Make forest comics with Weeks Act Comics Artist Marek Bennett (who will also lead a musical “Forest Jamboree”) and cartoonist Colin Tedford this coming Sunday 8/14 at Weeks State Park in Lancaster, NH. Work on your Woods anthology submission in a beautiful setting! It’s one of many great activities at the 8 Days of Weeks White Mountain Cultural Festival, celebrating 100 years of the Weeks Act (you know, the one that established the US National Forests?) every weekend in August.

Opening reception: August 5, 7:30 PM
Greenfield Art Salon, 207 Main St., Greenfield, MA

GAS (Greenfield Art Salon), a new art gallery space in Greenfield, MA, is hosting its debut show this August. The show, descriptively titled Comic Book Art Show, will feature the work of Mysterious Transmissions, a Northampton, MA based group of comic book artists comprised of Colin Panetta and Mark Velard, in addition to Greenfield, MA artist Hans Rickheit. The show will consist of a number of short comic book stories from each artist, presented in their entirety and intended for reading on the gallery walls. Comic Book Art Show will run through the end of August.

Mysterious Transmissions is the combined creative mass of comic book self publishers Colin Panetta and Mark Velard. Although not done in collaboration, their work shares the common themes of exposing the weird, dark places of artist’s subconscious in a manner often bordering on the surreal, in an effort to encourage equal parts befuddlement and entertainment for the reader. Panetta’s haunted science-fiction series DEAD MAN HOLIDAY has received positive attention from The Comics Reporter and The Comics Journal websites. It centers around a security guard in a flooded and abandoned city named Little Atlantis, and the strange things he finds there. He also recently completed NOT COMICS #1, an anthology of short comics done in collaboration with people who don’t read comics. Mark Velard’s weird and perversely humorous work deals in ancient signifiers and explores freedom of mind. His comic FUTURE SPACE pontificates on the future of leisure time (in space), and his new comic MAROONED AT HIGH NOON features a protagonist stuck on an unfamiliar planet where the opening credits never seem to end.

Hans Rickheit is well-regarded as a purveyor of forbidden notions. He has been producing his perplexing and somewhat subversive comics for over 25 years. His first graphic novel, CHLOE, which he self-published won the Xeric Award in 2001.  His book THE SQUIRREL MACHINE was selected as one of the Best 5 Comics of 2009 by the Museum of Comic & Cartoon Arts. Currently he is working on a 600-page graphic novel called ECTOPIARY, which is being serialized online along with new webcomic  COCHLEA & EUSTACHIA.

GAS, the Greenfield Art Salon, can be reached through Alan at 8579918447.
Mysterious Transmissions, Colin Panetta and Mark Velard can be reached at mrcolinp@gmail.com or 4134671458.
Hans Rickheit can be reached at hansrickheit@hotmail.com or 4133375304.

Stephanie Piro and Mike Lynch will have their art on exhibit at The Portable Pantry in Rochester, NH through July 30, with an opening reception July 8 from 7-9 pm.

Stephanie Piro is the Saturday cartoonist for King Features’  syndicated team strip Six Chix. Her daily cartoon panel Fair Game appears in newspapers around the country. Her work has appeared in American Greetings cards, Tidemark Calendars, Papyrus, First for Women, Chronicle Of Higher Education, Glamour Magazine, Ms., the Funny Times, the Women’s Glibber line of women’s humor anthologies, and more, and been collected  in the books My Cat Loves Me Naked,  Men! Ha!, and Caffeinated Cartoons.

Mike Lynch is a magazine cartoonist. His clients include Reader’s Digest, Playboy, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, the New York Daily News and many others. He is the National Representative of the National Cartoonists Society and writes the popular Mike Lynch Cartoons blog on the business of cartooning.

The Art in the Pantry Gallery at the Portable Pantry, 12 Hanson Street in Rochester, NH, is open during regular business hours: Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m.- 2:30 p.m., and Saturday, 7:30 a.m.—4 p.m. (Closed on Sundays).

For information about He Drew, She Drew and future Art in the Pantry exhibits, contact Ross Bachelder, the gallery manager, at artsmultiplegmail.com. You can also read more about the exhibit and the artists in this article at Foster’s.

This coming Saturday, May 14 from 10am-4pm, Colin Tedford will be tabling for Trees & Hills at Broke – an affordable art fair, part of Peterborough, NH’s Thing In The Spring. Broke is a multidisciplinary arts event that has taken place in Peterborough, NH three times since its inception in 2008. The Broke philosophy is simple: art is for everybody. All Broke events are free to the public, and *broke vendors commit to presenting at least 75% of their wares for less than $50. It’ll be at the Fellowship Hall of the Union Congregational Church in Peterborough, NH. Come out & say hi!

Tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day! In addition to visiting your local comic shop, you might like to attend the Keene Public Library’s 24-Hour Comic Challenge (with 3-hour workshop by Marek Bennett for the younger folk) in Keene, NH, or the downtown-engulfing Free Comic Book Day Festival in Rochester, NH (where Colin Tedford will be holding down the T&H table). [EDIT: or you might drop by Newbury Comics in West Lebanon, NH for a signing with Stephen R. Bissette & a crowd of Center for Cartoon Studies folk. I guess New Hampshire's "Live Free of Die" motto makes it an especially good place for Free Comic Book Day!]

Come see Trees & Hills at these events this Spring:

• May 7: Free Comic Book Day Festival (Rochester NH). Free Comic Book Day is a highly publicized national event. Comic Shops across the country bring in hundreds and thousands of people on this day! The city of Rochester is unique in that Free Comic Book Day is promoted as a city-wide festival, organized by Jetpack Comics and the Rochester Main Street Association. 10am-4pm, multiple locations (cartoonists will be at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 40 Columbus Ave. For more information, email Ralph at jpcomics(at)worldpath(dot)net.
• May 14: Broke – the Affordable Arts Fair (Peterborough, NH). Broke is a multidisciplinary arts event with a simple philosophy: art is for everybody. All Broke events are free to the public, and Broke vendors commit to presenting at least 75% of their wares for less than $50. Broke will take place from 10am-4pm at the Fellowship Hall at Union Congregational Church, 33 Concord St. Broke is part of the Thing In The Spring, an annual weekend of art and music.
• May 22: Maine Comics Arts Festival (Portland, ME). The Maine Comics Arts Festival (MECAF) celebrates the wonderful world of comic books, comic strips, graphic novels, web comics and more. The festival will feature a wide variety of comic creators, writers, artists and publishers. 10am-5pm in the beautiful Ocean Gateway Building on the waterfront. Admission: $5 (kids 12 & under free). Presented by Casablanca Comics.

We hope to see you!

Trees & Hills will have a table at a new comics festival right in our own region!

April 16, 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Northampton Center for the Arts, 17 New South Street, Northampton, MA

Celebrating illustration online and in print, Paint & Pixel showcases Western New England’s talented book illustrators, comic artists, and cartoonists in one venue. Meet and get to know talented creators and their work ranging from sci-fi and indie comics to award-winning children’s books, prominent webcomics and comic strips. The annual event is open to comic and art lovers alike and promises to be the region’s largest gathering of talented illustrators.

Admission: $4 for adults, $2 for children 6-12, Free for children 5 and under

More info: paintandpixelfestival.com

February 12, 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
Davis Publishing Building, 44 Portland St., 7th floor, Worcester, MA

Come visit the Trees & Hills table this Saturday at Central Mass Roller Derby‘s alternative craft fair, Stitches Needles & Guns!  Colin Tedford will be at the T&H table, and cartoonist Anne Thalheimer will be nearby with her monster hats. There will undoubtedly be all kinds of cool handmade stuff there to snap you out of your winter  doldrums – don’t miss it!

We have a last-minute addition to the Trees & Hills Fall Tour – come out to see us and celebrate the turning of the leaves! Thanks to Marek Bennett for setting this up and writing this announcemment:

Howdy, Concord-area comics lovers!  I’m excited to announce this LATE-BREAKING EVENT NEWS:
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Come read & contribute to a community-wide COMICS INSTALLATION at the WARNER FALL FOLIAGE FESTIVAL!

WHEN: Saturday, 9 October 2010, 9:00 – 2:30

WHERE: Country Houses Real Estate, 15 East Main St.,Warner, NH

WHO: YOU, along with NH artists Marek Bennett (COMICS WORKSHOP) & Colin Tedford (TREES & HILLS COMICS GROUP)

WHAT WE’LL DO:
- Draw a great big all-day original collaborative comic for display in downtown Warner
- Have comic books & mini-comics for sale
- Have monster/creature/thing sketches available by commission
- Bask in the cool, golden glow of comics & fall foliage!!!!

When Comics Went Underground
Oct. 28 – Nov. 28
Opening Reception: Oct. 28, 5-7 pm.
MCLA Gallery 51, 51 Main St, North Adams, MA; open daily 10-6.

A survey of underground comics created between 1975 & 1991 from the collection of Cartoonist & Publisher Denis Kitchen. Curated by Denis Kitchen and Howard Cruse.  Image credit: Howard Cruse.