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Inis Oírr

Richard’s account of our night on the island As is now the tradition of the Galway Cartoon Festival, we sailed out to pass a day and a night on Inis Oírr, smallest of the famous Aran Islands. We do this (a) because we’re committed to promoting cartooning in the Irish language and the island is a vibrant Gaeltacht (an area where Irish is the everyday speech), but also (b) because it’s heaps of fun. It’s a way for the team to unwind after the main events over the weekend, but it’s definitely a working holiday. First on the bill was a workshop with our old friends Coláiste Ghobnait, the island’s secondary school, where Caoimhe Lavelle and our guests Dave Coverly and Lucie Arnoux (pictured above) did a wonderful cartoon workshop. I was sorry to miss that, I’d really enjoyed drawing with the students of that school on our last couple of visits, but the events of the last two days – and the weeks of preparations for them – had left me utterly zombified. I got off the boat and went straight to bed, where I dreamed fitfully about framing an infinite number of drawings. I regained consciousness to find it was show time! We had two openings on Inis Oírr this year. One is the very same Tarraing É I nGaeilge show of cartoons in Irish that we put on in the city. The other is an exhibition of new work by American comic and storyboard artist Joey Mason, who has been our artist in residence on the island for the last month and whose book Quay Street, High Street & Shop Street Sketches, created in Galway last year, may still be available in Charlie Byrne’s. Things were in full swing by the time we completed the complex traipse up from sea level to Áras Éanna, the great arts centre on the island. Dara McGee, our man on Aran, gave a lovely bilingual launch speech. Pat Quinn sang a few of his excellent comedy songs, and then… it was time to draw on the walls! Along with some enthusiastic local children, Dave Coverly, Jim Cogan, Tom Mathews, Dean Patterson, Lucie Arnoux, Caoimhe Lavelle, Dara McGee, Margaret Nolan and myself decorated a wall in the arts centre with whatever came into out heads. It’s sad that surface needs to be repainted every year. But things really kicked into gear on the way home! As you might know, it’s dark on the Aran Islands at night. Stumbles happen; I tripped myself leaving Áras Éanna. Well Dean Patterson, our star Irish cartoonist for this year’s festival, was a little ahead of our group when I think he got some alert on his phone. Trying to respond, he accidentally turned his phone’s torch off. Instantly plunged into complete and utter darkness, Dean fell over a low stone wall. Excited by this attention, the low stone wall then fell over him. Hearing some pretty unusual sounds ahead we rushed up, to find Dean somewhat covered in rocks but explaining politely that this was OK and not even all that unusual. And had we seen what he’d done with his pens? Fortunately someone in the group had first aid experience and knew where to poke Dean for damage tests. Once it was established that nothing very spinal had happened, the ever-resourceful Margaret clambered into the field and physically hoisted him up. Dean was in some pain, but wouldn’t even imagine not coming back to Tigh Ned where we’d planned to spend the evening drawing and drinking. And that’s where he discovered that if you’re going to trip over a wall in the dark on an Aran Island, it’s better to do that when not surrounded by fellow cartoonists.

Chosen Arists 2024

The Galway Cartoon Festival wishes to thank every person who submitted work to us this year. As always, we apologise that we have room to show only a small fraction of what we receive. Most of our exhibitions continue to be displayed, and many works are still for sale: Beasts! and General Mayhem are still on show at Portershed A Dó, alongside solo exhibitions by Dave Coverly and Lucie Arnoux. Women in Technology appears in the Town Hall Theatre, along with solo shows by Dean Patterson and Malak Mattar. Tarraing É I nGaeilge is on exhibition at the Áras Eanna arts centre on Inis Oírr, along with a solo show of new work by Joey Mason – who was our artist in residence there this year – and cartoons we created for Water Safety Ireland. Some of Snowflake’s Progress by Ben Jennings is still on view at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop. Finally, The Cartoon Trail is still in shop windows around the town – details here. Beasts! Aidan Cooney Ireland Aongus Collins Ireland Ben Jennings UK Boris Erenburg Israel Brady Izquierdo Cuba Brandon Hicks Canada Clemens Moses Germany Cristina Sampaio Portugal Dave Coverly USA Dean Patterson Ireland Donal Casey Ireland Elena Ospina Colombia Fadi Abou Hassan Norway Fergus Boylan N. Ireland Glenn Marshall UK Graeme Keyes Ireland Ivailo Tsvetkov Bulgaria Kipper Williams UK Mark Winter New Zealand Martyn Turner Ireland Mick O'Hara Ireland Mike Stokoe UK Nancy Ohanian USA Nicolas Vadot Belgium Osama Hajjaj Jordan Phil Witte USA Ron McGeary UK Sherif Arafa UAE Steve Best UK Subi UK Tjeerd Royaards Netherlands Will McPhail UK General Mayhem Aidan Cooney Ireland Aongus Collins Ireland Ben Jennings UK Boris Erenburg Israel Brady Izquierdo Cuba Brandon Hicks Canada Clemens Moses Germany Cristina Sampaio Portugal Dave Coverly USA Dean Patterson Ireland Donal Casey Ireland Elena Ospina Colombia Fadi Abou Hassan Norway Fergus Boylan N. Ireland Glenn Marshall UK Graeme Keyes Ireland Ivailo Tsvetkov Bulgaria Kipper Williams UK Mark Winter New Zealand Martyn Turner Ireland Mick O'Hara Ireland Mike Stokoe UK Nancy Ohanian USA Nicolas Vadot Belgium Osama Hajjaj Jordan Phil Witte USA Ron McGeary UK Sherif Arafa UAE Steve Best UK Subi UK Tjerd Royaards Netherlands Will McPhail UK Tarraing É I nGaeilge Aongus Collins Ireland Caoimhe Lavelle Ireland Ciara Kenny Ireland Dara McGee Ireland Dean Patterson N. Ireland Graeme Keyes Ireland Joey Mason USA Sallyann Ní Chiarba Ireland Seán Begley Ireland Tom Mathews Ireland Viacheslav Kapreliants Ukraine Women In Technology Ameen Alhabarah Saudi Arabia Caoimhe Lavelle Ireland Ciaraíoch Ireland Cristina Bernazzani Italy Cristina Sampaio Portugal Fergus Boylan N. Ireland Gatis Šļūka Latvia Ivailo Tsvetkov Bulgaria Jonathan Wilson UK Miriam Wurster Germany Ramses Morales Izquierdo Cuba Richard Chapman Ireland Sarah Boyce UK Sepideh Aghaei Iran Tom Mathews Ireland Vladimir Kazanevsky Ukraine Will McPhail UK Cartoon Trail Dave Coverly USA Gatis Šļūka Latvia Jim Cogan Ireland Kipper Williams UK Mark Winter New Zealand Mick O'Hara Ireland Miriam Wurster Germany Phil Witte USA Sarah Boyce Ireland Teja Fischer Germany Will McPhail UK

Day 3

Meet the Galway Cartoon Festival synchronized swim team: Joey Mason, Fergus Boylan, Ben Jennings, Harry Burton, Will McPhail. These loonies thought it would be normal and fun to go for a swim in Salthill this morning. Catch them in PorterHouse 2 at our panel discussion this afternoon. Well, the survivors anyway.

Thank You

Are your festivals huge fun? Do you find the intense amusement of your festival bouncing around your head for hours and hours? If not, then maybe you need new Galway Cartoon Festival. Galway Cartoon Festival. Refreshes the parts that other festivals say on the tin. Thank you, to everyone who attended our opening. It was an absolutely unforgettable blur. As for the rest of ye… the fun has only just begun! Join us on Saturday for Dean Patterson’s exhibition, the comic creators panel discussion, interviews will Lucie Arnoux and Will McPhail, and the launch of Joey Mason’s book of Galway sketches.

October Surprise

Surprise! The Galway Cartoon Festival opens tonight at 6.00pm in PorterShed a Dó on Market Street. Come along and meet our great friends and amazing guests. The speeches will be short and to the point – like cartoons – and they will be followed immediately by a chance to draw on the big screen!

Culture Night ’24

How was your Culture Night? We had such…an…amazing…time! Huge, huge thanks to everyone who attended our Cartoon Workshop or the Let’s Draw! late event, and all the people at Galway City Council, the French Embassy, Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, The Live Drawing Project, and of course Culture Night itself. You gave a lot of people in Galway, of all ages, backgrounds and walks of life, a night to remember. It has to be said it was an amazing evening all round, with a fabulous atmosphere throughout Galway’s city centre. Culture Night has really taken off in this city in the last few years. Middle Street in particular was a creative fairyland thanks to the efforts of Fíbín and An Taibhdhearc. Our contribution began there too, at 6 pm in Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, with a cartooning workshop for all ages led by Margaret Nolan and Richard Chapman with the assistance of Harry Burton. About 30 participants joined in our creative drawing games, crowded in amongst the shelves of art books. This was followed at sundown by Let’s Draw!, a Culture Night Late event at the Spanish Arch. Here French street spectacle group The Live Drawing Project used their innovative software – and a truly enormous projector – to blast drawings onto the old city museum building. These were created by the audience on their mobile devices, led and inspired by the cartoonists we invited. These guests were Graeme Keyes of The Phoenix fame, Harry Burton of the Irish Examiner, and Brazilian comic artist Mari Rolin. Festival director Richard Chapman also drew live, and online contributions came in from past festival guest the wonderful Liza Donnelly of The New Yorker as well as upcoming participants Joey Mason – currently artist-in-residence at Áras Éanna on Inis Oírr – and Lucie Arnoux. A special thank you also goes to animator Charlotte Connolly, who stepped up out of the audience to do one final gigantic drawing when the rest of us were exhausted… As you can see from the images, the mood was out of this world. Somewhere around 2,000 members of the public used the web portal to contribute an astonishing 10,000 drawings to the event. And Kate said Yes!

Come And Draw With Us!

Friday night is… CULTURE NIGHT Culture Night is a national celebration of creativity in Ireland – and as it falls shortly before our festival, an opportunity for us to give you a taste of things to come. This year, the Galway Cartoon Festival will be contributing in two ways: With a cartoon drawing workshop, and by helping to organize Galway’s first event of the new Culture Night Late initiative. Cartoon Workshop Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop 6:00 – 7:30pm. Free entry (but space is limited) The Festival will organize a cartoon workshop, introducing techniques and games to help you enjoy cartooning as a fun way to be creative. Materials will be provided, but you can bring your favourite drawing tools if you like. The event will be held in the Art Section (naturally), and numbers will be limited. We will also be encouraging you to take part in the following Culture Night Late event… Let’s Draw Spanish Arch 9:00pm – Late. Free entry (outdoor night event) Brilliant French street art company The Live Drawing Project is joining the Galway Cartoon Festival to provide an interactive digital cartoon experience! Meet us at the Spanish Arch with your phone or tablet – or just join in online. We’ll be projecting a vast collaborative canvas with everyone’s drawings that keeps evolving all the time. Draw as much as you want. Express yourself along with some of the big-name cartoonists taking part! Guest artists appearing in person include national cartoonists Graeme Keyes (The Phoenix) and Harry Burton (Irish Examiner), comic creator Mari Rolin (Iron Circus), Festival guest Joey Mason and team members Tom Mathews and Richard ‘Serg’ Chapman. Other names in the cartoon business may be making live or online appearances, including our guest for the upcoming festival, French comic artist Lucie Arnoux! Think of it as a circus, but one where you can join in. All you need is an average smartphone – check The Live Drawing Project website for instructions.

