MoCCA has announced its featured guests and programming schedule for the upcoming 2024 event, taking place March 16 and 17 in New York. Creators headed to the show include Adrian Tomine, Jillian Tamaki, Nate Powell, Anita Kunz, Edel Rodriguez, Maurice Vellekoop and more. Programming will take place at SVA Flatiron Gallery (133 West 21st Street), with exhibitors in the Metropolitan Pavilion close by.
Tickets for MoCCA Arts Festival can be purchased online, priced $18 for a single day and $25 for the weekend. Tickets will be available on the door but may cost more. The hours for the event will be 11am-7pm Saturday, March 16 and 11am-6pm on Sunday, March 17. The full list of exhibitors for the festival is already up on their website.
In a press release, MoCCA said:
“The Society of Illustrators is proud to announce a distinguished roster of guests and a robust programming schedule for the 2024 MoCCA Arts Festival, taking place March 16 – 17, 2024…”
Adding:
“This year’s featured guests include acclaimed illustrator Anita Kunz, whose latest book Striking a Pose (Fantagraphics Books) subverts the male gaze; Nate Powell, artist of the National Book Award–winning March trilogy and the new graphic novel Fall Through (Abrams ComicArts); award-winning illustrator Edel Rodriguez, whose graphic memoir Worm (Metropolitan Books) relates his family’s journey from Cuba to the United States; cartoonist and illustrator Jillian Tamaki, whose collaboration with Mariko Tamaki Roaming (Drawn & Quarterly) was published this past fall; Adrian Tomine, author of Shortcomings (Drawn & Quarterly), recently adapted into a critically-acclaimed feature film; Maurice Vellekoop, who will discuss his new graphic memoir I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together (Pantheon Books).”
The feature image for the festival is by Natalie Andrewson, with spot illustrations by Hyesu Lee. John Jay Cabuay provides badge art and additional promotional imagery. All will be tabling at the festival.
Talking about the event schedule itself, MoCCA said:
“Organized by MoCCA Programming Director Bill Kartalopoulos, this year’s programming features a wide array of professional, aesthetic, and social topics. Kartalopoulos will lead a special spotlight panel featuring all six artists in the Made in New York exhibit, currently on view at the Society of Illustrators. Artists Josh Bayer, E. A. Bethea, Juliette Collet, Austin English, Angela Fanche, and John Vasquez Mejias will discuss their work and what it means to be an independent artist in New York City today. Other events will include a reconsideration of the resurgent comic book format, a discussion of the challenges and consequences of producing politically committed work, an investigation into body image as a subject for visual books, and an installment of R. Sikoryak’s ongoing Carousel series of performative comics readings. In addition, MoCCA has once again partnered with our programming sponsor, the SVA Department of Continuing Education, to offer two special professional development panels designed to assist aspiring and rising artists in their careers. SVA Comics and Illustration chair Viktor Koen will lead a discussion about managing finances as an independent creative worker, and Bill Kartalopoulos will discuss entry points into comics publishing with a panel of artists and professionals.”
The full list of artist guests for MoCCA:
- Adrian Tomine
- Anita Kunz
- Beth Hetland
- Caroline Cash
- Corrine Halbert
- Daisy Ruiz
- Edel Rodriguez
- Jillian Tamaki
- K Wroten
- Karina Shor
- Kevin Huizenga
- Maurice Vellekoop
- Nate Garcia
- Nate Powell
- Özge Samancı
- Seth Tobocman
- Siobhan Gallagher
International guests, supported by Flanders Literature, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the Taipei Cultural Center in New York:
- Ephameron (Belgium)
- Miel Vandepitte (Belgium)
- Maybelline Skvortzoff (France)
- Pam Pam Liu (Taiwan)
The full panel schedule for the event is below:
SATURDAY, MARCH 16
ADRIAN TOMINE SPOTLIGHT
Room 1 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM
“The 1991 debut of Adrian Tomine’s comic book series Optic Nerve marked the emergence of a prodigious new voice in comics. His crisp visual depictions of contemporary culture are married to an incisive narrative style that sharply delineates the elusive shadings of flawed personalities. His body of work includes the books Shortcomings, Killing and Dying, and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Cartoonist. In 2023, Shortcomings was adapted into a critically-acclaimed feature film. Tomine will discuss his work and his career in conversation with Gal Beckerman, Senior Editor for books at The Atlantic.”
