday) at the San Diego Comic-Con 2007.

… was from the line to get in this morning. Compare it to the picture of the line from yesterday. The increase is dramatic, and this is the smallest of the convention days. I got a late start this morning and ended up towards the end of this line (although there were some folks behind me).

For those who remember the animated TV show Speed Racer, here’s the Mach 5 that’s being used in the live-action movie. I thought I’d show another picture of a genre car, in keeping with the batmobile shot from yesterday.

This is a set in the display area of one of the toy manufacturers. They’re selling some sort of merchandise from the Indiana Jones franchise. It was a pretty elaborate prop. I don’t know how successful a marketing tool this was, but there were a lot of us taking pictures of the set.

Yes, there are a lot of folks in costume at the event. Wonder Woman and the Storm Trooper are a couple who will pose for pictures together. It’s a real blending of two totally different worlds. But, if you look carefully, you’ll see that the Storm Trooper is pushing a baby carriage. And, you can just make out the chubby legs of the baby in the carriage. This just goes to show that that Geekdom can cross generational divides!

Lego is at this event with some very impressive sculptures. Here are R2D2 and C3PO made entirely from Legos. You can get a sense of the height from the granularity of the robot parts. It was really impressive work, and they aren’t alone. There were a lot of impressive statues at this booth, including a huge representation of Batman standing on a rooftop. These two seemed to be the newest of the statues. They are really amazing.

This image was taken by the artist of the comic that I’m holding. I just happened to come to the booth where the artist (Rikki Niehaus) and the writer (Dana Gavin) had unwrapped and put out their brand new book. I bought the first book they sold, so they wanted a picture on me holding my new copy. The title is Art in the Blood, and is a re-examination of a Sherlock Holmes story where Watson has just come back from Afghanistan, and so there is a real tie in with current events. It sounds really interesting.

Weta is the special effects studio that worked on the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, and this is in their display area. Those are statues, made from a rubber/plastic material that is pretty creepy to feel. It’s a lot like skin – but not. There were a lot of us that had to touch the statues, and then wrinkled up our faces from how creepy they felt.

There are lots of sessions on a variety of topics going on throughout the convention. I attended this one on graphic story telling. Some of the sessions are put on by media companies to talk about their shows and have cast autograph signings. Those can get pretty crowded. Saturday looks to be pretty heavy with movie presentations.

This was my favorite image from the show today. Nothing elaborate, no special effects. It was just on the hand bag of a woman going to the show this morning. It made me smile.

There are a lot of little images and events that really add to the convention. It’s a great place for folks to show off their cleverness.

So, here’s today’s damage (or haul, or score, or clutter). I start out trying to arrange things in order to emphasize individual traits. But about half way through I realize that it’s all about volume.

Remember, that’s just today’s stuff. More tomorrow, along with bigger crowds.

There aren’t a whole lot of costumes, yet. I did get a picture of the cat-woman. There will be more costumes, and much more elaborate costumes, later in the show. But, this one was simple and fun.

After going back to the hotel and rearranging my bags, I got some food (chicken from the deli at a Ralph’s Supermarket along my path) and got back to the convention center a little after 5:00 pm. This is the line that I found. That 1 and 1/2 hour makes a real difference. Still, even though the room for this part of the line was warm, everything was pretty orderly, and they let us in at about 5:50 pm, 10 minutes early.

I wasn’t particularly interesed in showing you the classic 60’s batmobile, but this is the only shot I have of the crowd inside. I was too busy trying to buy a few items that were in limited supply. I’ll have better pictures of the convention floor tomorrow.

The preview was pretty interesting. I have pretty thorough notes (that I prepared in advance) about vendor booths and what I want to get, so this night was pretty structured. I still found a lot of unplanned things. In fact …

…here’s a shot of all the items I acquired just tonight. There are comics, books, toys, posters, some nice lithographs, an original drawing/sketch, bookmarks, and give away items. It was a very good night.

Afterwards, I had dinner at a fabulous restaurant I happened to find off the main Gaslight District. It’s called Candelas, and I’ll talk more about it in another post.

For now, I’m cutting this off to go and get some sleep for tomorrow.

On this final day, I bought a few more things at the trade show. During the symposium, a large conference room is set aside for vendors to tempt us all with bright and shiny tools, gorgeous pieces of exotic woods, and educational books and videos that will quickly and easily give us the skills to make everything we see in the galleries. And darn it, for me resistance is futile. I bring a separate bag to fill with lots of goodies. My excuse is that this event always falls near my birthday. Hah!