Submissions Are Done…

Submissions are now closed for the 8th Galway Cartoon Festival (opening October 4) We want to thank everyone who took time to send us their work. We’ve received well over 1,500 cartoons via email, with more submissions on paper still to be counted. The vast scale of this response is astonishing to us. The hard part – selecting the small proportion of these that we have room to exhibit – now begins… If you have sent us material but not received any acknowledgment, please get in touch.

Dean Patterson

Solo Exhibition, Town Hall Theatre Opens Friday October 4,12:30pm Dean Patterson has been a great friend of the Galway Cartoon Festival from the beginning, being there on our first opening night. In the years since he grown in stature to become one of the most respected, and funniest, cartoonists in all of Ireland. His work appears in publications here and abroad, including Private Eye, the Spectator, The Critic, The Phoenix, The Idler and more. We would like to claim credit for this somehow. Every year we like to feature a cartoonist who has made a notable contribution to the art in Ireland. We’ve been keeping Dean in reserve for long enough, now is his time to shine.

Staying Afloat!

Friday 19 to Friday 25 July A Cartoon Trail & Auction to mark World Drowning Prevention Day, 25th July 2024. Featuring original artwork by Mick O’Hara (co-creator of Zig and Zag and Rodge and Podge), Graeme Keyes (the Phoenix, Private Eye, Irish Daily Mail), and Serg (Galway Advertiser, Galway City Tribune, The Phoenix, Private Eye). Water Safety Cartoon Trail: After being on view for one week, the artworks will be auctioned with the proceeds going to Water Safety Ireland and the Cartoon Festival. #DrowningPrevention See The Cartoons

Call for Entries: “Women in Technology”

We’re adding another new exhibition this year which, like most of our shows, is open to public submissions. The theme of this one is “Women in Technology”. We invite cartoonists from all around the world to celebrate the achievements of women working in technological fields, and mark the challenges that they have faced and still face today. This show is being produced by the Galway Cartoon Festival in cooperation with the Insight Centre and Galway Science and Technology Festival. The selected entries will be on display as part of the Cartoon Festival (4 – 9 October) in a city centre venue, with entrance free to the public. The deadline for submissions is August 30th – but the sooner you get things to us the better! See here for all the details about submitting work to our exhibitions.

Unveiled: Our 2024 Poster

Ain’t it a beauty? Created by our very dear and talented friend Cristina Sampaio, it picks up on the theme of one of this year’s central exhibitions – “Beasts!” Cristina’s work appears in major newspapers across Europe and the USA, including Courrier International and The New York Times, and she is well known too for her fabulous – and controversial – animated contributions to Spam Cartoon on Portuguese TV. You may have caught the great workshop she gave in Cava last year about her artistic method, or have heard her speak both movingly and hilariously in the round-table discussion we held in An Taibhdhearc back in ’22. Sadly Cristina cannot join us in Galway this October as she will be having her own solo show in the Amadora International Comic Festival in Lisbon. Do check that out if you’re in the vicinity. Please remember to follow us on social media! Links are in the footer.

Saturday Fundraiser

Twenty selected artworks from the Galway Cartoon Festival’s hit exhibitions go under the hammer from 12:30 to 3:30 this Saturday in the Town Hall Theatre gallery-bar. This is your chance to own a framed cartoon print by a remarkable artist, and help grow the city’s internationally respected celebration of disrespectful art. Wine and cheese are laid on by Tigh Neachtain and Sheridans respectively, while wielding the hammer – a show in itself – will be champion auctioneer Kevin Hasset. The ingenious Gerry Hanberry and Justin McCarthy provide musical accompaniment. Along with an exhibition of magnificent work by Brady Izquierdo Rodriguez from Cuba (opening on Friday at 5:00 in the same venue), this extravagant brunch forms part of a “taster weekend” for the next Galway Cartoon Festival which begins on October 4.

Submissions Are Open

For Festival 2024 We have three four! shows that are open to everyone: Beasts! Beasts. Of the air, of the field, of the seas. Beasts of burden and beasts of buoyancy. Beasts in human form. Beasts in human pants. Beasts from beyond, and from whatever the opposite of beyond is. Just… any sort of beast. What does the word mean to you? I’ve written it too many times now, I can’t remember. Just send us some funny animals. Be it cute fluffy puppy or the deadly banana slug, mythological monstrosity or bouncy birdy, we want your beasts! General Mayhem And then there’s the show for everything else – especially topical and satirical cartoons – from any place and on any issue around all the world. Including any great gags that happen not to be about beasts. Tarraing É I nGaeilge Tá Féile cartúin na Gaillimhe ag cuartú Cartúin as Gaeilge! Déanfar taispeantas ar ghach iontrál a ghlacfhainn an Fhéile, i nGaillimh agus ar Inis Oírr. Spriocdáta ná an 30ú Lúnasa. Which is Irish for “Draw It In Irish“, and is our exhibition specifically for cartoons in that language – the only one of its kind in the world today! Works selected for Tarr­aing é i nGaeilge will be shown both in Galway City and on Inis Oírr in the Aran Islands. Women In Techno­logy (NEW!) We’re adding another show. The theme of this one is “Women in Technology”. We invite cartoonists from all around the world to celebrate the achievements of women working in technological fields, and mark the challenges that they have faced and still face today. This show is being produced by the Galway Cartoon Festival in cooperation with the Insight Centre and Galway Science and Technology Festival. The selected entries will be on display as part of the Cartoon Festival (4 – 9 October) in a city centre venue, with entrance free to the public. The Terms and the Condi­tions The Submission Deadline Is: Friday 30 August ’24 But earlier entries stand a better chance of being selected, so please get them to us soon!

Tarraing É I nGaeilge ’23

Every year, the Galway Cartoon Festival brings together the latest cartoons created in the Irish language. Many thanks to all who helped us in 2023. Gach bliain, bailíonn Féile Cartúin na Gaillimhe na cartúin is nuaí a cruthaíodh i nGaeilge. Míle buíochas le gach duine a chabhraigh linn in 2023.

General Mayhem ’23

And now, online at last, the cartoons selected for this year’s anything-goes open international exhibition. Thanks once more to everyone who visited the show, our wonderful hosts at PorterShed 2, and of course the many artists who sent us their fantastic work to show – not least, to the very, very many whose work we didn’t have room for.

Chosen Artists 2

Artificial Idiocy Galway City Museum How do you feel about the role that Artificial Intelligence increasingly plays in our world? We asked some of the world’s best cartoonists for their reactions. Brady Izquierdo Cuba Brandon Hicks Canada Chris Madden UK Cristina Bernazzani Italy Damir Novak Croatia Dave Coverly USA Dawn Mockler Canada Dean Patterson Northern Ireland Graeme Keyes Ireland Igor Pashchenko Russia Jeremy Banx UK Joey Mason USA Lena Siew Ireland Liviu Stanila Romania Marco De Angelis Italy Mark Winter New Zealand Martyn Turner Ireland Matt Percival UK Mike Stokoe UK Milos Randak Slovakia Raita Ohtani Japan Royston Robertson UK Teresa Power Ireland Tim Leatherbarrow UK Tom Tomorrow USA Vladimir Kazanevsky Ukraine We would also like to thank the Galway City Museum, which has become a remarkable focus for interaction between the arts and sciences. The show continues here for the month.

This Year’s Chosen Artists

General Mayhem We received an overwhelming response this year from cartoonists all around the world – over 1,000 entries in total – and we gratefully thank everyone who put in the time and effort to create and send us their work; we wish we could have shown twice or three times as much. It’s an almost heartbreaking process to whittle all that down to the relatively few that we have room to exhibit. And if your name is not here, please do remember that we have still to announce the work chosen for our Artificial Idiocy and Tarraing É I nGaeilge exhibitions. We hope to do this by the end of the week. 1 Aidan Cooney Ireland 2 Aongus Collins Ireland 3 Boris Erenburg Israel 4 Brendan O'Brien Ireland 5 Ciara Kenny (Ciaraíoch) Ireland 6 Colin Klotzbach USA 7 Cristina Sampaio Portugal 8 Dave Coverly USA 9 Dean Patterson Northern Ireland 10 Des Buckley United Kingdom 11 Ed Steckley USA 12 Fadi Abou Hassan Norway 13 Fergus Boylan Northern Ireland 14 Fintan McAlindon United Kingdom 15 Gatis Šļūka Latvia 16 Ghost Harsanta Indonesia 17 Gio Alzapiedi United Kingdom 18 Glenn Marshall United Kingdom 19 Graeme Keyes Ireland 20 Gulliver France 21 Harry Burton Ireland 22 Jean-Michel Renault France 23 Jeremy Banx United Kingdom 24 Jim Cogan (Original Drawing) Ireland 25 Liza Donnelly USA 26 Luke Warm Ireland 27 Marilena Nardi Italy 28 Mark Winter (Chicane) New Zealand 29 Martin Rowson United Kingdom 30 Martyn Turner Ireland 31 Matt Porter Ireland 32 Patrick Hickey Canada 33 Pete Songi United Kingdom 34 Ramsés Morales Cuba 35 Róisín Curé Ireland 36 Ron McGeary United Kingdom 37 Seán Lennon Ireland 38 Sophie Coyle Ireland 39 Steve Best (Bestie) United Kingdom 40 Steve Jones United Kingdom 41 Teja Fischer Germany 42 The Surreal McCoy United Kingdom 43 Til Mette Germany 44 Tom Mathews (Original Drawing) Ireland 45 Valentina Stecchi Italy 46 Virgina Cabras (Alagon) Italy 47 Vladimir Kazanevsky Ukraine 48 Zbigniew Piszczako Poland

Monday’s Events

Cristina Sampaio, literally one of the best cartoonists in the world, will talk about how she turns an idea into one of her unforgettable images. Anyone working in art or the media can learn something from her methods. Cava Bodega, Middle Street, 4:00 Arrive early. If it’s not unnecessary to say, the show will be magnificently illustrated. This will be followed by a spontaneous drawing outbreak, and we also hope to give a guided tour of the exhibition of AI cartoons in the City Museum. Check our social media or call our number for details. Then we go to Charlie Byrne’s at 6.00 for a performance of cartoon-related poetry. Tom Mathews, Caoimhe Lavelle and Gerry Hanberry will talk to us using words. And don’t forget that all our exhibitions are now open: General Mayhem – PorterShed 2 Artificial Idiocy – City Museum Tarraing É I nGaeilge – City Library Harry Burton – Town Hall Theatre Vladimir Kazanevsky and Martin Rowson – The Pálás Cinema bar Terry Willers’ Water Safety – An Taibhdhearc Joey Mason – All around the Latin Quarter

Saturday Events

There’s stuff on today for just about everyone: 11:00 – Children’s stories Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop Ed Steckley reads from his children’s books in Charlie Byrne’s. 12:00 – Irish Apes Portershed 2 Donal Casey gives a fascinating talk about the ways Irish people were portrayed in the anti-Irish cartoons of 19th century Britain and America. 1:00 – Drawing Time A Nearby Pub or Café Come with us for a sketchy lunch. 3:30 – Ed Steckley Masterclass PorterShed 2 The very talented American cartoonist-illustrator will give us a live-action illustrated talk about why he loves cartooning so much. This will be amazing. Anyone who wants to make a career in drawing – or anyone who just loves to see it done well – should not miss this. [Yes it does say “12:30” in the brochure. Sorry about that, gremlins struck. Ed’s show is definitely at 3:30.] 5:00 – Harry Burton’s Solo Exhibition Town Hall Theatre Every year we honour an Irish cartoonist; sometimes one we’ve loved for decades, sometimes one fresh and new. This time it’s about as fresh as it gets. Harry Burton has shot to international fame in the last few years, simply because he has an outstanding talent for political cartoons. As if that were not enough, veteran cartoon genius Martin Rowson will deliver a few words to get the show on the road. 8:00 – Mass Drawing Event Some Pub (Probably Neachtain’s) OK so this isn’t so much an official event as “Woah that was some day, let’s go to the pub now”. But drawing will ensue and you’re welcome to join in.

