Comics Fly Into the Angry Pigeon

The Angry Pigeon Gallery is preparing to host its first ever Comic Art Exhibition, which will feature five Portland artists.

“[The Angry Pigeon Gallery] has been looking to host more exhibitions that students themselves can connect with and would be interested in, specifically in fields that students would be interested in pursuing,” Liz Lundblade, Northwest Academy Wrangler and a primary host of the exhibition, said.

Many different genres of comic art will be displayed, including autobiographical art, graphic novels and digital art. Drawings will be showcased in all different stages of their completion to portray the entire artistic process.

“When I was selecting artists, I was specifically looking for variety and experience in the fields that the artists work in,” Lundblade said. “We have a whole range of people that will be presenting at the show.”

As an illustrator of a comic herself, along with another Northwest Academy Wrangler Lon Nowak, Lundblade wanted to give students an opportunity to see if comic art was a field they might be interested in.

“We wanted to create a venue where students could see the work of these professional artists and meet them, talk to them and explore those concepts for themselves a little bit,” she said.

Lundblade believes that it is definitely worth it for Northwest Academy students to visit the exhibition.

“Northwest Academy students are creative, fantastic and artistically inclined and many are also excellent writers,” Lundblade said. “This is a field that is open and welcoming to people with a variety of talents and I think that it would be a great one for some people to think about pursuing.”

The featured artists have worked with many different comic publishers such as Dark Horse Comics, Marvel Comics and DC Comics.

One local comic artist, Lucy Bellwood, will be exhibiting her art at the show.

“I primarily write and draw autobiographical comics about doing adventurous things like sailing on 18th-century tall ships or rafting down the Grand Canyon,” Bellwood said. “Mostly I work with blue pencils, brush pens and watercolor, but I’ve been known to do the odd digital coloring job.”

Bellwood has been working in the medium of comic art for five years and enjoys watching the pieces go through their many stages of completion.

“I love seeing original comics pages up for display,” Bellwood said. “It gives me the chance to see how a cartoonist really figured out their craft. Originals let you see messy pencil sketches beneath clean lines, chunks of white-out, brush tests in the margins—all sorts of things that disappear from the final finished comic. I think it’s important to have a reminder that printed comics are made up of hundreds of messy processes.”

Bellwood believes that comic art is a very interesting medium because of its unique composition.

“Comics delight me because there’s so much flexibility in the medium,” Bellwood said. “You need to know a little bit of everything—graphic design, good draftsmanship, acting, color, composition, emotiveness—which satisfies my restless brain. I like that there’s always something new to improve upon. As a storyteller primarily working from my own life, I also love that comics can bring experiences alive for a new audience.”

Other showcasing artists will include Joelle Jones, Lukas Ketner, Tom Rogers and Jack Ciolli.

The Comic Art Exhibition opens Thursday, March 5 with receptions held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m at the Angry Pigeon Gallery. Receptions will continue on March 6, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. During these days, small merchandise such as comic books and prints will be sold.

The Angry Pigeon Gallery is located at 712 SW 11th Avenue. Normal viewing hours will be held on Fridays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.