It’s almost time of the annual Walt Disney Hometown Toonfest in lovely Marcelene, MO. I wrote about the stellar speaker lineup here, but here it is again for those who hate following links:

• Mark Fiore- Editorial cartoonist 
• Wiley Miller- Creator of the comic strip Non Sequitor
• David Mowder- Hallmark Cards cartoonist 
• Sam Viviano- MAD Magazine art director

Every year they have a wonderful show of original cartoon art, and they are once again calling for professional cartoonists to submit work for the show. Here is the call for art by show curators Paul Fell and Mike Edholm:

Dear Fellow Cartoonist:

It’s time to start gearing up for the 11^th. Annual Walt Disney Hometown Toonfest in Marceline, MO, the little town where Walt spent part of his boyhood. Each year we celebrate Walt Disney’s life and work with this small-town festival that includes a parade, presentations by several nationally-know cartoonists, and a cartoon exhibit.

This year’s Disney Toonfest will be held Friday, September 18 and Saturday, September 19. As always, all events are free and open to the public.

If you have exhibited your work in previous Toonfest shows, we appreciate your participation and hope that you will be sending in two or three pieces of your work again this year. If you haven’t sent work to the Toonfest cartoon exhibit, we hope you’ll consider becoming part of our growing list of cartoonist exhibitors.

Here’s the details:

All work should either be matted or mounted on mat board or mounting board. We are no longer able to exhibit work that comes in unmated or unmounted.

While we will accept cartoon submissions right up until the day we hang the show (Thursday, Sept. 17) it will make our lives a lot easier if you can have it at the Toonfest Offices by Monday, September 14.

1. At the end of the Toonfest exhibit we will ship your work back to you at no charge.
2. Please be sure that your contact information is on the back of each piece.
3. Suggested number of cartoons: 2-3
4. The Disney Hometown Toonfest reserves the right to refuse to place work in the show that we consider inappropriate for inclusion in a family-oriented event.

Please send cartoons for the Toonfest exhibit to:

Walt Disney Hometown Toonfest

207 N. Main Street, USA

Marceline, MO 64658

Phone: 660-376-WALT (9258)

Email: toonfest@sbcglobal.net

Kaye Malins  email: kaye.malins@toonfest.net

Barb Boyd  email: barb.boyd@toonfest.net

We will look forward to seeing your work in this year’s Toonfest cartoon exhibit!

Paul Fell and Mike Edholm
Toonfest Exhibit Coordinators

So, there you have it. I have a few original MAD pages in the show from the parody of “Grey’s Anatomy”. Unfortunately I will be unable to attend this year, but if you have never been to Toonfest it is a charming small town celebration of cartooning that is well worth the time.

Image Courtesy Doug Gilford’s MAD Cover Site.

The Gladstone Gallery on 24th Street in New York City will open a show of the original work of Basil Wolverton on June 20th, which will run through August 14th. The show does indeed include the collage of this beautiful and famous cover from MAD #11. There is bound to be plenty of great stuff to see.

The official press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The Gladstone Gallery

Basil Wolverton
Curated by Cameron Jamie

515 West 24th Street, New York
June 20 to August 14, 2009

Gladstone Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition by American graphic artist and cartoonist Basil Wolverton curated by Cameron Jamie. Basil Wolverton submitted his first cartoon for publication in 1925 when he was only sixteen and remained an active cartoonist from the 1940s through to the 1970s. His unique and humorously grotesque drawings reveal both his fantastic wit and inventive technique, once famously described in LIFE Magazine as the “spaghetti and meatball school of design.”

Wolverton had no formal training as an artist, creating his own style that distinguished him from the other cartoonists of his generation. As he said, “I know I draw things that look like all kinds of organs and glands, it is like the monkey which, if he pounded away for a million years, might accidentally type out the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ lyrics.” Generations of artists including Peter Saul, Ed Ruscha, Robert Williams, Jim Shaw, Mike Kelley, and Cameron Jamie have been influenced by his meticulous technique and pictorial freedom, in addition to its undeniable impact on numerous cartoonists from R. Crumb to Drew Friedman.

This exhibition includes a wide spectrum of Wolverton’s work from his earliest drawings published in numerous comic books, including “Spacehawk” and “Powerhouse Pepper,” to his very detailed caricatures, with sculpted and exaggerated features. Perhaps the most famous body of work in the exhibition are his drawings for Harvey Kurtzman’s comic-book version of MAD Magazine from the 1950s. Also included are portraits made for Topps Chewing Gum in the 1960s, which appeared on bubble gum posters and stickers. Wolverton turned to illustrating Biblical themes and events in his later years, represented here by thirteen drawings from the Apocalypse series based on the Book of Revelation. These drawings are regarded among his finest and many of these illustrations were reproduced in Plain Truth magazine.

Born in 1909 in Central Point, Oregon, Basil Wolverton resided for most of his life in the Pacific Northwest until his death in 1978. His work has been published in a variety of magazines and comic books, from MAD Magazine, America’s Humor Magazine, The Portland News, Plop! and Hollywood Today. His work has been featured in Timely Comics, Circus Comics and Target Comics. He also contributed to the Li’l Abner Comic Strip and LIFE Magazine. In 2006, his work was exhibited at The Portland Art Center in Oregon and in 2007 the CSUF Grand Art Center in Santa Ana, California presented a solo exhibition of Wolverton’s oeuvre from the collection of Glenn Bray. The works selected and presented in this exhibition are also from Bray’s private archive/collection.

