MARCH artwork exhibit at Billy Ireland Museum! Creators' visit to Ohio State University!

Two exciting developments in Columbus, OH:

* I'll have a bunch of original artwork-- from March books One and Two as well as The Silence Of Our Friends-- as a part of The Long March: Civil Rights In Cartoons And Comics exhibit at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum (the world's largest collection of original comic book art!). The exhibit opens on Saturday, August 16th, and runs until November 30th. I'll be at the opening, and will be doing a book signing during the day. This exhibit will be alongside a massive retrospective of comics legend Will Eisner's work-- not to be missed!

* Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and I will all be visiting the Ohio State University campus (including the Billy Ireland Museum) for a series of events on Monday, September 15th! A number of events, signings, and speaking engagements are planned-- details soon.

Presentation, MARCH exhibit, and signing at SPACE in Columbus OH!

If you're in the Midwest, come to SPACE in Columbus OH this weekend! It'll be happening April 12-13th at the Ramada Plaza Hotel (4900 Sinclair Rd.), 10am- 6pm. 

I'll be selling books and artwork at my own table all weekend, and will also have some other things going on:

* Original pages from the forthcoming March: Book Two will be unveiled for the first time ever, and will be on exhibit near my table all weekend.

* I'll be giving a presentation on Saturday from 3-4 pm about all the projects afoot since the release of March: Book One-- this'll include Book Two, Rick Riordan's The Lost Hero, my comics collection You Don't Say, a new printing of Swallow Me Whole, collaborations with acclaimed writers Scott Snyder and Van Jensen, pinups for Operation Margarine and Henry & Glenn Forever & Ever, and an early look at work on my next solo book, Cover.

Here's the FB page for SPACE, and the full programming list. See you there!

Art exhibit opening August 9th at The Owlery in Bloomington IN!

If you're in the Bloomington area, I have an exhibit of original artwork going up at The Owlery (118 W. 6th St.) for the month of August. The opening reception is Friday, August 9th from 10pm-1am.

HERE'S THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE.

Knock a few back, eat a corn dog, buy some artwork, and get copies of MARCH: BOOK ONE before its official release date! Original pages of March will also be available for sale as a part of this exhibit.

See you there!
 

Upcoming conventions/appearances for the spring & summer!

Hey there-- here's what I'll be up to over the next several months:

* April 5-7: Denver, CO-- Artwork from March will be on display at the National Conference For Media Reform.

* April 13-14: Columbus, OH-- SPACE. 

* April 14: "Memoir Comics" panel at SPACE w/ John Porcellino, Tom Hart, Chris Monday, and Dara Naraghi. 1 pm.

* May 11: Fort Wayne, IN-- Appleseed Con (120 W. Jefferson Blvd). 10am-6pm.

* June 7: Bloomington IN-- new exhibit up at The Owlery for all of June. Opening reception on the 7th from 10pm-1am!

* June 11: Washington DC-- Search For Common Ground panel w/ John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and others TBA. More info soon!

* June 29-30: Chicago IL-- ALA Annual Conference. I'll be presenting with Congressman John Lewis and Andrew Aydin as keynote speakers, and will have other presentations and signings throughout the weekend as well. More info soon!

* July 18-21: San Diego CA-- Comic-Con International, at the Top Shelf booth (#1721). It's the grand debut of March: Book One! More events/panels TBA.

* August 13: March: Book One is available at bookstores everywhere, and at comic book stores on the 14th!

There's a ton of stuff in the works for the rest of 2013-- updates as they are confirmed!

KALAMAZOO-- upcoming events Oct. 4-6!

Heads up, Michigan! I'll be in Kalamazoo doing a variety of events from October 4-6, thanks to the folks at Western Michigan University. Here's the schedule:

Thurs. October 4, 5:30 pm:
Slideshow presentation of my work, with an open discussion and Q&A. WMU's Richmond Center For Visual Arts, room 208.