Welcome to the Seventh Festival!

Welcome to all of you who will come to our workshops and our talks, who will wander around our exhibitions chuckling – it’s OK to laugh aloud in fact, this isn’t your everyday sort of exhibition – and who will take part in our live drawing events which mostly happen in pubs for some reason. Welcome, to everyone who enjoys cartoons. You can just drop in and enjoy the jokes, or you can pick up a pen and participate. And a special welcome to the poor cartoonists of many countries who were tricked into coming here and drawing – and in many cases talking – for the amusement of Ireland in general and Galway in particular. Thank you, you lovely people. We will try to make it worth your while. Fáilte romhaibh go léir. Festivities begin at 5:30pm tonight with the opening of our exhibition of fresh cartoons from all around the world, in the new PorterShed 2 (where the Connacht Tribune used to be). We’ll be having beers and hugging old friends and laughing at all sorts of things, so please come along. And then the events begin in earnest. There are art workshops and talks which will be somehow both instructive and stupidly funny, from the likes of Ed Steckley (MAD magazine), Cristina Sampaio (SpamCartoons) and Martin Rowson (The Guardian), not to mention some of Ireland’s finest such as Graeme Keyes and Harry Burton. There will be expert caricaturists wandering around, making fun of people’s faces. There will be shows all about the city, plus related events in schools and in the Pálás cinema, as well as on Inis Oírr. If you haven’t seen it already, here’s the programme. Feel free to download it to your phone:

Cartoon Auction Tonight!

It’s that time again when we auction off some of last year’s cartoon prints to help fund this year’s festival. Not only would you be helping us out, you could pick up a great gift. And also have… Wednesday, September 20thPálás Cinema Bar7.30pm We would love to see you there! Here are some cartoons that will be under the hammer:

Announcing Our Programme

…is what we’ll be doing on Culture Night! Meet us at the Town Hall Theatre at 6pm, and be among the first to hear our great lineup of events and guest cartoonists for 2023. Along with this, we’ll be unveiling “Still Crazy After All These Years”, a hilarious retrospective of gag-meister supreme Tom Mathews. Full Details

Here Comes The Poster

Coming soon to a bare patch of wall near you, the 2023 Galway Cartoon Festival poster! This year’s poster image is by the marvellous Jim Cogan, whose style will be unmistakable to anyone in Ireland.

Submissions Are Now Open

For the 2023 Galway Cartoon Festival! This year we have three separate shows that are open to public submissions. Feel free to send stuff in to any or all of them: Artificial Idiocy Are You Ready To Be Replaced!? This could be the last Galway Cartoon Festival, folks. Soon they won’t need us any more. Just tell a computer what makes you laugh and it will turn out side-splitting gag after gag, all beautifully drawn in its own inimitable style. Well, someone’s inimitable style. What do you think – is Artificial Intelligence a useful tool and amusing toy? Or will it murder us all and boil down our corpses for useful minerals? It could go either way. Give us your artistic reaction to the rise of the machine. While you can. General Mayhem Wait, you’re not concerned about humanity’s harrowing future? You have something to say about humanity’s harrowing present instead? Good on you. Or perhaps there’s a simple but hilarious gag cartoon or a comic strip you’d like to show. No problem. We’ll also be doing a show about everything except AI. As is tradition, we call it General Mayhem. Tarraing É I nGaeilge Which is Irish for “Draw It In Irish“, and is our show specifically for cartoons in that language – the only one of its kind! Works selected for Tarraing é i nGaeilge will be exhibited both in Galway City and on Inis Oírr in the Aran Islands. The Terms and the Conditions 20 August ’23

Don’t Miss These Shows

The main exhibitions of the Galway Cartoon Festival 2022 are still open, but must close soon. Now is your last chance to see… Marilena Nardi – The Drawings of Tomorrow Town Hall Theatre Bar 12:00pm – 5pm Marilena Nardi teaches illustration and artistic anatomy at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, and her mastery of these disciplines is clearly evidenced by her works. She is a cartoonist of extraordinary power, a voice crying silently for justice, the passion of her meaning manifest in every line. Having appeared in leading newspapers such as Le Monde and Corriere della Sera, she now regularly contributes to Italian progressive daily Domani. Jim Cogan Retrospective Town Hall Theatre Foyer 12:00pm – 5pm Each year, the Galway Cartoon Festival endeavours to choose one Irish professional to celebrate. Jim Cogan has been one of Ireland’s funniest and most famous cartoonists for decades, and deserves this honour more than most. Tarraing É I nGaeilge Galway City Library 10:00am – 5pm “Draw It In Irish”, our annual showcase of cartoons and comics created in the first official language, is displayed both on Inis Oírr and – until this Thursday – at Galway City Library. It features both some of the best-known names in Irish cartooning and some completely new talent. This year we even feature contributions from Italy! Drawing The Line PorterShed Bowling Green 12:00pm – 5pm And of course our main annual international exhibition, Drawing The Line, is still on show. Come and see cartoons from all around the world. Some by complete unknowns, others by the biggest names in the profession. Included among the latter are some of the wonderful guests we had this year – Steve Bell, Hunt Emerson, Cristina Sampaio, Ivailo Tsvetkov, Brady Izquierdo Rodríguez, Graeme Keyes, Tom Mathews, Aongus Collins, Dean Patterson, Harry Burton and of course, Liza Donnelly. See their work, and much more, at the PorterShed Bowling Green.

SELECTED ARTISTS 2022

“Drawing The Line” It is with huge thanks to everyone who sent work for consideration that we announce the artists who were chosen for our 2022 open international exhibition, “Drawing The Line”. Alagon Italy Andrey Selivanov Russia Aongus Collins Ireland Bahman Jalali Nokandeh Iran Brandon Hicks Canada Brady Izquierdo Rodríguez Cuba Ciaraíoch Ireland Cristina Sampaio Portugal Dara McGee Ireland David Carmody Ireland David Hafez USA Dean Patterson Northern Ireland Dokhshid Ghodratipour Iran Doru Axinte Romania Evžen David Czechia Fabrice Matray France Fadi Toon Norway Glenn Marshall UK Graeme Keyes Ireland Harry Burton Ireland Hunt Emerson UK Ivailo Tsvetkov Bulgaria Jabar Saber Iraq Joe Boske Ireland Joey Mason USA Jon Berkeley Ireland Jonathon Bomser USA Liza Donnelly USA Mahboob Pakdel Iran Mark Winter New Zealand Martyn Turner Ireland Milko Dalla Battista Italy Nol France Philip Witte USA Raed Khalil Syria Richard Chapman Ireland Richie Brennan Ireland Salar Eshratkhah Iran Shen Hong Li China Steve Bell UK Teja Fischer Germany Til Mette Germany Tjeerd Royaards Netherlands Tom Mathews Ireland Viacheslav Kapreliants Ukraine Having received something approaching 2,000 entries this year, our chief regret is that we only had space to hang 90 pieces. We have been able to display nothing more than a brief sample of the cartooning talent that exists in Ireland and around the world. All the chosen works remain on exhibition at the PorterShed Galway until Sunday October 9th (and will be available as an online gallery after the festival). Please come and enjoy them.

Taibhdhearc Shows

Sunday October 2nd Tickets online or on the door. The Comics of Jack B Yeats 4pm Tickets Ilustrated talk by Michael Connerty with Q & A session and mini comic strip art exhibition by Jack B Yeats in An Taibhdhearc. The State of The Art A panel discussion with top Irish and international cartoonists in An Taibhdhearc, as part of Galway Cartoon Festival 2022 Liza Donnelly (The New Yorker) Steve Bell (The Guardian) Cristina Sampio (SpamCartoons) Hunt Emerson (The Beano) Tom Mathews (Of Course) Your host: James Harrold 7pm Tickets

Grand Opening

Friday 7:00 – Tomorrow night! – The PorterShed All cartoon fans are welcome to the opening of the Galway Cartoon Festival 2022, which takes place in the PorterShed, Bowling Green. Join us for a drink and a chat, and of course a great deal of very funny cartoons. This event doubles as the opening of the our main exhibition, ‘Drawing The Line‘, a gathering of new and topical cartoons by some of the best in the business, including this year’s international guests Steve Bell (The Guardian), Liza Donnelly (The New Yorker), Cristina Sampaio (SpamCartoons), and Ivailo Tsvetkov. (Note that the actual entrance to the PorterShed is on the Market Street side, via the car park, and that the PorterShed isn’t at the train station any more!)

Just Days To Go!

Deadline: Sunday July 31 Don’t think about it too much, just send us something. We’ve had submissions from over 100 cartoonists so far, so it’s going to be a party. Additionally, these selected entries will appear in an online brochure and gallery of the 2022 festival. If you submitted your work more than a week ago and have still not received an acknowledgement, please get in touch and we’ll check that it reached us.

Festival Submissions Are Open!

Deadline: July 31st 2022 The Galway Cartoon Festival is now inviting cartoon entries for our international exhibition 2022. Our Theme: “Drawing The Line” This is where we draw a line under the events of the last few years – or so we hope. How do you, a cartoonist, make sense of it all? What needs to be said? What needs to stop right now, and what needs to start? What has made you laugh or cry – or laugh and cry? Get it out of your system. Draw the line! Entries Terms and Conditions Selected cartoons will be printed and framed by the Galway Cartoon Festival and offered for sale. Galway Cartoon Festival is a voluntary organisation promoting the art of cartoon and any sales will be put into meeting the costs of running this year’s festival or put into the budget for next year’s festival. Submitted cartoons may also be used in publicity materials for the festival, where they will be credited to the artist. Irish Language Galway Cartoon Festival welcomes cartoons in any language and none, but we are particularly keen to get cartoons and comics in the Irish language for our “Tarraing é i nGaeilge” exhibition – the only national annual show of cartoons in Irish. Works selected for Tarraing é i nGaeilge will be exhibited both in Galway City and on Inis Óirr in the Aran Islands. Other Events Alongside these open exhibitions, we have a fine bunch of other cartoon shows and events in the pipeline too. Stick around for further details – or just join the mailing list – and save the first week of October for a visit to Galway.

