In what is becoming a lovely annual tradition, I’ve once again did all the art for the poster for the Vanier Artisans Christmas Craft Sale (see the poster below). And, of course, I’ll be one of the participants in this year’s show.
This is organized by Charlotte Taylor and, as always, she’s bringing together a whack load of of artists from all sorts of artistic practices for the sale. Charlotte is proud of her community (the neighbourhood of Vanier) and she has fought hard to make sure that Vanier is recognized as the vibrant section of Ottawa it is.
The poster has all the details. And the Vanier Artisans has its own page on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/vanierartisans
I’ll be bringing a number of my comics (including the hot off the press edition of SHEBA THE GREAT!) and graphic novels. Plus prints, cards, and a few other odds and ends.
So if you’re interested in meeting some amazing artists and perhaps buying some lovely art for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or “just because,” please drop by. It will be held at the Vanier Community Service Centre (https://cscvanier.com/) on Sunday, November 24th, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.
It will be loads fun!
Media Release
Ottawa, Ontario November 19, 2024 — The holiday season is here, and it’s the perfect time to support local makers, discover unique gifts, and experience the magic of Christmas — all in one place. Organized by Charlotte Taylor and held at the Vanier Community Service Centre, the Vanier Artisans Christmas Craft Sale brings a festive blend of handmade goods, local artistry, and holiday cheer to your season.
“Whether you’re looking for one-of-a-kind books and comics, art, photography prints, or cozy knitted items, this year’s market has something special for everyone on your list,” noted Taylor. “You’ll also find handcrafted soaps, candles, pottery, baked goods, and much more, all created with love by our talented local artisans. And, to help kick off the season, Charlotte Media House will be offering free Christmas photos… so bring your holiday spirit and a big smile!”
Mark your calendars and get ready to experience the magic of Christmas at the Vanier Artisans Christmas Craft Sale.
“You really don’t want to miss out on this incredible opportunity to shop local, support small businesses, and get your hands on some handmade treasures,” Taylor added. “The fair is a fun, family friendly way to spend an afternoon and we hope to see you there!”
Event Details:
Date: Sunday, November 24, 2024 (10:00 am – 4:00 pm)
Location: Vanier Community Service Centre, 270 Marier Avenue, Vanier, ON K1L 5P7
As has become a bit of an annual tradition, I’ll be one of the exhibitors at the upcoming Vanier Artisans Christmas Craft Sale on Sunday, November 26th. This has been a really fun event in the past and the organizers (led by the amazing Charlotte Taylor) create a really great atmosphere. And the mix of artists is really neat; comics will be represented by yours truly, but there will be a wide diversity of artists and artistic practices at the show. Crafts, clothing, food, art, you name it!
One of the things I enjoy the most is the spirit of solidarity that everyone shares. In some events I’ve done in the past, that spirit has been sorely lacking. It’s hard to put into words, but I’ve certainly experienced a hostile competitive attitude in some of these other events. It’s a shame, because I strongly believe that we’re all in it together and that competition between artists should not be an element of any art show.
I was tasked to come up with a poster for this year’s event. This time I wanted to do something with Santa Claus, mainly because I don’t think I’ve ever drawn the big guy before. The problem with that is that Santa is so iconic it can be hard to “shake” other influences when approaching a design. I did what I could in that regard and came up with something that hopefully captures the ol’ elf in all his glory. With a little bit of wonder thrown in, too. I also included the final pencils ‘cuz I know that some folks like seeing the “process” from pencils to the final piece. It was a great deal of fun to do, too. And it all came together pretty quickly; literally I went from not having any firm ideas — save for the notion of including Santa — to getting in an image in my mind’s eye. That image held through right to the final colours and poster design.
The show will be at the Vanier Community Service Centre (270 Marier Avenue, Ottawa, ON K1L 7H8). And I’ll have not only comics and graphic novels (including WOLF’S HEAD!), but various art prints, cards, and whatnot, too! If you’re in town, why not drop by? It really is a lovely event!
Way
back in 2007, I had a very nice chat with Adrian
Harewood, then host of the CBC Ottawa radio program All
In A Day. This was actually a very special moment for me; I had
been a long-time fan of the show and I listened to it quite regularly
while I was working away at my drawing board. Needless to say it was
cool —
and intimidating —
to be invited on as a guest. I think I managed to over my
nerves pretty quickly and we proceeded to discuss comics in Canada as
well as my part in an art show at the Parkdale
Gallery (owned and operated by artist James Robinson). The show
was titled “Comic
Book Chaos” and featured a number of Ottawa-area cartoonists
and comic book artists. Sadly, the Parkdale Gallery has now closed;
running a gallery is never easy, but I was quite disappointed when
James was forced to shut it down.
