As we speed through the beginning of November, here’s a belated October report from SAW headquarters here in Gainesville.

In Person Programs

This month we welcomed our second artist in residence, Casey Nowak, for session 2 of the full immersion, yearlong program. Casey joins us from Michigan to teach a unique brand of storytelling that encourages writing first, drawing inspiration from prose writers like Miranda July.

Keep an eye out for our upcoming professional calls for an hour or two with Casey before their residency ends in early December.

The last couple of weeks have been busy here in Gainesville in preparation and celebration of our comics exhibition and zine launch in the front gallery of our building-maters, GFAA. This exhibition brought together a selection of new and old work by past and present SAW students living here in Gainesville.

We were very excited to launch a new zine, Junk World U.S.A. by Kiana Stewart, alongside an anthology of work by past students (which you can buy now, check out our publishing info below).

This was our first public event in the new space since we reopened our doors in September and it was exciting to reunite with members of our Gainesville community again. None of this would have been possible without the experience and support of GFAA who provided food and drinks on the night.

Special shoutout to Amelia Cecilia and her bandmates for providing music on the night. Check out their music for a little taste of Gainesville wherever you are in the world.

We put a pause on our teen programs for session 2 but we’ll be back in the New Year with another after school class for teens. If you’re a parent in Gainesville, feel free to reach out and let us know what your kids are interested in.

Online events

Comics panel by Cara Bean from the beginning of her 18-panel reflection on the first Friday night workshop.

In October we launched our We Believe in Comics Friday night workshop series, continuing the legacy of the Friday Night Believer Workshops. We can’t apologize enough for the violent interruptions to our first attempt and we really appreciate peoples understanding as we reset our privacy controls and tried again the following week.

You can even read host, Cara Bean, meditate on what exactly happened on that call, here.

Tonight join us from 7pm on for The Bad Art Hour with Daryl Seitchik.

And don’t worry if you’ve missed any workshops, we’ve started a playlist over on youtube where we will archive all of the We Believe in Comics events.

Publishing at SAW

We have new books! The pandemic anthology and graphic memoir anthology have arrived and are available for purchase. Get yourself a copy today.

Head to our shop and you’ll also see we have a Florida comics bundle available for sale featuring work by Gainesville locals. Get your hands on these by purchasing here. The same bundle can be delivered to your door by supporting us on Patreon before the year is out.

Our upcoming books include two new anthologies: the first a collection of work by students in our graphic memoir intensive, and the second open to members of our alumni and Flow groups.

SAW is always growing

As the year draws to a close we invite our members to consider whether they’d like to be a part of our Board of Directors. In 2022 we hope to expand the board's focus to include online programs as well as in person.

Our Board of Directors is volunteer run and has historically worked to build the value framework for SAW, develop our free community programs, and create fundraising opportunities. If you’re interested but aren’t quite sure what it would involve, please feel free to reach out to me directly. Or you can send through an expression of interest using our volunteer form.

At the behest of our online members we’ve also created a virtual ‘suggestion box’. This is a form where you can share any thoughts or ideas of things we could be doing at SAW. We’ll be checking in there once or twice a month and everything will be considered in our plans going forward.

We couldn’t exist without the feedback and support of our members. Special thanks to Adrean Clark for sharing resources for making zoom calls more accessible. If you’re someone who regularly facilitates calls or even just participates, this is a must-read to help support all of our members.

Team Spotlight

White man with brown hair wearing black rimmed glasses stands, smiling in front of many pages of alternative comics hung on a white wall

This month we’re highlighting the phenomenal efforts of Barry Sawicki!

You may recognize Barry from Thursday Draw Jam. Or maybe you joined the SAW/7000BC live reading event in early October? Or perhaps you were able to attend the free Retro Comics workshop lead by Jeff Eggleston over the weekend? Have you purchased a book from SAW in the last 12 months? Barry’s hands touched every single one of those.

Barry is a constant source of energy for what we’re doing here at SAW. He is almost always looking for new ways to bring people together and support our existing programs.

So big thanks to Barry and all the people who have been supporting him in what he does, too! (I’m looking at you AJ Delp).

Upcoming programs

Do you have a story inside you that’s just itching to come out, but want some guidance to help push it out?

Learn more about intensive comics learning with teachers at SAW by checking out SAW’s Year-Long Intensive Program and our Six-Month Graphic Novel Intensive.

Be sure to also check out our Online Courses, since some courses are offered year-round and are always enrolling!

Our Graphic Memoir Intensive runs year round and is always enrolling. It includes access to a vibrant working community, twice-monthly live online check-ins, weekly prompts, and access to SAW’s Monthly Pro Calls!

Our Comics Flow Group, or SAW FLOW MEMBERSHIP, is also year-round and always enrolling and is SAW's MOST AFFORDABLE course option with access to Monthly Pro-Calls!

And, of course, come see what we’re all up to on SAW's Mighty Network anytime!

Thank you Patrons

And of course, a big thanks to all our Patreon supporters: Jules Jackson, CB Hart, Janice Dees, Michael, Joshua Ney, Barry Sawicki, Kevin Almanzar, Neil Brideau, John Frigo, Karen Knighton, Deborah Rubin, Warren Craghead, Lisa Hosakawa, Joan Reilly, Maria Sputnik, Lisa Klug, Sally Cantirino, and Scott McCloud.

And especially to our newest Patrons: Natasha Berta, Milica and Umi Hagitani.

That’s it for now. I’ll be back again in early December with another monthly SAW report!

- Emma @ SAW