September 30th – October 9th 2022!

Yes, it’s coming round again already We’re excited to announce that the dates for this year’s Cartoon Festival have been set for the first week of October. After struggling against the odds over the last couple of years, we’re hoping to really spread out again with this one. Thanks for all your support during the hard times!

Galway Cartoon Festival Launch 1 Oct 2021 – At Large in the 2020 Hub Galway

Massive thanks to Mayor of Galway Cllr Colette Connolly for attending and speaking, to Gerry Hanberry for the music, to Vinny Brown for officially launching us and judging, and to everyone who attended!

Is mian le Féile Cartún na Gaillimhe cuireadh a thabhairt do chartúnaithe

Is mian le Féile Cartún na Gaillimhe cuireadh a thabhairt do chartúnaithe a bhíonn ag obair trí mheán na Gaeilge a saothar a chur isteach le haghaidh eagrán na bliana seo d’Fhéile Cartún na Gaillimhe. Tá an téama lánoscailte do thaispeántas na Gaeilge agus déanfar cartúin ar bith i nGaeilge a mheas le cur san áireamh ann. Ba cheart iontrálacha a sheoladh trí r-phost chuig info@galway­cartoon­festival.ie i bhfoirm jpeg 300dpi. Bronnfar duais airgid ar shaothar amháin a dhéanfaidh moltóir neamhspleách a roghnú. Déanfar na hiontrálacha a roghnófar a chur i gcló agus a chur ar taispeáint in ionaid timpeall na Gaillimhe, 1-9 Deireadh Fómhair 2021. Is é an dáta deiridh a ghlacfar le hiontrálacha an 28 Lúnasa 2021. Tá na téarmaí agus coinníollacha go léir ar fáil ag galwaycartoonfestival.ie nó ach iad a iarraidh.

Augustus John’s Galway Revisited

Public Participation In 1915 Welsh artist Augustus John visited Galway. He began work on a large mural based on the inhabitants of Galway City. He hoped to make ‘a vast picture synthesizing all that’s fine and characteristic in Galway City – a grand marshalling of the elements’. In 2021 Galway Cartoon Festival is going to update Augustus John’s vision for synthesizing all that’s fine in Galway, and we need your help! We are looking for the iconic images of Galway as they exist in the modern imagination of Galway’s people. We want to create a bank of the magic moments of Galway’s recent past that our cartoonists can respond to creatively and exhibit the results. It can be anything from a Macnas Parade to a hurling final So if there’s a photo you feel epitomises the best of Galway we’re looking for you to nominate it! If you don’t have the image send us a description and we’ll do some sleuthing! Send your nominations to info@galwaycartoonfestival.ie. Closing date 31/07/21 Please note: we are looking for nominations of well-known existing photos only. Please do not send your own snaps! WAIT THERE’S MORE! We need your help in raising funds for this year’s festival. Can you pledge a fiver? Everyone who donates will enter a draw to win a caricature by Allan Cavanagh. CLICK HERE TO HELP THE FESTIVAL HAPPEN IN 2021

Galway Cartoon Festival Call for Entries 2021- “At Large”

GALWAY CARTOON FESTIVAL 2021: AT LARGE Galway Cartoon Festival would like to invite cartoonists from around the world to enter this year’s group exhibition to take place in October 2021. This year’s theme is AT LARGE. With a growing expectation that we will be able to emerge from our Covid-cocoons over the next year we would like cartoonists to consider what happens to the metaphorical butterfly when it hasn’t had a social life for 18 months. Will the world be scary and incomprehensible? Will we be overwhelmed when we have to talk to people? Or will we be more patient? Friendlier? Will our chins feel cold without the masks? Show us what a post-Covid world of freedom looks like! Entries should be emailed to info@galwaycartoonfestival.ie as 300dpi jpegs. Selected entries will be printed and exhibited in venues around Galway 1-9 October 2021. Closing date for entries is 31/07/21 28 AUGUST 2021 IRISH LANGUAGE Galway Cartoon Festival would like to invite cartoonists working in the medium of Irish to enter their work in this year’s Galway Cartoon Festival. The theme is open-ended for the Irish language exhibition and any cartoons in Irish will be considered for inclusion. There will be a €500 prize for one selected work chosen by an independent judge (sponsored by Blacknight Solutions). Entries should be emailed to info@galwaycartoonfestival.ie as 300dpi jpegs. There will be a cash prize for one selected work chosen by an independent judge. Selected entries will be printed and exhibited in venues around Galway 1-9 October 2021.Closing date for entries is 31/07/21 28 AUGUST 2021 ————————————— TERMS AND CONDITIONS: Selected cartoons will be printed and framed by the Galway Cartoon Festival and offered for sale during the Festival. Galway Cartoon Festival is a voluntary organisation promoting the art of cartoon and any sales will be put into meeting the costs of running this year’s festival or put into the budget for next year’s festival. One cartoon will be selected for our posters, leaflets and other publicity with a credit to the artist. There will be a cash prize for one winning cartoonist in the At Large exhibition and one winning artist in the Irish Language exhibition selected by an independent judge. ————————————– Can you help us raise the funds for this year’s festival? We are seeking donations of €5 or higher to help us meet this year’s funding target. We still have a long way to go so any help is appreciated! You can donate at GoFundMe

Galway Cartoon Festival Interview: Osama Hajjaj

This month Galway Cartoon Festival talks to cartoonist Osama Hajjaj. Name: Osama Eid Hajjaj Where are you from? From Amman the capital of Jordan. When did you become interested in drawing cartoons? Since I was 20 years old. My father was the one who encouraged me to enter this field because of the nature of his work at this time as a news translator. I was unemployed at this time but I was full of talent for drawing. The drawing was just as a hobby for me in this time. Then I got into the newspaper where my father works, not as a cartoonist, but as an expressive graphic artist, especially for newspaper topics with very low salary, so From here I started my way to be a cartoonist. Who are your big influences? There’s many… not just one… Since I was young I loved comic books & tv cartoons program my big influences in this time like Stan Lee & Frank Miller, and in cartoon art like… Hajo de Reijger & Angel Boligan. Where were you first published? My first published cartoon was in the same newspaper that my father works for, and the first newspaper I worked for as a cartoonist. It was an indescribable feeling I remember having when I saw my first cartoon published on paper. I bought 5 newspapers at that time in 1993 ☺ What’s your favourite cartoon (single panel or strip)? Mmmm .. I love them both, But most likely single cartoon What materials do you use? In the past I was using paper and ink colors, pencil, free hand drawing. More fun, but more difficult and needs time… but now with technology I use ipad proAnd drawing programs so I am now digital artist. On a scale from 1-10, where 1 is the thing you hang wet clothes on and 10 is the thing Gandalf rode in on, how are you at drawing horses? Hahahah… nice question… 7/10 Did you scribble in the margins of your books in school? Oooh this is a big story on my life ، I’ve always scribble on my school books. It made me a lot of trouble and rebukes with my teacher, but that period or habit for me was like learning to draw and this is one of the sacrifices that affected my studies in this time. My friends liked my drawings and called me an artist. I miss those books that have so many sketches ☹ And keep updated: every time the cartoon artist needs to read and follow news and events and be educated. This time is easier on their way than in the past because you don’t need a newspaper or magazine to be a cartoonist. The future is now the social media, make your page and go. Where can we find you online? Online you can find my work by google search or my page on facebook: osamahajjaj cartoonsAnd instagram: osamahajjajTwitter: @osamacartoonsCartoonmovement.comCagle.comRoyatv.com It’s that time of year again where the Galway Cartoon Festival must rattle our fundraising can to ensure this year’s Cartoon Festival happens! We are a completely voluntary organisation that seeks to promote the art of the cartoon each year through exhibitions, talks and workshops. It is the public that gets us over the line each year and this year is no different! So if you’ve ever laughed at a Larson or cracked up at a Keyes please consider getting the card out! Click here to make a small donation to keep the Galway Cartoon Festival going in 2021.

We Need You!

Click here to make a small donation to keep the Galway Cartoon Festival going in 2021. It’s that time of year again where the Galway Cartoon Festival must rattle our fundraising can to ensure this year’s Cartoon Festival happens! We are a completely voluntary organisation that seeks to promote the art of the cartoon each year through exhibitions, talks and workshops. We gratefully receive funding from Galway City Council’s Arts Office and sponsorship from local businesses. However it is the public that gets us over the line each year and this year is no different! So if you’ve ever laughed at a Larson or cracked up at a Keyes please consider getting the card out! Here’s a video of last year’s Festival:

Cartoonists Respond to Cúirt Festival Events 2021

As part of Cúirt 2021, Galway Cartoon Festival will be responding to the Ashford Castle events and you’ll be able to see the resulting cartoons online! Renowned editorial cartoonist Graeme Keyes and queen of quirky line Caoimhe Lavelle will be responding to the themes discussed and the authors discussing them during this series of events that sees Cúirt’s second year as a mainly online event. The cartoons will be appearing on Cúirt’s social media channels so don’t forget to subscribe. It’s also that time of year again where the Galway Cartoon Festival must rattle our fundraising can to ensure this year’s Cartoon Festival happens! We are a completely voluntary organisation that seeks to promote the art of the cartoon each year through exhibitions, talks and workshops. We gratefully receive funding from Galway City Council’s Arts Office and sponsorship from local businesses. However it is the public that gets us over the line each year and this year is no different! So if you’ve ever laughed at a Larson or cracked up at a Keyes please consider getting the card out! Click here to make a small donation to keep the Galway Cartoon Festival going in 2021.

Galway City Council Virtual St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Here’s the virtual St. Patrick’s Day Parade as drawn by the children of Galway, and animated by Earthbound Films. This event was organished by Ruairí Lehmann, Tourism Officer in Galway City Council, in collaboration with the Galway Cartoon Festival. A great initiative from the Galway City Council in encouraging artistic creativity among the next generation of cartoonists!

St Patrick’s Day Parade Galway Colouring Page!

Galway Cartoon Festival in association with Galway City Council is delighted to present this colouring-in /activity page for children everywhere. Using your markers, crayons, paints and colouring pencils you can draw your own St. Patrick’s Day Parade winding along the streets of Galway, then colour the crowd and buildings in! This page is also published in the St Patrick’s Day supplement in this week’s Galway Advertiser. Pick up a copy for information and activities about what Galway festivals are getting up to this March 17th! The Galway Cartoon Festival will run this year from 1-9 October in various venues in Galway. Check local press for details or subscribe to our site! For a high-resolution version click on the image above, then print it off at home!

DRAW ST. PATRICK’S DAY/ TARRAING LÁ ‘LE PÁDRAIG!

