Pit Pat's Chit Chat — Issue 10
new book! new art show! new events! new fun!
No snow day in Portland, huh? We got tricked! Here I am writing a newsletter, once again demanding peace on earth and enjoying the little things.
The world feels very dire but our communities feel stronger than that. We’re making art. We’re living. We’re gardening. We’re having movie nights with friends and going out to art shows and writing to our idiot local politicians and seeing live music in the evenings and hosting events with friends.
Okay, here’s some positivity:
In this issue:
Sleepy’s Delay — A new book by Erin Tanner
Comics Reading — Celebrating Ren Strapp’s new book
Flower Tower — Art & Toy show by Violet Reed
Make a Zine w/ Your Ex — a zine workshop
Da Thought Bubble — Events, websites, alien paintings
🚶♂️ Walkin’ Around Town 🚶♂️
[this is a little diary corner written by John James]
Cielle is teaching at PSU this semester and I’ve been working a short shift at Floating World Comics on Thursdays that starts at noon. I’ve started a new routine where I get dropped off somewhere around Powell & 30th and wander toward the Lloyd Center, a 4-hour block of time where I catch up on podcasts (email your reccos) and listen to music (same) to clear my head. This last Thursday felt particularly social and pleasant and a reminder of the experience of just going out and about without a plan. Wandering is the goal.
I ran into Ty Ennis and Jess Ackerman at Old Friends Coffee and we chatted about art and wandering and coffee shop life. I made my way over to Martha’s to chat with cartoonist Annie Fish, who moved here from Chicago last year — hopefully we’ll both end up in Chicago again for Zine Not Dead Fest 2025. I spent a few hours at the comic shop with Re Pinter (we tried to rank our top 100 comics) and Gutsy came by and gave us Gundams to build. Bwana Spoons was there setting up for an art show. Momo Gordon drove by me when I was wandering after work and parked and we chatted about newsletters and the experiential internet. I ended up at the H-Mart for a snack and Joel (who runs the wonderful coffee shop Wallflower across from Secret Room) and I chatted a bit.
I went to a pawn shop and a food cart and offered to help a lady fix her car tire (she didn’t need help). I ate a burrito and kicked my feet on a ledge at the park. It felt great, wandering around Portland and remembering that we’re all here, doin’ our own things and just living life near one another.
Okay, diary over. If you’re new to the newsletter, this is the kinda stuff you can expect! Every passing moment is a slice of life.
📚 Sleepy’s Delay by Erin Tanner 📚
Our first big book of 2025!
We’re thrilled to announce the book we’re workin’ on with Portland cartoonist, musician, and filmmaker Erin Tanner. We’ve been big fans of his work for years, since we first saw him read the hilarious pop-culture mashup Cyber Brown (Living Room Press) at a Comics Club Event on the back patio of Books With Pictures. Erin’s work strikes a perfect balance of earnest emotion and slapstick gags and goofs. We’re so pysched about this book!
Hmm… maybe we need another world? Not that this world is falling apart or anything, right? But who could we get to make a new world… Oh yeah, now I remember! The girl who can control the dipper constellations!
The Dippy Wielder could make a new world, and we could enjoy all the small stories that happen on it. From the dream governor to goblin bath time to the cupid boys and the moon in the sky, there sure are a whole lot of adventures here.
Sleepy’s Delay (March 2025)
160 pages! Printed with a RISO MZ790u in 2-colors throughout.
We’ll talk about the scanning, color-separation, and preparation process for this book in another blog, along with more pics of the process once the printing kicks off in earnest (next week?) Still a lot to do but we’re on schedule!
🌀 Sunday Evening Comics Reading 🌀
with Ren Strapp and special guests!
This Sunday we’re welcoming Portland artist & designer Ren Strapp into the shop for a reading from her debut graphic novel How Could You (Oni Press, 2024). How have we never done an event together before?! As always, we like pulling together multimedia comics readings and this is no different. It’s gonna be a great one!
“Falling in love? Scary. Falling for your best friend? Terrifying. Naming all the ways your heart hurts? Impossible.”
READINGS BY:
Ren Strapp - the star o’ the show!