GENDER TRIPS
Room 2 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM
“Heightened fictional genres like satire and horror can highlight buried truths and grand absurdities, which are sometimes one and the same. In our culture, gender expectations – particularly the narrow expectations historically placed upon women – can be deeply embedded, and especially absurd. Sally Madden (Thick Lines) will lead a conversation with three artists whose work critiques, subverts and satirizes Western gender expectations. Corinne Halbert (Acid Nun), Beth Hetland (Tender), and Maybelline Skvortzoff (Dirty Panties) will explore shared points of contact in their work across a range of approaches and styles.”
MADE IN NEW YORK
Room 1 | 1:30 – 2:30 PM
“The art of comics is alive and well in New York City. It thrives in the shadow of multinational publishing conglomerates and exists against all odds in a massively gentrified city whose affordability gap only widens. Working across a range of styles and formats, Josh Bayer, E. A. Bethea, Juliette Collet, Austin English, Angela Fanche and John Vasquez Mejias demonstrate the wild diversity of comics in this city’s independent comics scene. Their work is currently featured in the Made in New York exhibit on view at the Society of Illustrators through April 6. Curator Bill Kartalopoulos will speak with these artists about their work and what it means to be an independent artist in New York City today.”
DRAWING OUT THE PAST
Room 2 | 1:30 – 2:30 PM
“Difficult – even traumatic – memories can occupy significant space in a person’s experience of life. Sometimes they are suppressed as a form of self-preservations; other times, they may become intrusive and unwanted. Processing those memories and the feelings associated with them can be challenging, but also healing. Some comics artists take on the additional task of reconstructing those memories in autobiographical visual narratives. In this conversation, Natalie Norris (Dear Mini), Karina Shor (Silence, Full Stop) and Erin Williams (Commute) will discuss their experiences revisualizing experiences that may be difficult to remember and discuss, as well as the experience of making those memories legible to others through the comics form. This panel will be moderated by Tahneer Oksman (Marymount Manhattan College).”
CAROUSEL AT MoCCA
Room 1 | 3:00 – 4:00 PM
“Since 1997, cartoonist and impresario R. Sikoryak has hosted Carousel, a series of comics readings and visual performances by cartoonists and theater artists. This year, he brings Carousel back to MoCCA and welcomes artists including Mattie Lubchansky (Boys Weekend, The Nib), A. T. Pratt (Dot Comics #1, Negative Space), Adam Suerte (Apprendíz and Brooklyn Tattoo), and K. Wroten (Cannonball, Eden II). These artists will read live from their work, accompanied by projection. Join us for an audio-visual journey to the place where comics and performance collide!”
FANTASTIC LANDSCAPES
Room 2 | 3:00 – 4:00 PM
“Much of our contemporary popular media is preoccupied with “world-building,” from visual effects-driven filmic spectacles to franchise-driven multimedia narrative projects. These projects require large budgets, technical expertise, and an army of workers, but comics empower individual artists to build their own narrative worlds that express a coherent, individual perspective. Paul Kirchner (Dope Rider, The Bus), Peter Rostovsky (Damnation Diaries) and Miel Vandepitte (Centralia) will discuss the personal work of creating elaborate visual worlds in a discussion led by cartoonist and educator Jason Little.”
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: FINANCIAL SURVIVAL KIT
Room 1 | 4:30 – 5:30 PM
“Artists launching independent creative careers often learn that in addition to their creative work, they must also be entrepreneurs and financial managers. Viktor Koen, chair of the Comics and Illustration departments at SVA, will lead a conversation with panelists including Orion Martin, publisher of Paradise Systems and an accountant who specializes in freelance tax preparation; Dave Roman, author of the Astronaut Academy series of middle grade graphic novels; and Linda Secondari, Publisher of the Graphic Artists Guild. Together they will share their collective experience and hard-won lessons. This special professional development panel is co-organized and sponsored by the School of Visual Arts, Division of Continuing Education.”
SUNDAY, MARCH 17
JILLIAN TAMAKI SPOTLIGHT
Room 1 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM
“Award-winning cartoonist and illustrator Jillian Tamaki is the co-creator of the graphic novels Skim, This One Summer, and Roaming, all written by her cousin and collaborator Mariko Tamaki. This One Summer was the first graphic novel to receive a Caldecott honor. As a solo cartoonist, Jillian is the author and artist of works for adults including SuperMutant Magic Academy and Boundless, a collection of short form comics. She is also the author of the children’s book They Say Blue, which earned her the Boston Globe-Horn Book Picture Book Award and another Caldecott Honor. She is an active illustrator and her work appears regularly in the New York Times and other venues. She will discuss her illustration work and her career in conversation with New Yorker Senior Art Director Alexandra Zsigmond.”