Galway City Council in association with the Galway Cartoon Festival is inviting entries from children of all ages to take part in a virtual St Patrick’s Day parade in 2021! “Are you looking forward to St. Patrick’s Day? Well we need your help in creating this year’s virtual St. Patrick’s Day parade for Galway! We are inviting you to draw a picture of yourself at the St. Patrick’s Day parade – you can either be there as a spectator or taking part. Our animators will then work behind the scenes to bring your images to life! Your picture may appear in our animated 2021 parade online, in the Galway Advertiser or be displayed in one of our exhibitions across the city. An bhfuil tú ag tnúth le Lá ‘le Pádraig? Bhuel, an gcabhróidh tú linn chun mórshiúl fíorúil Lá ‘le Pádraig a chruthú i nGaillimh? Iarraimid ort pictiúr a tharraingt díot féin agus tú ag mórshiúl Lá ‘le Pádraig – gléasta suas ar fhlóta nó mar dhuine den lucht féachana. Rachaidh ár mbeochantóirí ag obair sa chúlra chun do phictiúir a bheochan! Is féidir go mbeidh do phictiúr le feiceáil inár mórshiúl beoite 2021 ar líne sa ‘Galway Advertiser’ nó i gceann dár dtaispeántais ar fud na cathrach.” Click here for details of how to enter! Closing date for entries is the 1 March 2021.

And The Winner Is…

We were able to put together a small pot this year to recognise one cartoon that was judged to best capture the theme of the Galway Cartoon Festival’s main 2020 exhibition, The New Normal. We asked artist Ted Turton to judge this for us (Ted also launched the exhibition). The winner is Brandon Hicks for his entry, Together. Congratulations Brandon and we’ll be in touch. Many thanks to every single artist who submitted this year. Many thanks also are due to our sponsors below. Thanks to everyone who attended one of our events and came along to the exhibitions, we hope you had your spirits lifted! The exhibitions are currently closed and while the Festival officially finished on Friday we hope to run for another week or so when Level 3 restrictions each. And don’t forget the whole of The New Normal exhibition is online!

UPDATED 04/12/20

Covid Level 3 Restriction Updates UPDATE 04/12/20: Good news! With the easing of restrictions we are having an extended Festival! The exhibition in the Galway 2020 Cornstore Galway Hub will continue from Tuesday 8th December for ONE WEEK and the exhibition in Áras Éanna Arts Centre is open NOW UNTIL CHRISTMAS! PLEASE VIEW OUR MAIN EXHIBITION ONLINE HERE! WE WILL UPDATE AS THE SITUATION ALLOWS.

Galway Cartoon Festival Opening, Áras Éanna Arts Centre, Inis Oírr

Galway Cartoon Festival exhibition in Europe’s most westerly Arts Centre! Galway Cartoon Festival is grateful to Dara McGee for opening this exhibition.

Ciaraíoch Art Prints Now on Sale!

Friend of the Festival and cartoonist extraordinaire Ciaraíoch is now selling prints of her work through her brand spanking new site. These art prints make great gifts. Check it out and support an artist! We interviewed Ciaraíoch a few months ago and you can read that interview here.

Video: Welcome to The New Normal!

Here’s a video roundup of the launch of the 2020 Galway Cartoon Festival exhibition: The New Normal. Thanks to everyone who helped make this year such a success, we really felt the City getting behind us and we’re already planning next year!

Galway Cartoon Festival 2020 Art Trail & Venue Map

UPDATE 07/10/20: EXCEPT FOR BUSINESSES ON OUR ART TRAIL ALL VENUES ARE CURRENTLY CLOSED DUE TO LEVEL 3 COVID RESTRICTIONS. PLEASE VIEW OUR MAIN EXHIBITION ONLINE HERE! WE WILL UPDATE AS THE SITUATION ALLOWS. Here is the map for the Art Trail and Venues involved in the Galway Cartoon Festival 2020! Click to embiggen!

Video: Galway Cartoon Festival: The New Normal

A quick video of some of our 2020 exhibition, The New Normal, in the 2020 Hub, Cornstore Galway, and the streets of Galway!Full exhibition can be viewed online here.

Galway Cartoon Festival Interview: Kathryn Lamb

This month Galway Cartoon Festival talks to cartoonist Kathryn Lamb Name: Kathryn Lamb Where are you from? I was born in Bahrain (my father was a Middle East expert in the Foreign Office), and I grew up in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait. My father is Welsh, from Swansea. When did you become interested in drawing cartoons? I remember drawing in chalk on the pavement (back in home leave in England) when I was about six, getting in trouble, and having to wash it off. Who are your big influences? I copied characters from the Peanuts strip by Charles Schultz. I adored Ronald Searle’s drawings. Also Arthur Rackham’s illustrations and those by Tove Jansson in the Moomintroll books. Where were you first published? I I drew cartoons for the Cherwell newspaper while reading English at Oxford, and had my first cartoon published in Private Eye in May 1979. What’s your favourite cartoon (single panel or strip)? I love Ronald Searle’s series of ‘Revolting Cats’ drawings – the one that stood out for me was captioned ‘Particularly Revolting Cat Startled by a Gesture of Affection’. What materials do you use? I use Staedtler fine liners, an A5 pad (although currently using the lovely book of paper from the Galway Cartoon Festival!), and occasionally a set of unremarkable colouring pencils. I work on my lap, which is not recommended for posture, but fitted in well with family life (single parent of six children – now grown up). On a scale from 1-10, where 1 is the thing you hang wet clothes on and 10 is the thing Gandalf rode in on, how are you at drawing horses? I’d give myself a strong 4 (one point for each leg). Did you scribble in the margins of your books in school? Not just in the margins but all over the books. And on one unforgettable occasion, all over the walls of the male teachers’ cloakroom. I left the school shortly after this. Do you have any advice for aspiring cartoonists? Don’t give up! Where can we find you online? My work can be viewed online at the Chris Beetles Gallery. [Galway Cartoon Festival kicks off tomorrow in Galway City, Inis Oírr and online. See full programme of exhibitions and events here!]

Programme 2020: THE NEW NORMAL

UPDATE 07/10/20: ALL VENUES ARE CURRENTLY CLOSED DUE TO LEVEL 3 COVID RESTRICTIONS PLEASE VIEW OUR MAIN EXHIBITION ONLINE HERE WE WILL UPDATE AS THE SITUATION ALLOWS. EXHIBITIONS: THE NEW NORMAL  (Galway 2020 Hub, The Cornstore) 2020 has witnessed an enormous change in the world with ramifications to every walk of life. Inevitably cartoonists around the world have been responding with great humour to the Covid-19 crisis, tongues planted firmly in masked cheeks. Galway Cartoon Festival would like to mark this cartoon catharsis under this year’s theme of The New Normal. Featuring over 40 cartoonists from all over the world, you’ll get to see how much we all have in common, especially now. TARRAING É I NGAEILGE  (Galway 2020 Hub, The Cornstore) Most cartoons in this country have words, but more often than not these are in English. Yet we have a healthy culture of Irish-language work being produced here, particularly in comic strips and illustration. To celebrate this, we are presenting our second annual exhibition to represent that scene. GRACE GIFFORD (Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, The Cornstore) Most people would be familiar with the song “Grace”, but not many know that she was actually a cartoonist and illustrator. We present a tale of romance, death, patriotism, history and cartoons in tribute to this remarkable woman. ART TRAIL  (Streets of Galway, map coming soon) Featuring works from THE NEW NORMAL and TARRAING É I NGAEILGE. Have a walk around and see what you can spot! TARRAING É I NGAEILGE, GRACE GIFFORD  (Áras Éanna, Inis Oírr) This year, we are branching out from the city and crossing the water to bring our Irish-language exhibition and our Grace Gifford Plunkett tribute to Áras Éanna Arts Centre on Inis Oírr. EVENTS MINI MOMA FRIDAY 2 OCTOBER, 7PM, KINLAY HOUSE, EYRE SQUARE: Artists Caoimhe Lavelle and Kristina Collender will be bringing their Mini Moma exhibition to Galway for this year’s Festival. Reproducing famous paintings in miniature, the artists will be painting these tiny canvases live for a limited audience! LIVE CARICATURES SATURDAY 3 OCTOBER, 1.30-3.30PM, HARBOUR HOTEL, GALWAY DOCKS: One of Ireland’s top caricature artists and co-founder of the Festival, Allan Cavanagh, will be drawing live caricatures in the Harbour Hotel! Pop in for a sitting and take home a commemorative Galway Cartoon Festival caricature! EXHIBITION LAUNCH: THE NEW NORMAL, TARRAING É I NGAEILGE, GRACE GIFFORD SATURDAY 3 OCTOBER, 4PM 2020 HUB, GALWAY CORNSTORE: We launch our main exhibitions in the Galway 2020 Hub with guest speaker Ted Turton. Come in for a socially distanced gander at the cartoons we have collected from artists all over the world dealing with life in the pandemic! READING: GERRY HANBERRY READS FROM ‘ON RAGLAN ROAD’ SATURDAY 3 OCTOBER, 5PM 2020 HUB, GALWAY CORNSTORE: Galway author, musician and historian Gerry Hanberry will read from his book “On Raglan Road” about the women who have inspired some well known songs, including featured artist Grace Gifford. EXHIBITION LAUNCH: TARRAING É I NGAEILGE, GRACE GIFFORD SUNDAY 4 OCTOBER, 5PM ÁRAS ÉANNA, INIS OÍRR Two strands of the Galway Cartoon Festival’s 2020 exhibition will run concurrently in Áras Éanna, Inis Oírr. This exhibition will be launched by artist and Áras Éanna Director, Dara McGee.

YOU DID IT! GALWAY CARTOON FESTIVAL FULLY FUNDED!

We put out the call and you responded! Galway Cartoon Festival’s Fundit campaign is now fully funded! With this we’ll be able to print and frame cartoons and run ads for the festival. Thank you so much! GALWAY CARTOON FESTIVAL PROGRAMME 2020 COMING SOON!

Galway Cartoon Festival Interview: Martyn Turner

This month Galway Cartoon Festival talks to cartoonist Martyn Turner Name: Martyn Turner Where are you from? Born in Essex. Family cockney for generations except an outlier great grandfather who was an Irish traveller called Johnny Cash (I’m not making it up). When did you become interested in drawing cartoons? when i was knee high to a grasshopper. Who are your big influences? Trog, Emmwood, Ronald Searle. Where were you first published? Primary school I wrote edited and illustrated a magazine. Ditto secondary school. Ditto university. Ditto post graduation. What’s your favourite cartoon (single panel or strip)? Aongus Collins’ cartoon of Dick Spring at the “Lost’ desk: ”Excuse me, have you seen the run of myself?” I think it should be permanently stuck on every wall in the Dáil. What materials do you use? Pentel fude brush pens, Bristol board, carpenters pencils and Clip Studio Paint on the computer for colouring.  On a scale from 1-10, where 1 is the thing you hang wet clothes on and 10 is the thing Gandalf rode in on, how are you at drawing horses? 2 and a half. Did you scribble in the margins of your books in school? Yes and on everyone else’s too… Do you have any advice for aspiring cartoonists? Don’t let the buggers wear you down. Where can we find you online? Irish times opinion pages and twitter @turnercartoons [You can see archived interviews here. We hope to host a monthly interview with cartoonists around the world, both established and up-and-coming. If you’d like to feature please get in touch.] WE NEED YOUR HELP! The Galway Cartoon Festival is 4 this year. Despite the pandemic we are still planning to host a physical exhibition. Our ability to fund-raise has been severely curtailed. If you’ve ever enjoyed an editorial cartoon please bung us a fiver. https://fundit.ie/project/galway-cartoon-festival-2020 More details of our fundraiser can be found at the link above and we have a tiered reward system! PLEASE HELP US MAKE 2020 HAPPEN!

