APE (Alternative Press Expo) Was In SF This Past Weekend

And it was so much fun!  There were a ton of talented artists there - it really made me wish i had excessive amounts of cash so I could get samples of all their works. As with all expos/conventions I've attended, I found it to be a bit overwhelming.  I want to spend 20 minutes at each table, but want to make sure I see everything and end up feeling lost.

But I think the highlight of the afternoon was the talk Lynda Barry gave. Lynda Barry is an excellent artist/author, and though the only piece of hers that I've read is her novel Cruddy, I'm really excited to read more of her work, especially after this talk.




She was talking about her new book Picture This, and the session was both thought-provoking and enojoyable.  The woman is really funny, and you can tell there's a lot going through her mind - that she's one of those people who are a fount of creativity, their thoughts racing a mile a minute.


Paralleling the points of her book was a discussion of how important the act/process of creation is to us as people, and I was really interested by what she had to say about drawing.  One thing she mentioned is how the act differs between children and adults. Children approach drawing as a place to go and see where it takes them (which is why it's so easy for them to sit down and draw), whereas adults see it as a thing that they make (which is why they get hung up on creating something - they're worried about the results more than process and how the work will be received rather than what it will do for them. This is also why people don't have any problem sitting down and drawing with a kid).

This resonated a lot with me, as I really enjoy painting/drawing/etc., but am not particularly skilled at those tasks and don't do them as often as I'd like.  I get really intimidated and feel like it's a waste of time as the results tend to be pretty mediocre, especially in comparison to the insanely talented artists that populate the Bay Area.  But it was really nice to be presented with a new approach to creation, and I went home and drew for a couple hours, which was lots of fun and rather cathartic.  I'll be excited to keep this up, and I hope this'll serve as impetus for those who've stopped their creative processes to renew their endeavors.