And I’m sorry, but there are no pictures of the trade show. I was too busy shopping.

The other special event on the last day is the Instant Gallery Critique. Each year a select committee chooses 20 or so items out of the Instant Gallery and gives a critique on each of them. It’s always really interesting. This year, the reviewers were Stephen Hogbin (who was the third artist receiving the first POP Merit Awards) and Michael Brolly.

The last day is always a mix of sadness and relief. I enjoy every aspect of the symposium and am sorry to see it all end. But, by the end my head is so full of ideas, inspiration, and influence that I can’t really stuff anything else into it. It takes a couple of weeks for me to process through all that I’ve seen. And I don’t know that I ever get the chance to try (let alone incorporate) it all.

So, that’s my view of the AAW 2007 Symposium in Portland, Oregon. I had a wonderful time, both at the symposium and Portland in general. Next year, the event will be in Richmond, Virginia. Maybe I’ll have a few things I feel are ready to put in the gallery. I say that every year.

My trip home was delightfully uneventfull. I’ve discovered that Sunday evening is great time to fly. There are no crowds, and everyone is really relaxed and friendly.

One last picture, again from Alain Mailland’s demonstration. This is fairly far along in his work on the piece, and you get a pretty good sense of what the finished item will look like. What’s better than seeing the hands of a master craftsman in the middle of working on a piece of art?

And, it’s an early rising group. I took that first picture at 7:45 AM, just as the meeting started! One of many reasons Harriet doesn’t typically come to these events with me.

During the opening ceremonies, there was a tribute to a prominent woodturner who died this last year. Frank Sudol died at the age of 73, and was a well loved and respected, Canadian woodturner. Speaking at the podium is Binh Pho, a student of his and one of the top 5 artists in this medium. It was a fine memorial and highlighted both Frank’s work and his thoughts on creativity. I sat in on one of his talks several years ago, and I feel his reputation as an artist and a mentor were well deserved.

The central part of the symposium are the demonstrations. There are 11 time slots (called rotations) over the course of 3 days, and in each rotation there are approximately 14 different talks that you can choose from. There are demonstrations of techniques and practices (both beginning and advanced), sessions discussing design, retrospectives on the works of artists, and advice for the professional turners (studio and production). This picture is of Bill Moore during the first rotation where I attended his Metal Spinning for the Woodturner demonstration.

I’m not going to discuss all of the sessions, or even all of the sessions that I attend. Instead, I want to show some of the work that will be auctioned and others that are on display in the Instant Gallery.

During the symposium, anyone can bring in a couple pieces of their work to to be put out on display. This display is called the Instant Gallery, and this year there were 1359 pieces on display. To answer the obvious question, no, I did not have any of my work on display. I’m a pretty shy turner.

Along with the Instant Gallery, there are a number of pieces that are auctioned off to support the AAW’s education fund. Some of these pieces are donated by the best studio turners and reach fairly lofty values. There were 66 items in the auction this year.

I’m not going to show all of these pieces. Instead, I’ve picked out a few that I particularly liked. My camera died about half way through my viewing, so I’ll be back tomorrow with new batteries and some additional photos.

This is by Binh Pho. It is a very thin and light vessel that has been pierced with a design and then delicately painted using an airbrush. There is usually a lot of symbolism in Binh’s work, representing aspects of his life, including being raised in Vietnam. But interpreting the sybology isn’t critical to appreciating his work. It’s a gorgeous piece.

As I mentioned before, Binh Pho is recognized as one of the top woodturners in the field. His delicate vessels and their pierced and painted designs are instantly recognizable.

This is one of my favorite pieces in the whole show. Alain Mailland is a French turner and he does amazing abstract work. This piece is turned and then carved, but isn’t dyed. The colors in the work are from the natural colors of the woodd. I attended two of his sessions and was amazed and inspired by both of them.

These are pieces by David Nittmann. They’re turned and then dyed in such a way that it looks like basketry. But, they aren’t just technical wizardry. These are gorgeuous pieces, and this one photo doesn’t do them justice. Unfortunately, my camera died just after this photo, so I’ll have to come back tomorrow with a better shot. I bought a piece by this artist several years ago, and his work has gotten better and better.

