Posts from — April 2009

Shrewsbury’s venerable Bear Steps Gallery this year houses the Boffination exhibition. The venue is packed to its ancient rafters with high quality jokes on the subject of science and nature which the festival cartoonists will be only too pleased to flog to you for home display.

Happy children at Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival 2009

The sixth year of this annual UK festival is boasting an impressive line up of live performance, shows and exhibitions covering a huge range of jokes and skills.

Crowd pleasing events are to be found across town but the focus of activity is usually to be found in The Square at the heart of the medieval town. This is where queues and crowds form to watch the manufacture of giant cartoons and to get themselves caricatured.

The Big Boards always attract attention. This year Bloghorn will be featuring a couple of artists working on these monstrous artworks from start to finish and we will be publishing photographs of the art in progess here. This year everyone is working to the theme of Science as the town is celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin, a proper local hero.

And all this is on Friday with Saturday and Sunday to come. It’s the UK’s premier public event for those who enjoy the arts of the cartoonist. There’s a short interview with a visitor to the eventbelow, just click and play.

Bloghorn is at the UK’s International Cartoon Festival.

Cartoon by Andy Davey

The exhibition Yankee Doodles! President Barack Obama in Cartoons is at the Political Cartoon Gallery in London from today (April 23) until June 13

Here is a report on this from the BBC.

Continuing the theme American, some drawings from a recession-hit New York (via the New York Times).

The events for the 2009 Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival have been announced. This year’s theme of Science coincides with the 200th anniversary celebrations of Charles Darwin‘s birth in the town. This year’s creative art and science activities run across Friday 24th and Saturday 25th of April, 2009.

Public entertainment:

Friday 24th and Saturday 25th April, 11am – 4pm, in the Town Square. Cartoonists work on giant 8ft x 6ft drawing boards to create art on this year’s festival theme of Science.

Who Do You Think You Are? The opportunity to acquire a brand new body in a non-violent version of the village stocks. In “reverse caricaturing” the artist draws the subject’s body life-size on a giant canvas below their head. Order the body you aspire to, or put yourself at the mercy of the artist! Bring your cameras.

Saturday 25th April, 11am – 4pm in the Town Square Free cartoon caricatures made in the Town Square.

Friday 24th and Saturday 25th April, 11am – 4pm – Darwin Shopping Centre, lower level. Humurals are instant-on-the -spot drawings by the festival cartoonists which build a wall of cartoons.

Sunday 26th April at 10am – 11.30am – Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery. Meet the Cartoonists: a relaxed morning and chance to meet the Festival cartoonists informally and enjoy the exhibition in the Gallery.

Cartoon talks:

Thursday 23rd April at 7.30pm , at The Prince Rupert Hotel, On the Origin of Spaces: A loose history of architectural space with cartoons. Apart from keeping the rain out, architecture has been defined as the enclosure of space. How architects have managed to achieve this feat over the years is the subject of this non-serious cartoon-illustrated talk by ex-architect and now-cartoonist, Roger Penwill. Sponsored by Shrewsbury Civic Society. Tickets £5. Please book in advance on tel: 01743 356511 or at Bear Steps Gallery.

Saturday 25th April at 11am, at The Old Market Hall , The Square,
Bill Stott – The Illustrated Science and Philosophy of Serious Ranting. Stand-up with cartoons. Not suitable for children, pets or anyone who doesn’t agree with Bill. All tickets £5. Please book in advance 01743 281281 or at The OMH Box Office.

Saturday 25th April at 12 noon, at The Old Market Hall, The Square,
Steve Bell – Illustrated talk by UK Political Cartoonist, creator of the “If” strip in The Guardian. Almost certainly not suitable for children. All tickets £5. Please book in advance 01743 281281 or at Box Office.

Cartoon workshops:

Thursday 23rd April 4.30pm- 6pm Drop-in cartoon workshop for all ages, at Bear Steps Gallery, with Angela Martin. Come after school or work to get into a Cartoon Festival mood by creating cartoons and caricatures with all sorts of materials.

Friday 24th April 5.30pm – 7pm Infinity and Beyond, Wyle Cop – Workshop for children aged 8 + and adults with Hunt Emerson.

Saturday 25th April 10.30am – 12.30pm Family cartooning drop-in workshop, at Shropshire Wildlife Trust, with Chichi Parish.

11am – 1pm Infinity and Beyond, Wyle Cop. Comic art workshop for older children and adults with Hunt Emerson.

2pm- 4pm Create a Comic Strip, at The Cornhouse, Wyle Cop. Fun writing and drawing just like the professionals – drop in workshop with Tim Harries. For children 8 – 12 and families. Free. No need to book. Children must be accompanied.

2pm – 4pm Drop-in workshop for all ages, at Shropshire Wildlife Trust. Creating cartoons is fun for everyone – come and have a go. Inspiration and guidance from cartoonist Angela Martin. Cartoon Clinic 10.30am – 12.30pm and 2pm – 4pm Both sessions at Bear Steps Gallery. Budding cartoonists of all ages are invited to bring their work for a professional critique and some tips from successful cartoonists.

3pm – 4pm Getting Published, at Cath Tate Cards, Hills Lane. Meet Cath Tate of Cath Tate Cards, publisher of greetings cards and postcards. Come and get some advice about getting your work published.

Cartoon exhibitions:

Science Friction, 23rd April – 31st May, Shrewsbury Museum and Gallery. 200 years of poking fun at science and scientists. Cartoons from the British Cartoon Archive, British Museum and Cartoon Museum alongside 21st century work, selected by Professor Colin Pillinger Open Daily 10am – 5pm (4pm Sundays).

Boffination, 13th April – 11th May , at Bear Steps Gallery, Open daily 10am – 4pm – Festival cartoonists treat the great themes of 2009 – science, nature and the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin. Selling exhibition of originals and prints including lots of new work by artists from the UK and beyond.

Steve Bell, 13th April – 11th May also at Bear Steps Gallery.

Miroslav Bartak – 13th April – 6th June, Theatre Severn, Chapel Bar.

Life, the Universe and (Almost) Everything 23rd April to 31st May at Cath Tate Cards, Hills Lane – Cartoons from the New Scientist by Kate Charlesworth. Open Mon – Sat 10am – 5pm and Sunday 26th April 10am – 4pm.

The official Festival site is here. Bloghorn says see you there.