Galway Cartoon Festival 2020: Help Us Happen! 💰

UPDATE: OUR FUNDIT CAMPAIGN WAS SUCCESSFUL! The Galway Cartoon Festival is 4 this year. Despite the pandemic we are still planning to host a physical exhibition.Our ability to fund-raise has been severely curtailed. If you’ve ever enjoyed an editorial cartoon please bung us a fiver. Your Funding Benefits: Fund €20+ Contributors will receive a copy of the festival programme, a copy of the 2020 Festival poster and will be added to our invitation list for all live and on-line events Fund €50+ Contributors of €50 or more will receive a festival t-shirt, a cartoon print, a copy of the festival programme, a copy of the 2020 festival poster and invitations to all openings, live events and online events Fund €100+ Premium contributors will receive a signed print by a top cartoonist, the much-sought-after festival pencil and sketch pad, a festival catalogue and poster, a festival t-shirt as well as invitations to all events. WHAT IS THE GALWAY CARTOON FESTIVAL? This will be the fourth year of the festival and this year we will run from Friday October 2nd to 9th October 2020 with a major exhibition in Galway City centre and a series of events and workshops. We are also planning to hold an exhibition of cartoons in Irish on the Aran Islands. All of the exhibitions will be available to view online and we will be holding a series of online interviews, talks and workshops. WHAT WILL BE IN THE EXHIBITIONS? We will be showcasing some of the work produced by top Irish and international cartoonists in reaction to the pandemic and how it has effected our lives and an exhibition of work in the Irish language. The exhibitions will also be available to view on our website (www.galwaycartoonfestival.ie), where we are currently running a series of interviews with top Irish and international cartoonists. WHAT ELSE WILL BE HAPPENING? As well as the series of interviews and the on-line exhibition, our website will also be hosting a series of workshops, talks and live drawing events. If possible, we will also host a number of live events and workshops in the exhibition venue. We will be setting up “draw on a phone box” official graffiti spaces where anybody who feels like giving it a go can become an opportunistic artist! And there will be an Art Trail, showcasing top cartoon art, in various locations throughout the streets of Galway.

CALL FOR ENTRIES – GALWAY CARTOON FESTIVAL 2-9 OCTOBER 2020 “THE NEW NORMAL”

Galway Cartoon Festival invites cartoonists from all over the world to submit entries for this year’s festival exhibition: THE NEW NORMAL The last 3 months have witnessed an enormous change in the world with enormous ramifications to every walk of life. Inevitably cartoonists around the world have been responding hilariously to the Covid-19 crisis with tongues planted firmly in masked cheeks. Galway Cartoon Festival would like to mark this cartoon catharsis under this year’s theme of The New Normal. We invite cartoonists everywhere to submit relevant cartoons for a socially-distanced exhibition online and in real life.  The exhibition will take place in venue TBC and online from 2-9 October 2020. Submissions should be sent as 300 dpi jpegs by email to info@allancavanagh.com. The submission deadline is midnight on 31 August 2020. 

Galway Cartoon Festival Interview: Ciaraíoch

Ciaraíoch portrait

Introducing an occasional interview by the Galway Cartoon Festival with cartoonists from around the world. This month is The Kingdom’s own Ciaraíoch. Name: Ciaraíoch for doodling. Where are you from? – D’Kingdom of Kerry.

Watch This Space!

There will be a festival this year! One way or another, by hook or by crook, Galway Cartoon Festival 2020 will go ahead. Come back for more details soon, or follow our feeds on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Events, 2019

Look at all we’ve got for you! Solo shows by Ireland’s best-known cartoonist and by one of our newest talents. A display of the finest cartoons from all around the world, another of cartoons in Irish, and no less then three different shows where cartoons meet science. We also have a panel discussion, a book launch, drawing sessions and more.

Prog­ramme Launch!

Black Gate Cultural Centre 7.00pm on Monday 7th October Auction Catalogue ARTIST TITLE / DESCRIPTION MEDIUM RESERVE PRICE 1 Jim Cogan Populism Original Drawing €200 2 Igor Smirnov Arms Industry Print None 3 Russel Herneman Trigger Warning Original Drawing €150 4 Clyde Delaney Pope / Leo Original Drawing €280 5 Jim Cogan GAA Original Drawing €200 6 Dean Patterson Vet Signed Print €125 7 Eoin Kelleher Data Protection Original Drawing €150 8 Jim Cogan Lions Original Drawing €200 9 Donal Casey 1916 Print None 10 Damir Novak Escalation Print None 11 Liza Donnelly Peace Channel Print None 12 Florian Doru Crihana Spanish Arch 1918 Original Painting €200 13 Nani Tank Print None 14 Crisan and Petry Death Print None 15 Jia RuiJun Bomb Print None 16 Til Mette Magic Bullet Print None 17 Miriam Würster Say Peace Print None 18 The Surreal McCoy Riot Print None 19 Dean Patterson Men At Work Signed Print €125 20 Dean Patterson Hitler in Disguise Signed Print €126 21 Kathryn Lamb Smoking Cats Original Drawing €150 22 Gatis Sluka Vegan Print None 23 Gatis Sluka Christmas Print None 24 Dean Patterson Goldfish Signed Print €125 25 Glenn Marshall Blame Culture Signed Print €125 26 The Surreal McCoy Me Too Signed Print €125 27 Nick Newman Brexit Forecast Original Drawing €150 28 Fadi Abou Hassan Migrants Print None 29 Nick Newman DUP Original Drawing €150 30 The Surreal McCoy Duel Signed Print €125 31 Russel Herneman No WiFi Original Drawing €150 32 Florin Balaban Europa Print None 33 Martin Rowson Novichok Print None 34 Donal Casey Brexannia Print None 35 Virginia Cabras Hope Print None 36 Karol Cizmazia Flick Print None All these works are on exhibition at the Black Gate

Quiz Night!

Monday 29 July, Black Gate, 8:00pm Bring all of your friends, it’s only €40 per table and the prizes will be exceptional. We have so many in fact that we’ll be raffling some as well, so you don’t even have to be clever to walk off with loot. Many thanks to the generosity of our sponsors. The quiz will be almost entirely on general knowledge, though there will be one cartoon round. So start reading comics if you want that edge… And of course there’s a bar, many fab wines, lovely food, and that Cartoon Festival atmosphere!

Good Shots

Our guests of honour last year, Nol (France) and Marilena Nardi (Italy), have done us the favour of putting up a sweet photo album of their visit to Galway. Here’s a link and some examples: Festival Galway – Irlande 2018

Auction Thanks

Huge thanks to everyone who made our first ever cartoon auction a big success last night, especially sponsors the Liquor Lounge (upstairs at the Dáil Bar) and the Latin Quarter, and of course all the cartoonists. In particular we want to thank Tom Mathews and Gerard Crowley who donated original works to the cause. Special thanks too to Brendan Savage who did a simply brilliant job as MC, and of course to everyone who came – especially those of you who bought cartoons. If you weren’t there… Well, you should have been. We sold 30 pieces (23 prints and 7 original drawings), mostly at bargain prices. It was a huge boost for us, raising enough to make some of our ideas feasible, so look out for news about the 2019 festival soon!

Auction Catalogue

Join us in the Liquor Lounge (upstairs in the Dáíl Bar on Middle Street) at 8:00pm on Tuesday April 9th for a splendid auction of cartoon originals and prints. MC and auctioneer for the evening will be Brendan Savage, there will be a raffle, booze and general fun, and all proceeds go to putting on the next festival! The Cougar Tom Mathews Ireland Original Drawing We start with a gag by the inimitable Tom Mathews. Pail Tom Mathews Ireland Original Drawing Some call Tom the rock star of Irish cartooning. Homer Tom Mathews Ireland Original Drawing Tom also knows a thing or two about art criticism. Sculpture in the Park Tom Mathews Ireland Original Drawing And about art critics. Excalibur Tom Mathews Ireland Original Drawing Not to mention mythology. The Untouchables Tom Mathews Ireland Original Drawing And of course, fine cinema. Irish Dancing School Ed McLachlan UK Large Print Ed McLachlan is one of the greats of British cartooning. His work appears in many publications including Private Eye. Double Original Gerard Crowley Ireland Original Drawing Two great original drawings from comic strip The Last Resort in the Sunday Business Post. The Legend of Bishop Moling Hunt Emerson UK High Quality Giclée Print British underground comix maestro Hunt Emerson retells the Irish legend of Bishop Moling and the fox. The Backstop’s Here Ian Knox Ireland High Quality Giclée Print Northern Ireland’s Ian Knox on Brexit and the backstop. The 12th Ciaraíoch Ireland High Quality Giclée Print And while we’re in the North here’s a take on the 12th, as Gaeilge. Brexit Cristina Sampaio Portugal High Quality Giclée Print Internationally famous artist Cristina Sampaio sends this disturbing and powerful take on Brexit from Portugal. Word War Three Cristina Sampaio Portugal High Quality Giclée Print Cristina gives us a controversial take on European politics. Triumphal Arch Banx UK High Quality Giclée Print Another British cartoon veteran, Jeremy Banx casts a jaundiced eye on victory. Surfing Girl Fadi Abou Hassan Palestine High Quality Giclée Print Palestinian refugee artist Fadi Abou Hassan provides this powerful image of freedom. Avocados Twisted­Doodles Ireland High Quality Giclée Print One of the funniest cartoonists working in Ireland today, TwistedDoodles tells it like it is about avocados. Rural Chemist Twisted­Doodles Ireland High Quality Giclée Print What would the local pharmacist have thought of your smartphone pictures? Children in Cages Liza Donnelly USA High Quality Giclée Print Irish-American New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly on the Trump policy of separating migrant children from their parents. Testimony Liza Donnelly USA High Quality Giclée Print Inspired by the Kavanaugh hearings, The New Yorker’s Liza Donnelly illustrates a woman’s struggle to be heard. Fascistbook Marilena Nardi Italy High Quality Giclée Print Italy’s Marilena Nardi is one of the greatest talents in cartooning today. This is her take on the dangers of social media. Give Us A Smile Marilena Nardi Italy High Quality Giclée Print Here Marilena Nardi depicts the burden of other people’s emotional needs. Models Marilena Nardi Italy High Quality Giclée Print As well as being a leading cartoonist, Marilena Nardi teaches drawing at the Venice Academy of Fine Arts. Mata Hari Marilena Nardi Italy High Quality Giclée Print Nardi’s portrait of Mata Hari, exotic dancer and alleged double agent during World War 1. From Here You Can See The Future Nicolas Vadot Belgium High Quality Giclée Print From his vantage point at the end of the Great War, a soldier foresees a century of tragedy and failure. The Battle of Bash ‘n’ Fail Martin Rowson UK High Quality Giclée Print Guardian cartoonist Martin Rowson sees similarities between the muddy trenches of WW1 and the morass that is Brexit. Social Media Virginia Cabras Italy High Quality Giclée Print An Italian cartoonist in Ireland, Virginia Cabras sees a new kind of trench warfare. Just Be Yourself Teja Fischer Germany High Quality Giclée Print A fresh take on soldiering from German eccentric Teja Fischer. Referendum Jessica Lawrence Ireland High Quality Giclée Print Galway comic artist Tigerjess recalls campaigning in the last referendum. Kiss Igor Pashchenko Russia High Quality Giclée Print Russian veteran cartoonist Igor Pashchenko depicts a kiss. Trade War Trump Style Martyn Turner Ireland High Quality Giclée Print Irish Times Cartoonist Martyn Turner gives his take on Trump’s protectionism.