You can listen by clicking
right here or by clicking play on the little player below. In
addition, a lightly-edited transcript of our discussion is provided
below.
Lightly Edited Transcript
Adrian Harewood: For decades it was seen as disposable art, but
throughout December an Ottawa Art Gallery is celebrating comic book
art. The Parkdale Gallery is holding an exhibit called “Comic Book
Chaos.” An Ottawa artist, Eric Julien, is featured in the show.
He’s the artist behind the graphic novel “the road to god knows…”
and he draws under the pen name Von Allan. Eric joins us in our
studio. Hi Eric.
Von Allan: Hi.
Adrian Harewood: Thanks so much for coming in.
Von Allan: Oh, my pleasure.
Adrian Harewood: Eric, you’ve been invited to exhibit as part of
this show. Why do you think comic strips belong in art galleries?
Von Allan: I think for the longest time they weren’t —
particularly the art form of comics — wasn’t really considered
that important.
Adrian Harewood: Why?
Von Allan: I don’t know. I think, well, I think part of it is
that one of the things —
one of my picky points — has
always been that a lot of people confuse comics as a medium and the
genre. And the genre in North America has traditionally been
superheroes. And not that there’s anything wrong with that, but
that would be like saying all literature has to be romance novels.
And there’s far more depth to the medium than that. And because of
that disconnect, you’ve had, to my mind, people thinking that
superheroes equal kids stuff. It’s not really relevant. So why
would it ever be in a gallery? It doesn’t belong there. So it
really has no place.
Adrian Harewood: It’s almost seen — perhaps in some quarters —
as being too popular, as serving the masses.
It certainly is and was a populist medium, for sure. I mean, there
was a time, not really that long ago, where comics were found on
every corner newsstand. And that’s where people would go. I mean,
the comic book shop as a retail store is really something that’s
only come in through the mid to late 70s. And that sort of changed
the purchasing arrangement of how comics were consumed. And it also
meant that they became more collectible. And it’s the collectible
part that kind of bugs me sometimes.
Adrian Harewood: How did you become a graphic novelist?
Von Allan: It’s a weird story. I used to run Perfect Books down
on Elgin Street. I was sort of selling other people’s creativity,
not my own. And I’ve always loved comics. They’ve always spoken
to me. And I was kind of a lonely, insecure kid. They were good
escapism for me. And it was totally superheroes I was escaping into.
And I never thought I could do this. I never thought I could draw.
And for a variety of happy circumstances, I took a shot at it. I just
got over that hump and I took a shot. I sucked for a long time. But I
started drawing and I got better. And I think I’ve gotten better
now. And it was just the leap of faith.
Adrian Harewood: Was it an epiphany? Did you just wake up one
morning and say, “I can do this as well.”
Von Allan: I thought I could write. I didn’t really think I
could draw. And then I was lucky enough to start meeting a few people
who were artists, partially through the bookstore. And I started
getting an insight into the work involved, the bad days, the
struggle, the struggle to get better, all that kind of stuff. And it
sounds so naive. I sound so silly with it. But I really thought that
artists of all stripes, not just comics, were kind of hit with a
magic wand when they were born. And they were an artist and the
talent was always there.
Adrian Harewood: They were made that way.
Von Allan: They were made that way. And if you didn’t have that,
if you weren’t part of that secret society, you couldn’t do it.
And that’s totally false.
Adrian Harewood: You’ve proved it. You have your your new novel
part of your graphic novel, “the road to god knows…” is
featured in this exhibit. And it was recently published online. Can
you walk me through the story?
Von Allan: It’s about a teenage girl dealing with her mom’s
schizophrenia.
Adrian Harewood: Her name is Marie.
Von Allan: Her name is Marie and she’s going through some tough
times. The story set in Ottawa. And it’s, I guess you would call it
is a “slice of life” story. And what I tried to do with it was
tell a story that hopefully resonates, if I’ve done my job right,
and doesn’t try to give any pat answers to what mental illness —
or in this case — what schizophrenia is. In a way, I think the
story might disappoint a few people who — by the time they end
this, like they’ve closed the last page — they might be a little
bit disappointed that there isn’t a happy resolution. Mental
illness isn’t something you resolve in one fell swoop. There is a
subplot. There is a subplot that keeps the story going that I think
will give it some closure. It was something I thought was important
to deal with. It speaks to me personally from some of my own
experiences in my life. And it was different than a lot of stuff
that’s out there.
Adrian Harewood: I was gonna ask you that question, because you
call it a slice of life story. How much of it is a slice of your
life?
