It Was A Jeff Smith Weekend!
Columbus, Ohio's Wexner Center for the Arts and Ohio State University's Cartoon Research Library have a lot to celebrate as a very eventful weekend drew to a close Saturday evening. Looking back, the series of events they hosted were presented with style and forethought and proved both fun to attend and utterly impressive in scope. The way in which the exhibit organizers honored Jeff Smith's work, past and present, not only proved a credit to the creator but a statement on the strength of sequential art and comics as a narrative and artistic form.
The weekend's activities, as you've probably figured out from our five previous photo galleries, took place Friday and Saturday and featured four distinct events focused on Jeff Smith and his work as a comic creator. The weekend began with the gallery opening for Jeff Smith: Bone and Beyond, a feature event unveiling roughly 80 original black-and-white pages from Bone, a smaller selection of full-color Bone covers, a mix of some of Smith's post-Bone artwork and a sampling from other creators that influenced Smith. On Saturday, Jeff Smith and Scott McCloud in Conversation featured the two creators discussing Smith's work and fielding questions from fans. That event was followed by an extended book signing. Simultaneously, next door at the Cartoon Research Library, a second exhibit was unveiled titled Before Bone. That exhibit focused on Smith's cartoon work Thorn which ran in Ohio State's student newspaper, The Lantern, and heralded many of the characters and themes that would evolved into Bone.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Wexner Center it's a multi-purpose facility acting as a contemporary art gallery and a research laboratory for the arts at The Ohio State University. It commissions new work and provides for artist residencies, in addition to presenting performing arts, film, video and other visual exhibitions to the public. Likewise, the Cartoon Research Library is a facility that exists to develop a comprehensive research collection documenting, organizing and providing access to American printed cartoon art. The library focuses on editorial cartoons, comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, sports cartoons and magazine cartoons.
We'll start this wrap-up report with Friday's gallery opening.
The Wexner Center lent itself well to the Jeff Smith: Bone and Beyond gallery show. Upon entering the main floor, you are greeted by an information desk and a large sweeping staircase to your right. As you descended the stairway, it was immediately clear that you are entering the world of Bone. A massive mural is presented on the wall which the staircase overlooks and features a full color mural (pictured in part to the right and in full in our galleries). This same image is also featured as the official show poster commemorating the event.
For the evening, finger food and a full bar highlighted a reception area which began at the mural, encompassed much the main room and flowed into an adjacent glass walled reception room. This area gave guests the feel of entering a celebration as they came down the stairs. For much of the evening, the reception was utterly filled with people that spilled out into the main show area in front of the Wexner bookstore.
If you kept an eye on that crowd, you could spot Smith's parents along with his wife Vijaya. Bone colorist (and comic creator in his own right) Steve Hamaker was on hand along with representatives of both Cartoon Books and Scholastic Books. Comic legends Scott McCloud, Harvey Pekar and Terry Moore were just a few of the creators present for the event. Start to finish, it was an exceedingly well attended gallery opening.
The gathering itself was very relaxed while still maintaining an air of excitement. The Wexner Center can be commended for making the public feel right at home within the facility. Security, where it was present, was very supportive of the patrons and seemed to genuinely enjoy hosting the event. The art gallery itself was open early and remained accessible past the referenced hours in honor of the event. Quite refreshing!
Just behind the mural lay the entrance to the actual art exhibit. Presented in four connected areas, the gallery show featured, for the most part, Smith's art on traditional white walls with informational plaques mixed throughout the exhibit. An audio tour was referenced as available for those choosing to visit the event at a later date. What made this presentation really pop was the long wall that could be seen from anywhere within the exhibit. It done up in a striking two color design evoking the legendary rain storm sequence from the Bone series as a backdrop. Mixed with the white walls, it really proved an exciting focal point for the room. For a gallery presentation, this is as visually striking as any I've seen previously.
Moving to Saturday's conversation event, Jeff Smith and Scott McCloud took the stage at precisely 2:00 PM. They were introduced by Lucy Shelton Caswell, professor and curator for Ohio State's Cartoon Research Library. The conversation itself was like listening in on a chat between two old friends, which it's clear these two are. Covering topics ranging from what influenced Smith to the business side of Bone to women in comics, Smith and McCloud spoke for about 50 minutes batting questions back and forth (though most were directed at Smith). Follow-up questions from the audience ran for an additional 40 minutes bringing the entire conversation in at about an hour and a half. An enthusiastic crowd was on hand with some traveling as far as from Florida to attend the event. Organizers estimate the conversation was attended by a little over 350 people in total.
What was discussed?
To be honest, we're actually not going to dig too deeply into the conversation in this article. That said, we are planning a follow-up article later this week which will look back on what these two discussed and what questions were posed by the fans. It was such a great conversation that we felt it deserved it's own write-up so consider this a bit of a tease for more good content to come.
After the conversation came to a close, fans flooded out of the theater to form a line for the signing. Watching the exits as the event transitioned, I can say that almost no one left. The entire hall simply moved from the theater to form a line to meet Jeff and Scott. To these two creators gracious credit, both stayed until every last fan was met, every last book was signed and Smith, wrist brace in place, was drawing small Bone sketches with most signatures. Both creators took time to talk to fans and Scott McCloud actually came out into the line at several points telling stories, jokes and entertaining folks with song.
On a personal note, I was busy grabbing photos as the line formed but still wanted to get a book signed for my wife. Bringing up the end of the line, I was there at the very close of the event. The line lasted just a little over three hours. When we made it up to say hello to the two creators, they proved just as gracious and friendly as if we had been the first in line. They had to be tired, but they didn't let it show for a moment.
Time and again, what made this event so much fun was the enthusiasm that could be seen on the faces of fans, no matter the age. From the very young to the well seasoned in age, Bone draws people together and ignites a passion to read. I didn't just read Bone the first time through, I devoured each issue hungry for more. It's nice to be reminded this weekend that I very much wasn't alone in that experience. Seeing that passion to read ignited in younger readers is particularly fun. If you look closely at the following image, you'll see one aspect of why Bone is so deserving of respect...
Bone is open and being read. The Nintendo DS is in the off position.
We can't close this event report without talking just a bit about the Cartoon Research Library's Before Bone exhibit. The facility that houses the exhibit is an oversized room that serves as the centerpiece of the Cartoon Research Library. The early Jeff Smith artwork presented in the exhibit, though Smith references it repeatedly as something that makes him cringe, proved a great look at the early work of an accomplished artist. I found the cartoons both fun and an utterly interesting addition to the entire event. I was quite pleased to learn that the work is being offered in a limited run compilation benefiting the Cartoon Research Library. For any Bone collector, it is a must have item to say the least.
As I said at the start, this event was tremendous fun to attend and makes me eager to hear what happens at the upcoming conversations with Terry Moore and Paul Pope. The Wexner Center for the Arts and the Cartoon Research Library are facilities comic fans should be paying attention to and we'll make sure they are covered here at Comic Related. They are clear comic book and sequential art advocates and that makes Comic Related an advocate of their work.
This wrap-report doesn't end our coverage of the weekend. We took a couple hundred photos and we plan to return with at least one or two more galleries before we are done. In those galleries, we plan to focus much more on the actual art presented in Jeff Smith: Bone and Beyond. Additionally, we'll return with an in depth look at the conversation between Jeff Smith and Scott McCloud. We're also pleased to report that the Wexner Center has offered us the use of some audio from their sound board and a chance to speak with the show's organizers. Once we nail down those segments, we'll put them together in an upcoming Related Recap podcast for you to enjoy.
-- Site Creator Chuck Moore Reporting, May 12th, 2008
Page last updated on May 12, 2008