—and defensive to boot.” That’s how Kip described his re-writing of my jumbled thoughts into a comprehensive statement for the upcoming group gallery show of Portland cartoonists at Pushdot Studio, a gallery which showcases digital artists.

I actually kinda like it, thought he did a great job, as did apparently the owners of Pushdot since they didn’t change a word for the Press Release:

The mystery of comics is a simple one: at its heart, it’s the use of space
to capture the flow of time. One picture after another to tell, in essence,
a story. It’s no wonder that so powerful and useful an idea has been with us
for centuries, eagerly adapting itself to new media as they appear: illuminated manuscripts, pen and ink, woodcuts and steel plates, photography, four-color printing, and now computers.

But it’s also a simple idea, one too easily dismissed and denigrated:
it’s for kids. It’s lurid. It’s pop-culture escapism. It’s trash. How can something so simple as placing one picture after another ever tell a story worth the time and trouble? No matter how many times it’s demonstrated that comics can do just that, as novel, as memoir, as poetry, as journalism, as sublime sketch, as pop-culture escapism, that question will always dog this art.

It’s appropriate then, to take a look here and now at what comics is
doing in the latest medium it’s colonized, the world of digital art. Like
comics, art done on and with computers is too easily dismissed and denigrated. How can something so ephemeral, so protean, so easily duplicated ever produce art of lasting worth?

We invite you to come see what seven Portland cartoonists are doing, with
comics and computers, and judge for yourself.

The official name for the show is “The Art of Storytelling: Comics in the Digital Age” and it will opening the first Thursday in July. The opening reception will be on July 3rd from 6:00pm to 9:00pm at Pusndot which is located at 830 NW 14th Avenue between NW Kearney and Johnson Streets, in Portland’s Pearl District.

What follows are the self written biographies of the cartoonists participating.
I always find in interesting what people say about themselves:

Christopher
Baldwin was born in Massachusetts and has been drawing cartoons since he was first given a crayon. He has drawn many, many comic books and comic strips since. This exhibit features pieces related to his daily comic strip Bruno which began its current run in 1996.

Barry Deutsch lives in Portland, Oregon with a number of housemates and cats and other wildlife. Barry’s political cartoon strip Ampersand has received two Oregon Newspaper Publishers awards and the national Charles M. Schulz award.

Indigo Kelleigh began drawing comics at a very young age, and has been self publishing his own comics since 1989. His latest series, The Circle Weave, is created digitally using Photoshop and a drawing tablet. In 2002, The Circle Weave became part of the vanguard subscription-based comic site www.moderntales.com. He continues work on this series, and recently finished production on the first collection of Circle Weave strips.

Jenn Manley Lee has spent a lifetime marrying images with words and has even made a career of it. Telling stories is her favorite way of combining the two. She has been publishing Dicebox on the internet since 2001. She has made Portland her home since 1995 along with her husband and assorted cohorts.

Robert Lewis is a flash animator and programmer living in Northwest Portland. He has designed games and animations for AT&T, MSN, Universal Studios, and most recently Dreamwork’s Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. His cartoons are available online at www.fashionbuddha.com.
When he’s not pushing the boundaries of Flash he’s relaxing in his 30-gallon fish tank.

Linda Medley’s love of fairy tales as a child and mythology as an adult
led to her to reinterpreting their themes in her series Castle Waiting.
She says “I was always more interested in the background in the stories
than the Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses. I wanted to know if the faithful servant and the dairymaid lived happily ever after too.” Castle Waiting has garnered critical acclaim and won numerous honors, including several Eisner Awards and a grant from the Xeric Foundation. Ms. Medley has illustrated books for Putnam Publishing, Grossett & Dunlap, Houghton-Mifflin, and Golden Books, and has done comics work for DC, Dark Horse, Fantagraphics, Image and Tundra.

Kevin Moore is a cartoonist and graphic designer living in Portland with his lovely wife and dogs. When he is not drawing angry cartoons castigating the wretched state of modern politics, he finds relief in the sweet, light adventures of a football shaped pig that lacks the good sense to stay home. (Good sense being highly overrated, of course.)