Original illustration of SAW Assistant Director, Emma Jensen, by Alabaster Pizzo.

Welcome friends to 2024 at SAW! And a very special welcome to our friends here in Gainesville (I hope we’ll be seeing you in the space very soon!)

For folks who aren’t familiar with me, my name’s Emma, I’m the Assistant Director here at SAW. Since 2019 I’ve been helping founder, Tom, shape SAW across in person and online programs.

Every day is different working with SAW but you can often find me in the studio space working on program development, grants and those pesky loose ends of administration.

This is just a massive from behind the scenes to let you know what’s been going on at SAW in Gainesville, and what we hope to do more of in 2024.

2023 Recap

What a year! I’ll try to make this short… We’ve been slowly reintroducing new and old classes to our in person schedule including:

Volunteers, Elli Rhodes and Amy Lindroth bought Draw Jam back to the SAW space on the first Saturday of every month from 2PM to 4PM. They also created Gainesville’s most popular drawing social, Drink & Draw, held at Boxcar every third Thursday of the month (follow them on Instagram for regular updates);
A bunch of skillshares across different mediums (including Bookbinding, Drawing, Painting in Watercolor and Printmaking) lead by our Alachua Emerging Artists in Residence;
2 weeklong workshops with teen comics-enthusiasts;
A series of workshops with Alachua County Libraries;
The annual July Visionary Comics Weeklong Workshop with Tom Hart;
A Drawing Memoir workshop with Visiting Artist in Residence MS Harkness;
A live reading event hosted at Third House Books and headlined by Visiting Artist in Residence MS Harkness with additional stories from Raeghan Buchanan, Derek Ballard, Carly Shooster and Mort Robertson;
A ten-week teen comics course;
A very special, Every Body Draws Everybody lead by Miami artist, Brian Butler;
A Making Art Comics workshop with Visiting Artist in Residence and celebrated international cartoonist, Tommi Parrish, as well as an intimate artist talk with Tommi Parrish at Third House Books;
Our inaugural Live Storytelling Event, ‘Word of Mouth’, featuring new and very entertaining work from folks working in comics, film and animation;
Tabling at conventions across Florida and the United States.

We were also really excited to bring to life new publications by Florida-based artists and cartoonists. Maybe you already have your hands on one of my favourite projects I’ve ever worked on, Hold Still by SAW alum, Kim Laurenti. You can get yourself a copy over in the SAW shop where we sell all our anthologies and single-author publications.

2024 Goals

You may or may not know, SAW is a 501(c)3 non-profit. Our mission is to nurture and educate tomorrow's generation of visual storytellers, to support creative investigation, exploration and excellence in cartooning and comic art, and to promote literacy in sequential and comic art in today’s culture.

This year we’re hoping to bring people in our local community of Gainesville more opportunities to engage with comics, whether you’re a curious artist, practiced cartoonist or avid reader. Everyone is welcome! You can get involved through:

Monthly free socials in the SAW space;
Monthly free or by donation guided drawing workshops;
Free or by donation Skill Shares lead by our Emerging Artists in Residence;
Low-cost comics and storytelling short courses lead by practicing cartoonists;
Low-cost week long workshops/retreats;
Low-cost teen short courses and summer camps;
Free or by donation Live storytelling performances;
Workshops in partnership with local organizations;
Tables at major alternative comics conventions across the country.

January Highlight

Tuesday January 23, 2024 we were very lucky to host Shands Arts in Medicine for their first community HeART Wall Happy Hour, an hour-and-a-half of mosaic-making fun lead by local artist, Sarah Hinds. All heart mosaics made on the night will be added to a community mosaic wall to be installed at Depot Park in July.

Want to add your heart to the wall? Connect with Shands Arts in Medicine to find out when and where they’re hosting their next public workshop.

Upcoming Events and Workshops

CALLING ALL ARTISTS AND STORYTELLERS

Do you have a comic, short film, animation or multimedia presentation that would suit a live performance? We’re currently inviting folks to pitch their idea for our second ‘Word of Mouth’ event, Friday March 8, 2024. No medium is off limits. Check out the submissions form. That link will live until February 21, 2024.

If you’re looking for more opportunities to share you work, consider checking out the call to artists from our friends at Gainesville Fine Arts Association (GFAA), or upcoming ‘Shaped by Water’ juried exhibition at our neighbours down the road, The Cade.

Stay Connected

One of our guiding principles is service to our community, so let us know if there’s more we can be doing to support you to tell your story! Are you interested in being more involved? Feel free to reach out and we can help you navigate all of our many offerings in person and online!

Thanks to all our staff, here in Gainesville, and spread across the country, as well as our volunteers that make SAW possible.

I hope we’ll see you in the space very soon! Until then, Happy Making!

- Emma at SAW