PRESS RELEASE FOR TORONTO COMIC JAM @ offthemapgallery
Director: Antonia Lancaster

A participatory, interactive drawing exhibit @ offthemapgallery
Curated by Dave Howard

JAM PARTY, Saturday January 24, 2-5pm
Show runs from January 24 - February 28, 2004

80 Spadina Avenue, 5th floor, Toronto, Canada M5V 2J4
Gallery Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 11am to 5pm

JAMS HELD EACH SATURDAY from 2-5pm from Jan.24-Feb.28,2004. This is a
participatory, interactive exhibition so drop in at the jams and during the exhibition
hours, have fun, and draw something. EVERYONE IS INVITED

offthemapgallery presents the Toronto Comic Jam. Within the mandate of the
gallery, this comic jam will be experimenting with differences in the comic jam art
practice. They are using the gallery venue to explore scale, colour, and the impact
of a different mix of participators on comic making. It is the active narrative
process of comics that is being exhibited.

Dave Howard founded The Toronto Comic Jam in November 1996 as a safe
haven for the alternative comics community -- a place where artists could meet,
exchange ideas, and find moral support, using comics as a basis for social
interaction. Inspired by Rupert Bottenberg’s comic jams in Montreal,
regularly-held monthly comic jams in Toronto have helped to build a sense of
community and local history around this often underappreciated art form.

A ‘comic jam’ is a constraint-based exercise reminiscent of Raymond Queneau’
s Oulipo (Workshop for Potential Literature) and its subsequent comics arm,
Oubapo (Workshop for Potential Comics). Participants take turns drawing
consecutive panels, composing spontaneous, collaborative stories. In the
process, comics become a vehicle to explore narrative, a template for
self-expression, and a form of social exchange – and participants get caught
up in the sheer joy of drawing. Finished pages are put on the wall for all
to see.

“In social situations, many artists find themselves doodling in notebooks
and drawing on napkins,” says Howard. "These people find the comic jam to be
a wonderful inversion – everybody's drawing. In fact, to not draw is an
anomaly."

Toronto artist and illustrator Ruth Tait says of the jam process, “I believe
that we understand each other best through the stories we are able to
exchange with each other. If we can record these stories in an inventive
and engaging way, then we may be able to connect to others and impart our
views, our knowledge and experience."

Howard feels the comic is a medium in which anyone and everyone can
participate, and that this is part of its power. At the comic jam,
experienced artists are challenged to expand themselves, given the different
requirements of each jam page, while people new to the medium can discover
the wealth of graphic language they may not realize they already possess.

Tables, chairs and art supplies will be set up in the gallery. Everyone is
invited to participate in producing comic pages. Works created will be
displayed on the wall, and may be taken down by anyone at any time during
the show for new, spontaneous additions. As well, Howard’s seven-year
collection of monthly Toronto Comic Jam zines will be available for the
public's perusal.

The Toronto Comic Jam meets on the last Tuesday of every month in the
Cameron House on Queen Street, just west of Spadina. (web:
www.torontocomicjam.com; contact: Dave Howard at 416 534 8882)