Von Allan: If you can imagine I’m a teenage girl, it’s pretty
close. I drew a lot of my own experiences. Some comic book artists —
like Seth and what have you, Chester Brown — have done a lot of
autobiographical material. I was a little bit hesitant for a variety
of reasons. The main one is that I find fiction lets you play with
time a little bit. If it’s pure autobiography, you run into the
pesky details of representing real human beings who may not be so
keen on how you’re depicting them. With fiction, you can play with
it. I made amalgams of different people. I think I made amalgams of
myself in it. I don’t consider Marie myself. She’s one
permutation of what I could have been or who I might have been. And
it is a lot more freeing to write a script like that.
Adrian Harewood: Clearly, this is a story for people to read, to
look at. But how much of it is therapy?
Von Allan: I don’t think… I don’t ever want to call it that,
but it probably was therapeutic for me. I don’t want to be didactic
and getting up on a soapbox, or anything like that with it. I don’t
think there are any easy answers. I think in a way — again, if I’ve
done my job right — I’m raising questions about mental illness,
at least how one family copes with it. That’s probably as far as
I’m willing to go. This is just one look at it.
Adrian Harewood: What do you think graphic novels can do that
straight novels can’t?
Von Allan: They present visuals in a way that’s different than a
film or TV or anything like that. And can be differently nuanced than
fiction. I don’t think one medium is superior to the other or
anything like that. I love novels and I’ve happily sold fantastic
books that I strongly believe in. But I do think that it’s
something about the combination of how words and pictures — if you
get into “left brain, right brain” theory — works in a way
that’s different fundamentally than what film and literature bring.
It’s that very difference that makes comics and graphic novels so
special.
Adrian Harewood: How did you go about selecting which pages you
wanted to display in the gallery?
Von Allan: That was tricky. Partially because in a way it’s
almost counter-intuitive to what the graphic novel is supposed to be.
I mean, each page flows sequentially to try to tell a story. So
taking some of those pages out of context kind of concerned me a
little bit. Really, it came down to trying to find images that I
thought worked on their own, kind of told a story in and of
themselves. A lot of these were sort of splash pages, larger pages
that I thought would work okay on a wall. It’s still a bit of a
different experience. I’m hoping people like it. It is a little
unusual, though, to do it. I think I picked well. We’ll see.
Adrian Harewood: This really seems to be the golden age in some
ways for graphic novels. Even in this country, I’m thinking…
you mentioned Chester Brown and his great novel “Louis Riel.” One
person whom I love, Ho Che Anderson.
Von Allan: Yeah, Ho Che Anderson is amazing.
Adrian Harewood: What is it about? What’s going on in Canada
right now that we’re producing so many fine graphic novelists?
Von Allan: Without sounding too trite, I think the medium is
growing up. I think that, for a long time, it was that superhero —
sort of dogmatic, bam, that’s what it was. People are now trying
different things. Bookstores are way more approachable now with
carrying them. Almost every bookstore at least has a couple of
graphic novels in. There was a time if they were there at all, they
were in the kids section. That certainly helped. The talent has
gotten a lot better. It’s a lot more varied. We need more
publishers pursuing it and trying to find good works, bringing that
work to the public and showing it off.
Adrian Harewood: You’re trying to break into a pretty tough
industry. What do you think you need to do to succeed?
Von Allan: I wish I had the answer for that. It has been a really
tricky thing. And I ran a bookstore! I wish I had more insights than
I do. You keep pushing, you stay optimistic. You hope the work
resonates. Connections, you really you have no idea. I think
sometimes it’s a crapshoot. I will say I wish sometimes there was a
little bit more attention to graphic novels with some of the award
categories. But that’s a pipe dream of mine right now. That’s not
quite there yet.
Adrian Harewood: I want you to make your pitch right now. Why
should people go and go and see this exhibit at the gallery?
Von Allan: There is amazing stuff. And it’s not just mine. If
you want to see different artwork, artwork that will stick in your
gut, artwork that is colorful, it’s bold, it’s doing different
stuff. I mean, there’s Ottawa artists like Ronn
Sutton, who people don’t even know that are there. You know,
it’s magic. There’s some amazing work going on right there. And I
think it’s not all just comics or anything like that. But I think
you’ll be pleasantly surprised if you go. Take a look.
Adrian Harewood: Eric, great to talk to you. Nice to meet you.
Thanks so much for coming in.
Von Allan: Thanks very much.
Adrian Harewood: Eric Julien also goes by his pen name Von Allan.
You can check out his graphic novel “the road to god knows…” at
www.girlamatic.com.
Some of Eric’s work is also on display at the Parkdale Gallery as
part of the “Comic Book Chaos” Exhibit. And the show runs until
January 1st.
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