Jon Williams creates these lovely little pieces, and I’m very much drawn to the colors and the pattern. The colors are painted onto the surface, but the patterns are burned into the wood. The burning process is called pyrography and uses a sharp, heated tool that’s similar to a soldering iron. This makes the pattern more than just surface color. It also has a tactile component, and gives the images depth (that’s meant literally as well as figurately). There are a lot of woodturning artists using pyrography in their work nowadays, but I think those swirling patterns that he creates are beautiful.

Jon Sauer makes these gorgeous tops from exotic hardwoods, and then carves them using a machine tool called an ornamental lathe. He uses several different pieces of wood in a single top and then turns them to have a beautiful form. They are also excellent spinners.

The stands are something new, and I think they complement the tops perfectly. The cantilever design is a new twist. Together, they make a very elegant display.

Jim Christiansen does work that fascinates me. They are the only pieces in the instant gallery that leave me with a strong emotional reaction. His current work uses figures along with the turnings and they evoke a lot of feelings. I enjoy a lot of turnings, finding them beatiful or fun, but his bring up strong emotions. I really like them. This piece and Alain’s piece are the two that I would most like to take home with me. Someday …
The AAW has a large number of member clubs that represent local regions (I belong to the Channel Islands Woodturners). At the symposium, there is a Chapter Challenge in which clubs come together and produce a group piece. There were 4 pieces in this years challenge, and I liked this one the best. It’s from the Glendale Woodturners Guild (from Southern California).

This is an amazing piece that will be in the auction tomorrow. It is a collaborative piece by Binh Pho and Frank Sudol. At the start of this post, I wrote that Frank Sudol died this last year, and Binh gave the memorial at the ceremonies this morning. Binh was a student of Frank’s , and they had wanted to do a collaborative piece for a long time. Just before he died they created this stunning pece of work, their only collaboration. It is an interesting mix of their styles, and both are clearly represented in this piece. I overheard some collectors speculating that they expect it will sell for between $10,000 and $12,000 at the auction. That would be an amazing price and probably well deserved.

This is another piece that I believe will set the upper bar on prices at the auction. It is a collaborative effort between two very popular artists, Jacques Vesery and Bonnie Klein. From this picture alone, the piece may not look very impressive, but I happened to be nearby when the artists arrived to show off the piece to some friends. There are a lot of hidden surprises in the work. The ball has an image of the world carved onto it. It seperates from the base and can be opened like a box with a lid that unscrews. Inside is another ball with an image of the sun and the moon. That ball can also open up with another small blue marble inside which has a map of the world and the lettering “You are here” over Oregon.

Here are the two artists of this piece, and Jacques is showing another of the hidden surprises. This is under the base. I’ve taken seminars and demonstrations from both of these artists and they are extremely nice people. Their collaborations are very popular with collectors, and I expect that this extraordinary piece will fetch a high value.

That’s it for this entry. As I mentioned, my camera’s batteries died, so I’m off to resupply and tomorrow I’ll have a few more pictures from the Galleries.

I arrived in Portland today (June 28) for the first time. As soon as I left the airport I felt like I’d validated most of my stereotypes about Oregon: Hills, lots of woods, overcast & rainy, fairly small and intimate. But, as you get into the downtown area, then it feels like most urban cities – too much traffic, high rise buildings in various states of disrepair, lots of downtown renovation, and people.

I checked into the hotel for the symposium (the DoubleTree – very nice) and walked over to the conference center to register. The Oregon Convention Center is on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, and on the grounds is this statue commemorating him. It’s a lovely entry into the center.

The photo at the top of this post was taken just after I registered. Not too crowded yet, and everyone is still getting oriented, finding the demonstration areas, and meeting up with friends and acquaintances. The demonstrations don’t start until tomorrow, so everything is still pretty relaxed.

Three of the exhibits are open and located in the convention center. They aren’t too crowded yet, and so it’s a good time to see the pieces up close. Here is a small sampling of some of the exceptional turnings in the exhibit.

Study in Boundaries, 2006 by Giles Gilson. This is part of the 2007 POP Merit Award Exhibition. The Professional Outreach Program (POP) is a new program of the AAW which seeks to encourage and support the professional woodturning artist, and this is the first year that merit awards have been given out. Giles is one of the first three recipients.

