Behind the Scenes: An End of January Report

Welcome to our first monthly report for 2022! Buckle in. This is a long one.

These end of month reports are a way to share what’s been happening in our in person and online programs, and remind everyone about what they need to be keeping an eye out for.

We hope that they might also answer some of the questions you’ve been pondering about what SAW is, what exactly is going on around here and how it all gets done.

Assistant Executive Director, Emma, in the SAW brick-and-mortar space.

Let us (re)introduce ourselves

It’s the beginning of the year so another chance to introduce ourselves to all our friends, old and new.

These reports are coming from the Assistant Executive Director, Emma (that’s me!). I’m an Australian comics artist, editor and educator based in Gainesville, Florida (that’s where our brick-and-mortar building stands).

As well as helping facilitate workshops and create new programs, I’m working with Tom (the Executive Director and Head Snake Wrangler) and Karlo (our communications and publishing wizard) to maintain the engine that is SAW (that’s online and in person workshops, a catalog of learning resources, a comics library, an online community, regular live events, a social media presence, collaborative projects and partnerships, artist talks, fundraising, publishing, an artist residency…)

SAW team Karlo Antunes (left) and Tom Hart (right).

The admin team is joined by industry professionals who offer their expertise as instructors. In 2021 alone that included Ayanni Cooper, Beth Trembley, Leela Corman, Sidney Davidson, Derek Ballard, Rob Clough, Lauren Weinstein, Jess Ruliffson, Justine Mara Andersen. (And this isn’t even including our guest artists and Friday night workshop hosts…)

You’re probably most familiar with our volunteers who help create and maintain a lot of the free online events. We couldn’t exist without their time, energy and generosity! Thanks Barry Sawicki, Michael Aschner, Donna Druchunas, Erin Fitzgerald, Libby Dean, Susan Marks, Jeannie MecCorney, Dante Hookey, Adrean Clark, Atrian Wagner, AJ Delp, H. McGill, Syne Mitchell.

And these are just the people I know about! Every day I hear about helping hands being extended throughout the network. Thank you everyone for this wonderful community!

SAW Visiting Artist in Residence, Melanie Gillman, teaching in person certificate program students.

In person programs

This January we welcomed award-winning cartoonist and comics educator extraordinaire, Melanie Gillman, for our third Artist in Residence for the 2021-22 school-year. This session they’ve been teaching a vast array of topics from color in comics to creative narrative structures.

Our online network was lucky enough to have Melanie speak for our February pro call. The recording is now available to members in the Alumni Circle, Year Long Program, Ongoing Comics Flow Group and the Graphic Memoir group. You can also access the recording by supporting us on Patreon.

Keep an eye out for Melanie’s upcoming Friday night workshop.

Screen shot from February Pro Call with Melanie Gillman.

April In Person Workshop and Event Cancelled

We’re sad to say that after polling the wider network, we’ve decided to cancel our April week long workshop and zine fair. Keeping our students, staff and wider community safe has always been SAW’s central focus. Travel and public indoor gatherings still feel like too big a risk for us to host. We’re hoping that we can reschedule both events for October 2022.

You can see the SAW team in person in April at MoCCA, the New York art festival hosted by the Society of Illustrators and Museum of Illustration. This year the annual zine fair will be going ahead April 2 and 3. SAW will have a table there with recent publications, including all the anthologies we’ve put together in the last 12 months and some additional surprises. 

Online events

It’s been a real joy and privilege to see the online community grow and programs expand as members have taken ownership over what they want to see here at SAW. 

Thursday free draw jam continues to be open to anyone and everyone, as do our Friday night workshops.

Don’t forget to register for the Friday Night Workshops on Eventbrite ahead of time. Otherwise you can follow along at your own pace once the recording is shared to Youtube. There you’ll find all our past Friday night workshops archived and organised together. 

SAW’s most-recent publications, a pandemic-themed anthology and Gainesville-local publications.

Publishing at SAW

It’s true, we’ve got new anthologies in the works! 

The Diary Comics Anthology is currently in the final stages of design and will hopefully be sent to print before February is over. Keep an eye out for your chance to pre-order a copy delivered from Gainesville, right to your hands. 

Our 2021 Graphic Novel Intensive alumni have been working hard to put together an anthology that represents what they’ve developed since June 2021. The anthology is inching towards a whopping 250 pages of graphic novel extracts and stand alone stories. Fingers crossed we will have that ready in time to share with you all at MoCCA in April. 

Don’t forget you can purchase any of our previous 2021 publications on the SAW website, here.

SAW is growing

We know SAW is expanding and becoming more than we could ever imagine. As we do this we seek to maintain transparency about who we are and what we do. These monthly reports are a part of our effort to let you know what the SAW team is working on that might not always be visible. We have also created open studio times with our admin staff (that’s me and Karlo) to create opportunities for informal dialogue, and are always open to emails or direct message. 

If you ever have a suggestion that you want us to know about but don’t feel comfortable sharing directly, we’ve got this handy virtual suggestion box at the ready. 

We’ve also got a form for anyone who wants to help around here at SAW. It’s a short expression of interest that we will archive and refer to whenever we need help. Click here for that. 

All this adds up to help us build systems that we hope are going to keep SAW going for years to come.

Team Spotlight

SAW instructor Jess Ruliffson, photo credit to Drew Pham.

Preorder Invisible Wounds by Jess Ruliffson through Fantagraphics now.

This months team spot light turns to Jess Ruliffson, one of our instructors in the Graphic Novel Program and mentors in our Year Long Program. Maybe you already heard, but Jess triumphantly submitted the final art for her latest graphic novel. Congratulations Jess! You can pre order a copy of Invisible Wounds through Fantagraphics now. 

Upcoming programs

This March Leela Corman will be back for another round of Your Story Matters and again in April for a four week mentoring period.

Classes are held via zoom on Sundays, 7pm to 8pm and include live exercises and discussion. Everything will be recorded and archived for later use. 

Artwork by SAW instructor, Leela Corman.

More new workshops to be announced soon. Feel free to use the suggestion box above to let us know what kinds of workshops you’d like to see more of. 

Thank you Patrons!

Big thanks to all our supporters through Patreon: 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, Scott McCloud, Natasha Berta, Milica, Umi Hagitani, Alisa Mazur, Marek Bennett, Libby Dean, Chris Seidel, and Brian Kelley.

If there’s anything you feel we’ve missed (I’m talking members triumphs, upcoming outside workshops, anything), reach out and we’ll make sure we bring attention to it in our network. We always want to hear from our online members and alumni. Where are you? What are you doing? When will we see you again? 

Until next time, happy comics making!

- Emma @ SAW