Cartoon Auction!

Some fabulous news. We’re going to auction off cartoons that weren’t sold at exhibition last year. The proceeds will go towards this year’s festival. The event takes place at 8:00 pm on Tuesday the 9th of April in the Liquor Lounge, upstairs in the Dáil Bar – the venue where we held our hugely enjoyable brochure launch last year. You’ll be able to bid on a range of framed prints by some of the greatest cartoonists, in Ireland and from around the world. MC and auctioneer will be Brendan Savage. Prices starts as low as €20, and there will be a raffle.

Last Chance To See Exhibition

Sadly our exhibition for the centenary of 1918 must close in a few days. Featuring work by some of the best cartoonists from around the world and beautifully hung by Margaret Nolan, A Peace To End All Peace is an unusual and thought-provoking display of art.  The show is open in the Black Gate Cultural Centre on Frances St from 6 pm to midnight, and is best appreciated with a nice glass of wine. I’ll be there on Wednesday evening, if anyone would like to be told some of the stories behind various works.  Here’s a complete catalogue of the works, many of which are still available to buy.  ARTIST COUNTRY MEDIUM PRICE 1 Nicolas Vadot Belgium Print €75 2 Martin Rowson UK Print €75 3 Hunt Emerson UK Print €75 4 Allan Cavanagh Ireland Original €150 5 Fadi Abou Hassan Palestine Print €50 6 Ivailo Tsvetkov Bulgaria Print €50 7 Jean-Claude Servais Belgium Print NFS 8 Jean-Claude Servais Belgium Print NFS 9 Jean-Claude Servais Belgium Print NFS 10 Huseyin Cakmak Cyprus Print €50 11 Vladislav Shirokov Russia Print €50 12 Dean Patterson Ireland Signed Print €125 13 Jonesy UK Signed Print €125 14 Russel Herneman UK Original €50 15 Teja Fischer Germany Print €50 16 Nick Newman UK Original €50 17 Gatis Sluka Latvia Print €50 18 Jeremy Banx UK Original €100 19 Florian Doru Crihana Romania Original Painting €200 20 Marilena Nardi Italy Print €50 21 The Surreal McCoy UK Print €50 22 Crișan and Petry Romania Print €50 23 Jean-Claude Servais Belgium Print €50 24 Cristina Sampaio Portugal Print €50 25 Vasiliy Alexandrov Russia Print €50 26 Crișan and Petry Romania Print €50 27 Damir Novak Croatia Print €50 28 Alexey Kivokurtseva Russia Print €50 29 The Surreal McCoy UK Signed Print €125 30 Sergei Belozerov Russia Print €50 31 Gatis Sluka Latvia Print €50 32 Nani Columbia / Spain Print €50 33 Jia Ruijun China Print €50 34 Marilena Nardi Italy Print €50 35 Miriam Wurster Germany Print €50 36 Scratch Ireland Print €50 37 Fadi Abou Hassan Palestine Print €50 38 Florin Balaban Luxembourg Print €50 39 Virginia Cabras Italy Print €50 40 Miriam Wurster Germany Print €50 41 Martyn Turner UK / Ireland / France Print €50 42 Til Mette Germany Print €50 43 Liza Donnelly USA Print €50 44 Marilena Nardi Italy Print €50 45 Jeremy Banx UK Original €100 46 Cristina Sampaio Portugal Print €50 47 Fadi Abou Hassan Palestine Print €50 48 The Surreal McCoy UK Print €50 49 The Surreal McCoy UK Signed Print €125 50 Karol Čizmazia Cyprus Print €50 51 Igor Smirnov Russia Print €50 52 Nani Columbia / Spain Print €50 53 Igor Pashchenko Russia Print €50 54 Ivailo Tsvetkov Bulgaria Print €50 55 Florin Balaban Luxembourg Print €50 56 Martin Rowson UK Print €50 57 Donal Casey Ireland Print €50 58 Igor Smirnov Russia Print €50 59 Teja Fischer Germany Print €50 60 Liza Donnelly USA Print €50 61 Steve Bonello Malta Print €50 62 Jeremy Banx UK Print €50 63 Jeremy Banx UK Print €50 64 Jia Ruijun China Print €50 65 Santiago Cornejo Argentina Print €50 66 Mustafa Tozaki Cyprus Print €50 67 Ivailo Tsvetkov Bulgaria Print €50 68 Grigori and Ilya Katz Kirgyzstan / Israel Print €50 69 Donal Casey Ireland Print €50 70 Glenn Marshall UK Signed Print €125

Follow the Cartoon Trail

The Latin Quarter Quay St – Cross St – Middle St We have so much art, it’s spilled out onto the streets! The windows of establishments along the streets of Galway’s Latin Quarter are festooned – yes, festooned – with cartoon works. See Stephen Dee’s fabulous 3D miniatures in the windows of Neachtain’s and Charlie Byrne’s.  See Clyde Delaney’s enormous caricature of Irish literary greats on Cross St.  Visit the Cornstore to see not only the fantastic three-sided hand-drawn comic work of Maria Apoleika, but six gigantic posters featuring nearly fifty great cartoons that we couldn’t find room for anywhere else.  As with our other exhibitions, most works are for sale. Call Margaret at 086 875 8341 if you see anything you’d like. 

Cartoons of The World

Town Hall Theatre Mon-Sat, 10am – 7.30pm Colombia and Croatia, Kenya and Kyrgyzstan, and many countries that don’t start with a ‘kuh’. We’ve received entries to the cartoon festival from all around the planet, and we have put as many of them as we could fit into the Town Hall Theatre gallery. Unlike our Armistice Exhibition in the Black Gate Cultural Centre, this exhibition has no theme – it’s just whatever we thought was funny or pointed and relevant. So there are more gag cartoons in this one, from the likes of – of course – Tom Mathews, as well as some of the most famous UK cartoonists like Ed McLachlan, Nick Newman, Jonesy, Banx and Martin Rowson, whom you will have seen in UK newspapers or magazines like Private Eye. There are also many, many lovely works by international stars of cartooning like our special guest Marilena Nardi, Liza Donnelly of the New Yorker, Cristina Sampaio of Portugal and Gatis Sluka of Latvia, as well as serious talents who probably won’t have been seen in Ireland before such as Victor Ndula and Til Mette.  Then there are just about all the famous Irish political cartoonists including Jim Cogan, Martyn Turner, Tom Halliday, Aongus “Scratch” Collins and Gerard Crowley (not to mention the solo show by Graeme Keyes which takes place in the same venue), some fantastic newer Irish talents like TwistedDoodles and Ciaraíoch, and a fine showing by local artists including Annie West, Jessica Lawrence, Jim Ward and of course Allan Cavanagh.  As with our other exhibitions, there are many prints, signed prints and even originals on sale. Call Margaret at 086 875 8341 if you see anything you’d like.  Open every day except Sunday, (and even Sundays when there’s a show on in the theatre). We recommend going along at about ten past seven in the evening, as that’s when the bar opens… 

Graeme Keyes! Solo Show

Town Hall Theatre Mon-Sat, 10am – 7.30pm Now it can be revealed! (Mainly, because it’s already been revealed all over the place.) The Galway Cartoon Festival’s featured artist for 2018 is the inimitable Graeme Keyes.  Graeme first became part of the Irish public conscience as a contributor to The Phoenix magazine way back in the late ’80s. Since then he’s risen to be probably the most prolific cartoon artist in the country, not just as the Phoenix’s most recognised gag-meister or as the editorial cartoonist for the Irish Daily Mail, but also as a frequent contributor to the UK’s Private Eye.  Graeme will be showing 25 pieces that capture highlights of his career in the lobby of Galway’s Town Hall Theatre. All works are originals, and all are on sale; call Margaret at 086 875 8341 if you see anything you’d like.  Open every day except Sunday, (and even Sundays when there’s a show on in the theatre) from 10:30, though we can recommend going along at about ten past seven in the evening as that’s when the theatre bar opens. 

Polish Country Dances

…is a series of drawings by cartoon artist Maria Apoleika. She will create the latest one live in the Cornstore on a large board, so you can come and watch her in action. No actual dancing is involved – though I suppose you could if the mood takes you. The Cornstore, Nov 11th, 12-5pm As well as drawing live, Maria will also discuss her work with the audience afterwards – though note that this will take place mainly in Polish.  We will also be exhibiting the rest of Maria’s “Polish Country Dances” as part of our Cartoon Trail, a series of window-display exhibitions that runs between High St, Cross St and Middle St.  Maria Apoleika’s appearance in Galway has been generously sponsored by the Latin Quarter. Biography Maria Apoleika, graduate of National Film School in Łódź, runs the most popular cartoon and comic fanpage in Poland – Psie Sucharki (Dog Biscuits). She illustrates books, paints and draws, and so far has several dozen group and individual exhibitions under her belt.  She is interested in spaces beyond official supervision – in recent years she created two series of paintings on deurbanising spaces, and one of drawings about invisible love. Now she will present a series of graphics on Polish Contemporary Folk Dances inspired by illegal techno parties, the Slavic approach to having fun, and how the ludic mixes with modernity.  MariaApoleika, absolwentka Szkoły Filmowej w Łodzi. Prowadzi najpopularniejszy w Polscefanpage rysunkowo-komiksowy – Psie Sucharki.  Ilustruje książki, maluje irysuje. Ma na swoim koncie kilkadziesiąt wystaw, grupowych i indywidualnych. Interesują ją przestrzenie poza oficjalnym nadzorem – w ostatnmich latach stworzyła dwa cykle obrazów o przestrzeniach deurbanizujących się, serię rysunków o nieewidentnej miłości, a teraz zaprezentuje serię grafik Polskie Współczesne Tańce Ludowe inspirowanych nielegalnymi imprezami techno, słowiańskim podejściu do zabawy i tym, jak to, co ludyczne miesza się ze wspołczesnością. Oprócz tego uwielbia rośliny i zwierzęta – gdzie mieszka, tam zakłada miejski ogród, opiekuje się adoptowanym psem – pudlem królewskim. 