Katie Berntson - visiting from Seattle
Cam McCafferty - pdx cartoonist
LIVE MUSICAL GUEST:
Moth Kit - acoustic & omnichord special set
Sunday, February 9th
6:00-8:00pm (ish)
3225 SE Division Street in Portland
🌸 Come Visit the Flower Tower 🌸
a dreamscape exploration art show by Violet Reed
What do houses look like in your dreams?
Portland artist & designer Violet Reed spent the later half of 2024 exploring this question & building out a miniature world to answer it. This show — Flower Tower — is a collection of risograph prints, models, and toys that pull those weird buildings from her dreams into the real world. Violet approached us with this pitch and we’ve been losing our minds over this very ambitious multimedia show.
If you missed the show opening on the first, fret not! The flower tower will be visible in all its glory — six stories of 3d-printed multi-colored wonder — until April 1st, alongside 5 accompanying RISO prints and flower toys.
Workshop: Make a Zine w/ Your Ex
Hosted by Anthi Sklavenitis
A brief overlook & workshop about breakup zines and heartbreak hosted by Anthi Sklavenitis at Secret Room
We’re so psyched that Anthi is running this hit workshop at Secret Room. The concept is brilliant (thanks to the creative combo of Anthi S. + Arantza Peña Popo writing & dialing it in) and Anthi is a super fun and vibrant teacher.
ABOUT:
A Rupture. A Shared Burden. A Story Made Up Of A Bunch Of Other Stories That Tells You As Much About What Happened As It Does About The Storyteller. A Constellation of Relationships. Material Context. Sensory Superpowers. The Fun, The Hot, the Messy, & Most Of All the Tender.
If you’ve ever had questions like “why work on paper?” “How have artists conceptualized heartbreak, and in what other mediums?” “What is the average length-since-last-breakup of zine enthusiasts?” & “What do two kinda hot performance artists have to do with the Great Wall of China?,” this workshop might spark something in you!
THIS EVENT REQUIRES AN RSVP ← do that HERE and read more about it!
Saturday, January 11th
6:00-8:30pm
3225 SE Division Street in Portland
💭 Da Thought Bubble 💭
What’s goin’ on around town lately?
Feeling really optimistic about the wonderful in-person energy in Portland (and the whole PNW) right now. So many events, so many people doing things in the physical world. So many people making wonderful art and pushing their creative muscles. There’s a lot to be stressed about but hot damn there’s a lot to grateful for.
HAL: The Musical — Amanda Berlind is BACK with a new comic and a musical to go along with it. A star-studded cast of Portland musicians, cartoonists, and weirdos. One night only? We are stoked for everything Amanda is up to. This is happening in a few hours, sorry for the late notice.
Freakscene — As the internet contends with its mistakes of the past decade ‘n’ change, we move back toward forums and independently run event websites. Freakscene is a place for music, art, DIY culture, and so much more. Loving what’s happening here!
Comics Journal — Really nice to see some positive reviews of comics from Portland in such a big magazine, especially for these folks! Re Pinter, Quinn Amacher, Molly Lecko Herro, and Phoebe Mol all profiled together for their incredible 2024 releases!
The Snack Table — Portland graphic designer Ali Hart has a very fun video project currently dropping on Thursdays on YouTube where she eats snacks with a guest. Incredibly good energy and we’re stoked to see more of this series!
SHUSH - oh… we’re launching a new comics/art zine publication? You bet! More info coming soon alongside a list of our initial “kickoff” artists!
SWFL Zine Fest — Secret Room superstar Ross Jackson is headed to his hometown of Fort Meyers, FL. for the SWFL Zine Fest! He’ll have a bunch of stuff from the Secret Room Press catalogue alongside a new limited anthology Scenes From A Better World, printed in 2 colors here in Portland!
One lil request, as always:
If you can leave us a review on Google Maps it tremendously helps us boost our visibility. The ongoing fight against an algorithmic world continues! A lot of you have come through with really, really nice things to say and lots of stars.
THANK YOU SO MUCH, it really means a lot.
Well, here are some paintings for you to enjoy. These were done by Cielle Charron and Lily Hudson while we watched the Starman TV show (very good). A series of small paintings that appear in John James’ comic My Neighbor, written & illustrated for January’s Awake Time Stories event at Floating World Comics.
OKAY GOODBYE!
Thanks for the heads up on Freakscene! I’ve been trying to sort out where to promote my gigs now that I’m off Instagram.