Opening: Friday, June 19th from 5.30-7.30pm
For further information please contact Eric Nylund
T:212.206.9300    enylund@gladstonegallery.com

Wolverton’s gross and macabre work, with it’s popping eyeballs and giant, crater-like skin pores, made it a perfect fit for certin types of MAD articles and his work became quite recognizable as part of the MAD legacy. Later his son Monte would carry on the tradition. Of course Wolverton’s work appeared in many different publications and products, perhaps most famously adorning many of the Wacky Package sticker and cards we children of the 70′s remember fondly.

It should be a great exhibit.

Legendary cartoonist, fellow member of MAD‘s “Usual Gang of Idiots” and mi amigo Sergio Aragonés is going to have his first restrospective exhibit of his incredible work later this summer at the Ojai Valley Museum in Ojai, California.

Here is the press release from the Ojai Valley Museum:

The Ojai Valley Museum located at 130 W. Ojai Avenue in Ojai, California announced today that it will be mounting “Mad About Sergio,” a first ever retrospective exhibit of the work of world famous Mad Magazine cartoonist Sergio Aragonés, an Ojai resident. The exhibit, scheduled from August 7 – October 4, 2009, will feature original work by the artist as well as inform the viewer about the process of cartooning. Also featured will be wood carvings and other artwork that Sergio produces while he is thinking about his next cartoon concept. An opening reception will be held on August 22 from 5-7 p.m.

As an internationally known cartoonist for over 50 years, Sergio is known as the fastest cartoonist in the world. He is certainly the most honored, having won every major award in the field, including the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award and the Will Eisner Hall of Fame Award. He has published over twenty books, created several comic book series and has animated numerous television programs. He will be speaking and demonstrating his amazing talent at museum Sunday Gatherings during the exhibit. The first Sunday Gathering will be on August 30 when the subject will be “Cartooning with Sergio.” On the closing date of the exhibit, October 4, the Sunday Gathering subject will be “Sergio on Comics and Humor.”

The Ojai Valley Museum and Historical Society dedicates itself to bridging the past and the future through stewardship of our community’s heritage. Founded in 1966 by dedicated volunteers, the Ojai Valley Museum and Historical Society today is directed and managed by a volunteer Board of Trustees, a small part-time staff and volunteer members of the Ojai community. This very strong group has managed to encourage and support many outstanding exhibits including art, photography, local history, student art and in December a very special exhibit being created in collaboration with the Ojai Green Coalition.

The Museum is housed in a 1919 Mead & Requa early Mission Revival structure, the former St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church – the only building in Ojai on the National Register of Historic Places.

For additional information check out the Sergio Aragonés website http://www.sergioaragones.com/

and the Ojai Valley Museum website at http://www.ojaivalleymuseum.org

If this is really the first time Sergio has had an exhibit of his work, my only comment is WHAT TOOK SO LONG??!!! Regardless this looks like a wonderful opportunity to see first hand the work of one of the greatest cartoonists to ever put pen to paper, and that is no exaggeration.

¡Enhorabuena, mi amigo!

One of my favorite comic strips is “Mother Goose and Grimm” drawn by the incomparable Mike Peters. Always funny, great artwork… one of the best done strips ever, IMO.

Pittsburgh’s ToonSeum, a part of the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh that exhibits cartoon art shows and events, will be opening a “Mother Goose and Grimm” show in October:

From Joe Woos and The ToonSeum:

Opening Friday October 17th- Mother Goose and Grimm: the Art of Mike Peters. Meet the creator Mike Peters and Grimmy on Saturday October 18th at the Children’s Museum. Free smiley cookies to the first 150 guests thanks to Eat N Park!

October 17th-19th- A Mother Goose and Grimm Weekend. Meet Mike Peters, award winning editorial cartoonists and creator of the popular comic strip Mother Goose and Grimm. Exhibit runs through January 4th 2009. Exhibit sponsored by the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

Saturday October 18th- Join us at the Andy Warhol Museum for a panel discussion on cartoons and national politics with Mike Peters, Rob Rogers and other special guests.

If you have never met Mike Peters, then you’ve never met Mike Peters. The man is a dynamo. He makes Robin Williams look like Ben Stein. He hugs everybody, and is genuinely delighted to meet anyone and everyone… especially those who also toil over the blank paper on the drawing board. He also loves MAD, and Jack Davis is one of his heroes. Come to think of it… isn’t Jack Davis one of every cartoonist’s heroes??

When I did the Reuben artwork for this year’s NCS awards weekend, I included Mike in the forefront of the parade as he was MCing the ceremonies (closeup above). The Superman suit is a trademark of his. He’s done a number of skits and MC duties for the NCS and always manages to appear in that suit at some point, so it was a perfect fit being a Mardi Gras parade and all. A month or two later my phone rings and it’s Mike Peters, who proceeds to rave about my drawing of him and how his granddaughter saw it and exclaimed “it’s you, Grampy!”. Naturally I was more than a little flattered by that. He wanted to know if he could get a copy somehow, and I printed off a large sized poster on my over-sized Epson printer on photo paper for him and gave it to him at the Reubens.

I got three hugs for that.

If you have a chance to see this show, I would recommend it highly… even having not seen it myself. Cartooning does not get any better than the work of Mike Peters. If you get a chance to attend the weekend where Mike is making an appearance, you will not be disappointed meeting the man behind the mayhem… and the hugs.

Check out the ToonSeum website for details on this and other events and shows.