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NOTES FROM SAW
Here’s the place to check out everything that’s been going on at SAW including what we're learning, reading and drawing.
SAW fundraiser!!
For the next two weeks, SAW is launching a fundraiser in light of 2024 grant funding being vetoed by the Florida legislation.
Frontline Comics Event: Graphic Medicine Reading and Discussion
Please join us for a comics reading and panel discussion from the frontlines of medicine, featuring stories by caregivers and patients. Panelists include Michael Green, Mahour Pourghadim (@mahour_rain), Rachel Casas, Jess Ruliffson, and more!
Making Comics with Cara Bean Feb 27, 7 pm Et, 4 pm PT
Cara Bean, whose latest book, Here I Am, I Am Me, is a masterpiece of cartooning. In this single-session workshop, Cara will give a show of samples from that book, then she'll create some demonstrations and exercises based on your discussion! Sign up to get involved in this interactive workshop with a cartooning great! 7 pm EST / 4 pm PST
How the Governor Stole Arts funding for the whole state
State Governor axed ALL STATE ARTS FUNDING in 2024 and 2025. What does it mean for Florida and SAW?
Are we making art and stories or are we performing rites and rituals?
Lately, I’ve been thinking that to some degree, especially in the Graphic Memoir / Medicine genre, we are seeing our storytelling return to the function of Rite and Ritual. (Note, I’m accidentally using rites and rituals a little interchangeably, though as I understand it, technically a ritual exists within the larger rite.)
Three FREE workshops about PLACE for 2025
MAKING COMICS ABOUT WHERE YOU LIVE, OR WANT TO LIVE.
We’re digging around in the vast SAW Friday Night Comics archives (three years now, over 150 workshops) and are noticing some trends. Lots of music, lots of memoir, lots of monsters and animals, and lots of graphic medicine.
For 2025, we hear a lot of people talking LOCAL. Local community, local help, local awareness.
Here are three comics workshops about PLACE.
Comics Working Group Winter 2025
Comics Working Group with Carly Shooster Winter 2025 with Sequential Artists Workshop
Monday, January 13th, 2025 at 6:30 PM EST
This accountability group is a one-a-week meeting for Gainesville locals to bring whatever long term, short term, or anywhere-in-between project.
Upcoming Pro-Call with Bishakh Som
Join us for our next Pro-Call with the incredible Bishakh Som, creator of Apsara Engine and Spellbound. During this call, Som will share insights into her groundbreaking body of work, past and present—including a glimpse of her forthcoming fiction release with Abrams/Surely.
Call for Submissions
Hurricane Helene devastated communities across Western North Carolina in September 2024. The storm dealt a unique blow to creative communities of the area, as many studios in the River Arts District of Asheville and the nearby town of Marshall were completely destroyed. While the news cycle has moved on, the process of recovering and rebuilding will continue for years.
The purpose of this anthology is to highlight the work of artists impacted by Helene, to raise both awareness about the continued impact of the storm and funds to rebuild the artistic infrastructure of Asheville and Marshall. We are looking for work by local artists of WNC and their personal stories related to the disaster.
We hope by uplifting these stories we can give artists a space to process their experiences, keep people thinking of and donating to WNC as the immediacy of the disaster fades, and help the creative community rebuild.
100% of proceeds from this anthology will be split in half to go directly to the following funds:
River Arts District Relief Fund
Submissions may include: comics, illustrations, prose writing, poetry, photography, and hybrid forms.
Field Trip to The Lynx Books + Draw Jam
SAW Field trips are a great way to get to know people and get out of the studio for a bit, especially if you’ve been working on any kind of longer project. On December 7, we are spending the afternoon at The Lynx Books to have coffee, sketch outside, and check out their selection.
Figure Drawing for Comics with Mort Robertson
Join local cartoonist, Mort Robertson, for a guided session on clothed figure drawing for comics, focusing on composition, figure placement, value judgments, and more.
SAW Field Trip @ The Repurpose Project
We're having a SAW Field Trip to the Repurpose Project! This is an informal meeting for SAW folks to get together and upcycle materials to design a one-of-a-kind gift or activity for a loved one this holiday season.
This event is free. Please RSVP.
UPCOMING IN-PERSON @ SAW
What’s going on at SAW in November, December and January in person at the SAW Studio!