This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Salt Lake Comic Con is fun, but a contingent of local artists are looking for an event with a more indie vibe.
That's how the Wasatch Arts and Comics Festival was born. In downtown Provo this Saturday, Utah artists will be showing off their comics and sketches that come from a personal place. They also plan to hold workshops about creating a world in the pages of a homemade comic book at the free festival.
"I think that Comic Con has more of a commercial feel. There's totally a place for that," said Normandie Luscher, a self-professed "Adventure Time" fan who helped organize the festival. As Luscher sees it, the event is "definitely more focused on really the artistry … of storytelling through comics and graphic novels, and talking about things that are maybe a little more personal."
That personal touch is all over Brantz Woolsey's comic book about growing up in the small Utah town of Castle Dale. Even after he left for college in Cedar City, Woolsey said he thought he was mostly alone in his love of indie comics.
That all changed when he attended Small Press Expo in Washington, D.C., during a congressional internship last fall. Like the sense of close-knit community he felt among his Castle Dale neighbors, Woolsey found community for the first time in the world of indie comics.
He found it again, much closer to home, when he moved to Provo and discovered a vibrant group of fellow independent artists. This past summer, a co-worker invited him to a monthly "comics jam" held by local artist Jess Smart Smiley — who will also be at the festival. Gathered in a comic-book shop, everyone fills out a single panel, then passes the page to the person next to them to fill in the second panel. The pages go around the room until everyone has had a hand in creating a comic uniquely theirs.
Woolsey said he hopes other people will find the same community he found in that comic-book shop.
"I hope it [lets people know], who are still kind of lonely in the indie comics world, that there is the community, we're here, and we want everyone to be here," he said.
At the festival, he will be holding a workshop on how to make mini-comics out of a single sheet of paper. Smiley also plans on holding a comics jam for attendees.
Though she can no longer attend the festival herself, Luscher — who recently moved from Provo to Brooklyn — expects between 10 and 15 other local artists at the festival, which is designed to be all-ages.
Twitter: @MikeyPanda —
Where and When
The Wasatch Arts and Comics Festival runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at 247 W. Center St., Provo.