Ascending Bowl #4, 1981 by Mark Lindquist. Another one of the inaugural POP Merit Award recipients, Mark’s work has been around for quite awhile. I’ve always liked his work, especially his emphasis on textures. I particularly liked this piece.
Next is the Japanese Demonstrator Exhibit. There are four urushi artists from Yamanaka Japan that are attending and demonstrating at the symposium this year. One has the title Living National Treasure which is awarded in Japan to someone who has reached the highest level of achievement in their craft. This is a small sample of their work.

This piece by Binh Pho is from the Japanese Bowls, A Western Perspective exhibit. This is a pretty interesting display. At a Japanese urushi exhibit in New York, the president of the AAW was given a large number of roughed out bowls. These are bowls that have been turned to roughly the same shape and size by a production facility, and would normally be presented to the urushi artist for final shaping and their finishing process. However, these roughs were given to a group of studio artists to finish in their unique (and western) styles.

The pieces finished by Ann Wolfe (left) and Sharon Doughtie (right). This exhibit was an amazing showcase of the distinctive styles and techniques of these artists. I’m only picking out a few to show here.

One of my favorite artists is Jaques Vesery. He’s known for his amazing surface carvings, which place natural textures (feathers, scales, rocks) on a variety of vessels and objects. This picture may not make it clear that he has carved and painted the surface of his vessel to look like rice. Up close, it looks like rice has been glued onto the surface of the bowl. What’s is most impressive about his work, and why his work commands such amazing prices, is that instead of just being a gimmick enhancement, his technique is an integral part of his artwork. It is beautiful work. My photo doesn’t do justice to this exquisite piece.

I’ve only shown you a few pieces from these larger exhibits. They are nothing more that a brief taste of the amazing work in these exhibits. I’ve picked a few of my favorite pieces to represent the show. And besides, the less time I prepare these posts, the more time I can participate in this wonderful symposium.

I haven’t tried a single one of them myself: I just keep watching the animation over and over again and again and…

APE is “the largest gathering of alternative and self-published comics in the country”. You won’t find the traditional publishers of comic-book superheroes at this venue. This is a group for which traditional geek culture is too constraining.

I have always been a collector of traditional comics, but last year I discovered the small publisher’s booths at Comic-Con (I’ll be posting about this year’s event in July). I had such a good time that some of my fellow panelologists suggested that I attend APE. Boy, were they right. It was great.

I drove up to San Francisco on Friday, and spent a couple of nights with friends Debbie and Tom. Tom was so intrigued by the event that he decided to attended the expo with me on Saturday (and is pictured, above). Debbie could immediately tell that this wasn’t her type of event (she is a wise woman) and decided to enjoy the day on her own.

We drove to the Concourse Exhibition Center where the show ran from 11:00 am until 7:00 pm on Saturday, and from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm on Sunday. The entrance fee is a whopping $7 for one day and $10 for both days. However, since I still had my Comic-Con badge from last year, I got in for free. Yay! More money for comics!

The range of publishers is pretty varied. There are individuals who hand draw their comic ravings, photocopy the pages and staple them into small books (affectionately referred to as mini-comics); small groups of artists who go in on a booth together to show or sell their artworks and sketchbooks; artist collectives who share the cost of publishing or marketing their comics; self-publishers who use vanity presses or print-on-demand publishing houses for their production; micro-publishers (one or two people) who have a couple of comics made by themselves and their friends whichthey produce and market under a single imprint; and small publishers who function as more traditional publishing houses and produce more professional work.

I’m not very good at estimating numbers for these events, but I would say there were several thousand people in the Concourse at any given time. And, I wouldn’t be surprised if the number of people attending got up to 10,000 over the course of both days. There was another mezzanine just outside of this picture to the left.

Although we broke off for lunch (at a fabulous Vietnamese restaurant) and then dinner (some great Chinese food at a real dive), when you include our exploration of the after-expo parties, on Saturday we immersed ourselves in that world for a solid 12 hours.

The next day (Sunday) I went back for another 6 hours before getting on the road to Santa Barbara about 5:00 pm. I finished seeing every booth at the show with less than an hour left before they closed the event down.

So, what did I leave with? I only have a rough count, but I’d say about 100 mini-comics, 50 or so comics and graphic novels, and about 10 books (very think graphic novels). I talked with dozens of artist/writer/publishers, saw hundreds of pieces of art, and tried to follow dozens of non-linear trains to thought (very alternative press). I’ve already read some delightful comics, but also some disappointing junk.

And I can definitly say I had a really great time.