Fri. October 5, 6-9 pm (during Art Hop):
Opening reception for my Cross Sections exhibit, featuring tons of work from 1998 to present. Everything's for sale, and I'll be selling/signing books as well. Kalamazoo Book Arts Center (326 W. Kalamazoo Ave.)-- and the exhibit runs from October 5-26.

Sat. October 6, 10am-2pm:
Comics/ visual narrative workshop at the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center. $65. Bring your projects!

See you there!

Group exhibit at The Owlery in Bloomington!

I'll have some original artwork on display/for sale in a group exhibit at The Owlery (118 W. 6th Street) in Bloomington IN-- the show is in conjunction with this weekend's Plan-It-X Fest, and 15% of the artwork sales will go to benefit Mother Hubbard's Cupboard (an essential public food pantry).

My stuff will be alongside works by Erin Tobey, Ryan Woods, Matt Tobey, Sean Mahan, Chris Clavin, Izzy Jarvis, Megan March Mink, Rich Diem, Emily Timm, Alan Crenshaw, and Rebecca Redman.

The show's opening will be Friday, June 22nd from 11pm-1am, and will remain up until August. The Facebook event page is here.

See you there!

LOS ANGELES-- The Year Of The Beasts artwork exhibit/ book release party at The Secret Headquarters!

Friday June 8th at 7pm, The Secret Headquarters (3817 W. Sunset Blvd.) will be hosting a book release party and original artwork exhibit for The Year Of The Beasts! Writer Cecil Castellucci will be signing books, and all artwork is for sale, including the cover. 

The Facebook event is here.

This weekend: SPACE in Columbus OH!

If you're in the Midwest, come to the Small Press Alternative Comics Expo in Columbus OH this weekend (April 21-22)-- I'll have a table there, and will also be displaying an exhibition of original pages from Any Empire and The Silence Of Our Friends (all pieces are for sale too!).

CROSS SECTIONS exhibit opens in Little Rock AR, 4/13!

I have an exhibit of comics and illustration work from 1998 to present, focusing on the graphic novel work of the last five years (The Year Of The Beasts, The Silence Of Our Friends, Any Empire, Swallow Me Whole), coming to the Historic Arkansas Museum (200 E. 3rd St.) in Little Rock, AR from April 13th to June 1st!

The exhibit, entitled Cross Sections, will have an opening reception on Friday, April 13th from 5-8pm. All pieces are for sale, and graphic novels will be available in the bookstore as well.

The opening will have musical accompaniment by Little Rock's own Isaac Alexander (Boondogs, The Easys, Big Silver), drinks aplenty, and food and soup tasting from Sharea Soup.

The Facebook event page is here.

If you're around town, I'll be signing at The Comic Book Store (9307 Treasure Hill Rd.) on Saturday, April 14th from 12-2pm. More original artwork will be available there as well.

Here's my artist statement for the show:

Cross Sections.

These are slices of much longer narratives developed from 1998 to the present. Viewing long-form comic book work in a gallery setting has its difficulties—each story or graphic novel I create sits as a single body of work, but is also made of 200-300 individual pieces, each then comprised of 5 or 6 panels, all of which are intended to be absorbed as part of the larger body, but which must also hold their own, free of sequential context.

With this exhibition, I present core samples from more than a dozen different projects over 14 years. The first period of work, from 1998 to about 2005, is defined by focus on failed communication, guilt, transience, and thinly-veiled desire. The second era, lasting until about 2008, is more focused on unassuming depictions of highly subjective experiences and characters, finally exploring dread, menace, selfishness, and loss of control. Works from 2009 to 2012 condense these questions, reintroducing them as more pointed narratives about Southern culture, shifting notions of identity, questionable legacies, and the threat of violence.

Many of my narratives are ambiguous or open-ended, and some readers are uncomfortable with the absence of a clearly established viewpoint. I’m personally drawn most to stories that demand multiple visits, those that contain the strong possibility of multiple true perspectives, and those that respect an audience’s ability to explore those questions themselves. My work is increasingly defined by questions that invite (and require) the reader to meet me halfway, invest some of their own lives into the narrative, and emerge from a unique and immersive reading experience with questions and dialogue of their own.