POST-GRAPHIC NOVELS: THE RETURN OF THE COMIC BOOK
Room 2 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM
“Around the turn of the last millennium, the graphic novel became the dominant format for comics in print. While graphic novels have made a broad range of narratives available to a general audience, they are subject to the economic demands of the book trade, including standardized formats and preferred genres. For aesthetic and economic reasons, many artists continue to make work in more modest, staple-bound formats that have their roots in 1930s comic book publishing and zine culture. In a conversation moderated by Bill Kartalopoulos, cartoonists Caroline Cash (PeePee PooPoo), Nate Garcia (Flippy), Kevin Huizenga (Fielder), and Tom Kaczynski (Cartoon Dialectics) will discuss why they make comic books in the era of the graphic novel.”
MAURICE VELLEKOOP IN CONVERSATION WITH CHIP KIDD
Room 1 | 1:30 – 2:30 PM
“Maurce Vellekoop was born in 1964 in a suburb of Toronto. A prolific artist and illustrator, he has worked non-stop for the last three decades. His published comics have included the book collections Vellevision and A Nut at the Opera and the comic book The World of Gloria Badcock. This year, he has published the long-form graphic memoir I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together about his background growing up queer in a conservative Christian home and the ways he carried that experience forward in his life. He will be joined in conversation with his editor on this project, book designer Chip Kidd.”
NARRATIVE OF CARE
Room 2 | 1:30 – 2:30 PM
“Caretaking is often invisible labor: invisible because it is often work that is expected of women, and invisible because it often addresses vulnerabilities associated with illness, injury, disability, and end-of-life that contemporary culture is ill-equipped to address. Artists from three nations will discuss narratives that make caretaking visible with Publishers Weekly graphic novels review editor Meg Lemke. Belgian artist Ephameron’s book Us Two Together documents her father’s struggle with dementia; her latest book expresses her experience of motherhood. Taiwanese artist Pam Pam Liu has documented both the inner workings of a mental health facility as well as her own mother’s experiences being treated for cancer. Lauren Weinstein has considered motherhood in comics including “Mother’s Walk,” and was the resident artist at Time Clock CDC, a long-term shelter for survivors of domestic violence. Together they will share a unique, trans-continental conversation about a universal human subject.”
TAKING SIDES, DRAWING LINES
Room 1 | 3:00 – 4:00 PM
“Jonathan W. Gray (John Jay College-CUNY) leads a conversation with four artists whose work expresses their political commitments. Nora Krug’s works include Belonging, the graphic edition of On Tyranny, and Diaries of War, about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Nate Powell won a National Book Award for his artwork on the March books written by the late Congressman John Lewis and Andrew Aydin and has addressed the culture of militarized policing and other subjects in his work since then. Edel Rodriguez gained international attention for his magazine covers for Time Magazine and Der Spiegel during the Trump administration, and has just published the graphic memoir Worm about his experiences as an immigrant from Cuba. Seth Tobocman co-founded World War 3 Illustrated in 1980, and his books include the Lower East Side squatters’ rights and gentrification narrative War in the Neighborhood. Together, this group will discuss how they express political ideas in visual form and the kinds of responses that work can elicit.”
BODY IMAGE AND IMAGES OF THE BODY
Room 2 | 3:00 – 4:00 PM
“Our visual culture is saturated with images of bodies, but these selective images fail to represent the full spectrum of human experience, alienating people from their own bodies. Social media has further fostered an epidemic of body dysmorphia, particularly among young girls. Julie Delporte (Portrait of a Body), Siobhan Gallagher (Full of Myself), Anita Kunz (Striking a Pose) and Daisy Ruiz (Gordita: Built Like This) will discuss work that addresses the experience of being an embodied person in a culture that links gendered images of the body to notions of self-worth, social value and sexuality. Kriota Willberg (Draw Stronger), an artist and educator in health sciences, will lead this conversation.”
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: ENTRY POINTS INTO COMICS PUBLISHING
Room 1 | 4:30 – 5:30 PM
“There is not one single comics industry, but rather several comics industries that overlap: corporate book publishing, independent publishers with mainstream distribution, small and micro-presses, self-publishing, and publishing via digital platforms. What are the benefits of each? How does an artist attract a publisher’s attention? What can artists expect when working with a publisher? Moderator Bill Kartalopoulos will explore these questions with a panel of professionals including Katie Cook, author of the Webtoon series Nothing Special; Gary Groth, publisher of Fantagraphics Books; Cathy G. Johnson, author of books including Gorgeous and The Breakaways; John Vasquez Mejias, author of The Puerto Rican War; and First Second editor Kiara Valdez. This special professional development panel is co-organized and sponsored by the School of Visual Arts, Division of Continuing Education.”
