Status | Active |
---|---|
Founded | 2011 |
Founders | Ben Hutchings Sarah Howell David Blumenstein Marta Tesoro Arran McKenna Sacha Bryning |
Country of origin | Australia |
Headquarters location | Brunswick, Australia |
Key people | Ben Hutchings Sarah Howell David Blumenstein Chris Gooch Jess Parker Clea Chiller |
Publication types | Comics |
Fiction genres | |
Official website | squishfacestudio |
Squishface Studio is an open comics studio, retail, and co-working space for comic artists and illustrators in Brunswick, Australia. It was founded in November 2011 by Ben Hutchings, Sarah Howell, David Blumenstein, Marta Tesoro, Arran McKenna and Sacha Bryning, and formally opened to the public on January 26, 2012. [1] As of 2019, Hutchings and Blumenstein continue to be resident artists.
Squishface is known as a community hub for comics in Australia; [2] it is the only permanent comics maker space in the country and one of few in the world that is open to the public. It also publishes comics; three editions of the anthology Squishzine Brunstown [3] have been released. The first won a Bronze Ledger award in 2015. [4]
In 2011, eight Melbourne comic artists were invited by the National Gallery of Victoria to spend a month in residency at the NGV Studio space at Federation Square. [5] [6] Two were Sarah Howell and Ben Hutchings, who decided, along with four other local comic artists, to establish a permanent space that would function in a similar way. [7]
Squishface Studio, located at 309 Victoria St, Brunswick, is a single room shop front in which eight to twelve artists are typically resident at any given time. [8] It was previously a bridal shop. [1] It supports itself financially by memberships and running classes. [9]
The studio's major events are the Squishface Coaster Show (a parody of the Linden Postcard Show), Squishface anniversary events and the monthly drawing night (first Wednesday of each month). [10] At different times the studio has also held Ladies' Drawing Auxiliary, a showcase for the work of non-male comics makers, book launches, children's classes [11] and exhibitions.
Squishface has also been heavily involved in the Homecooked Comics Festival, which was run for several years by Squishface artists Sarah Howell and Clea Chiller and has now been passed on to Black Inc publicity and marketing manager Marian Blythe. [12]
The following artists have been resident in the studio.
The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum.
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Christopher Sequeira is a Sydney-based Australian editor, writer and artist who works predominantly in the speculative fiction and mystery realms. His published work includes poetry, prose, and comic-book scripts. Sequeira's creator-owned work includes "Sherlock Holmes: Dark Detective", Pulse of Darkness, Rattlebone: The Pulp-Faced Detective and The Borderlander.
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Sophie Campbell is a comic writer and artist known for her indie comics such as Wet Moon and Shadoweyes, and for her art on the Jem and the Holograms comics. She primarily writes and draws characters who are adolescent or young adult women, including various races, body types, sexual orientations, and abilities.
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Sarah Howell is a noted cartoonist and educator based in Brunswick, Melbourne. Howell is often involved in projects that promote the Australian comic book art scene. She is a founding member of Squishface Studio, a workspace for artists in which customers looking to buy comics can walk in and watch artists work. She self-publishes zines and mini-comics. Howell was also the first director of the Homecooked Comics Festival. She has worked as a cartooning tutor at Box Hill Community Arts Centre and a cartooning and graphic novels tutor at the Centre for Adult Education in Melbourne.
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