Friday, May 24 through Saturday, July 13, 2024
Read the Room consists of more than 20 local and regional artists who work within or in dialogue with the worlds of alternative comics, zines, and cartooning.
The exhibition asks you to consider comics as an expansive and evolving mode of visual storytelling. Through the accessible language of comics, each artist authors their own understanding of the world as well as imagining new ones.
Read the Room invites you to spend time with these narrative works, appreciating them both as works of visual and literary art. Please, do read the room.
Read the Room was collaboratively curated by artists Tim Brown, Will Cardini, Jason Lips, and Thayer Bray.
Featured artists: Jamie Bates, Tim Brown, John Buice, Kelsey Borch, Will Cardini, Nehemiah Cisneros, Mary Climes, Joshua W. Cotter, Siobhán Gallagher, Alex Gorsuch, Casey Hannan, Jenny Jo Hrabe, Trishelle Jeffery, Emily Johnson, Emma Knopik, Barbara Lane Tharas, Haley Lips, Jason Lips, John F. Malta, Travis Millard, Vincent Carton Mollica, Thayer NG Bray, Nick Francis Potter, Josh Rios, Momoko Usami
Header image: Barbara Lane Tharas, Climbing Seattles, Screen print, 2023
Programming
Friday, May 24, 6:00-9:00 PM | Charlotte Street Gallery
Please join us for the exhibition opening reception for Read the Room.
The Politics of Collage
Saturday, May 25 11:00 AM | Charlotte Street Kemper Library
The Politics of Collage is a hands-on workshop with Read the Room artist Joshua Rios. This creative workshop offers participants an opportunity to create mixed-media collages related to land politics and postcolonial science fiction.
Rios will first give a short presentation on Stranger in a Strange Land, a 1976 sci-fi rock opera created and produced by Chicanx high school students in Crystal City, Texas. Working under the direction of playwright Gregg Barrios, and influenced by the music of David Bowie, the students’ play addressed a wide variety of topics, including CIA mind control, alien contact, political assassination, and the post-apocalyptic landscape.
Following the presentation, participants will be invited to create an assortment of collages related to the students’ theatrical production. Specifically, we will make work in the form of futuristic landscapes and sci-fi costume design.
All ages are welcome, no art skills required. All materials will be supplied.
Inviting The Images Workshop
Wednesday, June 26 from 6:00–8:00 PM | Charlotte Street Kemper Library
Read the Room co-curator and artist Jason Lips will lead you through a series of cartooning and journaling exercises, culminating in the creation of an autobiographical memory comic, spurred by a random word prompt. This spontaneous process, adapted from cartoonist-educator Lynda Barry, only takes sixteen or so minutes, and is like a time travel portal—You are guaranteed to go somewhere surprising! It is the very process that Lips uses to generate one-page rough drafts for his own comics. It is how his spouse, Haley Lips, began the comic they collaborated on that is included in the exhibition. All ages are welcome, although this technique tends to work best for adults and interested teenagers. All materials will be provided.