Programme Launch!

At 7:00pm tonight, Thursday October 25th, upstairs in the Dáil Bar on Middle Street, we’ll be launching the 2nd Galway Cartoon Festival’s Programme of Events!  As well as announcing all that will be happening, we’ll be making available our rather fetching brochure. Both your guide to and souvenir of the festival, it contains over 70 cartoons by our exhibitors, as well as their biographical information, a run-down of all the activities, and a map of the venues. Big thanks here to our print designer Sarah Bruzzi for a fantastic job, and to artist Marilena Nardi for allowing us to use this wonderful image. Come along! 

Our Conference Speakers

The Cartoons in WW1 conference takes place in Room G011 of the Hardiman Research Building (near the college library) on Saturday 10th of November at 4 p.m. Speakers Grace Neville Grace Neville is a graduate of University College Cork, l’Université de Caen and l’Université de Lille. She is Emeritus Professor of French at UCC where she was Vice-President for Teaching and Learning, Head of the Dept of French and elected member of the Governing Body. She is a member of several boards including the Irish Board of the Legion of Honour, AMOPA (Association des Membres de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques en Irlande), the Alliance Française de Cork and the Cork-Rennes Twinning Committee. She now spends much of her time in Paris where she is member/chair of numerous boards in the Sorbonne (where she is Chair of the Strategic Orientation Committee), the ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche) and the CRI (Centre de Recherche Interdisciplinaire). Her recent publications include Erin and Iran: Cultural Encounters between the Irish and the Iranians (co-edited with Houchang Chehabi, Ilex Foundation / Harvard University Press, 2015) and studies on Franco-Irish relations especially from the time of the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s onwards. She has been awarded the Légion d’Honneur and the Palmes Académiques. She will give a presentation on the influence of  cartoons in the Irish press after 1916. Philip Dine Philip Dine is Head of French at the National University of Ireland Galway. He has published widely on representations of the former French empire, particularly decolonization, in fields ranging from children’s literature to professional sport. Further projects have targeted popular culture and identity-construction in France and the contemporary Francophone world. His presentation will focus on arguably the best-known figure to emerge from the rich Franco-Belgian tradition of cartoons and comic books, namely Hergé’s roving young reporter Tintin. This cherished character’s first three adventures – in the Soviet Union, the Congo and the United States – will be explored as representations of the new world order that emerged in the wake of the Armistice of 11th November 1918. Coralline Dupuy Coralline Dupuy studied French and English literature in Brest before moving to Galway for her postgraduate studies. After obtaining her PhD, she now works in French in NUI Galway and teaches in the areas of young adult literature, fairy tales, and the French language. Her paper will focus on the politics of representation of gender in the French-language cartoons published during the First World War. Catherine Gagneux Catherine Gagneux is the French Honorary Consul in Galway Connacht and has been living and working in Ireland for over 20 years as a Senior ERP Business Analyst. She has been working with the NUI Galway French Department and the organisers of the Galway Cartoon Festival to commemorate the WW1 centenary, by examining how cartoons portrayed events and influenced the ways information was relayed and interpreted. She will give a presentation on the rise, use and influence of cartoons since WW1, making use of original drawings that will also be part of the exhibition. Jean-Claude Servais Jean-Claude Servais studied graphic art at the École Supérieure des Arts Saint-Luc in Liège (Belgium) from 1974 until 1976. He began his career in 1975, becoming part of the generation that modernized Belgian comics from the 1970s. He brings to the reader emotional, and sometimes magical, character-driven stories, set against the wooded landscapes of the Belgian Ardennes and Gaume regions. Mr Servais will explain the creative process behind his comics, with an emphasis on stories set during WW1. This presentation is sponsored by the Belgian Embassy and Wallonie Bruxelles International. http://www.jc-servais.be/ More About The Conference

So Why ‘A Peace to End all Peace’?

The great Hector Breeze had a cartoon in Private Eye back in 1981, set in a World War One trench. A German general in his spiky helmet is surveying no-man’s-land when an excited junior office salutes and says “The corporal here’s got this great idea for a sequel!” The corporal of course has a side parting in his straight back hair, and a little toothbrush moustache. Like so many unwanted sequels, WWII was even worse than the original. Which is one reason we don’t remember November 11 1918 with any sense of celebration. (The other being that, slice it as you like, the best you can say is that it’s the day all the murder stopped.) For while never inevitable, the Second was in many ways a direct consequence of the First – and specifically, a consequence of its ending. The Treaty of Versailles, the settlement forced on a defeated Germany, was disastrous. The victors expected the people of Germany to somehow pay for all the damage done – a huge burden to place on a devastated nation. This alone may not explain the rise of Nazism; if it had not been for a crash on Wall Street – that ever-reliable harbinger of global tragedy – Germany might have met the onerous conditions and still remained a democracy. But that does not make the ‘punishment’ any less unjust. While certainly the Kaiser must bear some blame for going to war, the populace had bugger all part in the decision. They didn’t elect the guy. In fact resistance by ordinary Germans who had begun to see the senselessness of it all brought the war to an earlier end. Had the pre-war mood in Germany been warlike? Yes – but so had it in Britain and France. All three were imperial powers trying to grab as much of the world as they could. Germany was the relative newcomer but coming up fast; once the slow lane of Europe, it had industrialised and armed itself at an incredible pace. It’s hard now to believe that the other powers weren’t itching for a pretext to knock it back. The slogan “A War To End All Wars” was never anything but propaganda of course, cynically designed to motivate the young to kill. As David Lloyd George is said to have said, “This war, like the next war, is a war to end war.” But the tag-line stuck, along with its poisonous logic: If we are killing Germans to punish them for war then it must be their fault. By requiring them to pay for it, the Treaty of Versailles turned wartime propaganda into peacetime reality. Maybe it’s simplistic to see that as leading directly to the rise of Hitler, but you can understand how people who’ve been beaten, humiliated and unjustly shamed might be interested to hear the guy who’s saying no, in fact the secret truth is that you’re actually better than everyone else. Serious errors were made one hundred years ago, which led to a far greater global conflict, which led in turn to a ‘Cold War’ which actually comprised a series of very hot wars fought between global powers in other people’s countries, which in turn gave rise pretty much directly to a ‘War on Terror’ which, when soberly assessed, would seem to mean declaring war on anything that scares you. In short, a solid century of slaughter. And us today, obviously without any idea of what the fuck we are doing. One hundred years in which the human race has got much, much better at making war but still doesn’t seem to have the first clue about making peace. Oh, and there is one specific detail about this day that has always struck me as unbearably tragic. The Armistice (i.e., ceasefire) was called on the 11th day of the 11th month. To be precise, for the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Why? For dramatic effect. For a sense of importance. Maybe because it struck someone as cool, I don’t know. In those last eleven hours, 2,738 soldiers were killed. Richard Chapman

The Armistice Exhibition

Black Gate Cultural Centre 6pm – Midnight, except Mondays In 2017 we held our first international open exhibition of cartoons, under the title “Alternative Facts”. The response was amazing; we needed two venues to display over a hundred works from more than a dozen countries. We could have shown as much again if we’d had the room. This year we’re organising the festival around November 11th 2018, one hundred years precisely since the end of the “Great War”, and have arranged a number of festival events to reflect on this historic moment. A day of joy for many, but one also of grim resolution, as the world vowed never again to unleash the horrors of industrialised war. I think we all know how well that worked. A century of violence and upheaval – much, arguably, as direct consequence of this very peace settlement. From WWII through the Cold War to the War on Terror, the planet has hardly had a quiet moment since. Which is why we’re calling this year’s open show: “A Peace To End All Peace” We’re not looking for submissions about these events exclusively. As always, we’re open to everything – especially everything funny. But we expect that many cartoonists will have things to say about them. Have a look at our guidelines if you’d like to take part, or contact us with any question. The exhibition is open to submissions from all cartoonists everywhere. Exhibitors this year include: Steven Bonello Malta Harry Burton Ireland Virginia Cabras Italy Donal Casey Ireland Allan Cavanagh Ireland Richard Chapman Ireland Ciaraíoch Ireland Gerard Crowley Ireland Florian Doru Crihana Romania Hunt Emerson UK FadiToOn Norway Jonesy UK Eoin Kelleher Ireland Graeme Keyes Ireland Caoimhe Lavelle Ireland Tom Mathews Ireland The Surreal McCoy UK Ed McLachlan UK Marilena Nardi Italy Nick Newman UK Nol France Damir Novak Croatia Martin Rowson UK Cristina Sampaio Portugal Jean-Claude Servais Belgium Gatis Šļūka Latvia Mustafa Tozaki Cyprus Ivailo Tsvetkov Bulgaria Martyn Turner Ireland/UK TwistedDoodles Ireland Nicolas Vadot Belgium

What Is A Galway Cartoon Festival?

What is the Galway Cartoon Festival? Why are we? Who do we? How do you? Very well thank you. Go Here to read the reasons behind the festival, what we plan to do, and what we hope it will achieve. (I mean, it’s for fun mainly. But you have to have other reasons to make it sound adult.) Where and when are we? That’s easier to answer. At several major venues around Galway city, November 10th – 17th, 2018. We hope to meet you there. Until then, here’s another cartoon:

Cartoons in WW1 – A Conference

NUI Galway, November 10 Hardiman Research Building, 4pm – 6pm For the centenary of the Armistice, the Galway Cartoon Festival presents a conference and exhibition exploring the impact of cartoons during WW1 in Europe, to be hosted in NUI Galway in collaboration with the French Department and the Embassy of Belgium. Guests The conference takes place on Saturday 10th of November in Room G011 of the Hardiman Research Building (near the college library). Prof. Grace Neville of UCC, recipient of the Légion d’Honneur, will discuss the influence of press cartoons in Ireland after 1916. Philip Dine of NUI Galway will explore the post-Armistice world order as portrayed in Hergé’s famous Tintin adventures, while colleague Coralline Dupuy will focus on the politics of gender representation in French-speaking cartoons published during the First World War. French Honorary Consul Catherine Gagneux will give a presentation on the rise, use and influence of cartoons since WW1, using original drawings that will be part of the exhibition.  Renowned Belgian comic author Jean Claude Servais will also speak at the launch. Mr Servais will explain the creative process behind his comics, with an emphasis on the stories set during WW1. This presentation is sponsored by the Belgian Embassy and Wallonie-Bruxelles International. Click For More Information About The Speakers Exhibition The associated exhibition will explore such issues as: As a link and follow up, there will also be a small exhibition on ERASMUS. Comic Art Workshop On Thursday 15th of November, NUIG will also invite students from secondary schools in Galway to explore issues through drawing, in an art workshop led by professional cartoon and comic artists.

A New Festival Website

It’s up at last, the all-singing all-dancing website of the all-drawing festival! Welcome. This is the place for news and information on the shows and events we’ll be bringing you this November. Drop by regularly (or subscribe, using the form to the left) for updates, cartoonist-related talk, and of course the cartoons themselves, which we’ll be uploading frequently. Here’s one right now from the redoubtable Mr Tom Mathews, a member of our very committee:

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