In 2017 we took our project to Indonesia. There were some familiar faces from our 2015 retreat as well as some new ones from Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia. Some of us brought drafts of books that we had been working on since 2015 and other worked on completely new projects.
Our 2017 residency was hosted by Krack Studio in Yogyakarta, a city in central Java, Indonesia. "Jogja" is the Indonesian centre for painters, sculptors, printmakers, and scribblers of all kinds. The experience was completely different. We painted murals, went to local art shows and explored the city on bikes.
The 2017 retreat saw our practice of workshopping mature. As a group we were more experienced at giving and receiving feedback and our discussions became more fearless and inquisitive.
For more:
- check out THIS VIDEO we made,
- or read THIS GREAT ARTICLE by 'embedded' journalist Pepi Ronalds in Kill Your Darlings,
- or read this THIS SCHOLARLY ARTICLE we wrote .
"The Comic Art Workshop was the single most useful and meaningful event that I have attended in my 15 year artistic career. My development as a writer, illustrator, and member of a community is hard to overstate. My practise was nurtured and critiqued in incredibly constructive ways that have reframed my thinking in a constellation of ways. CAW offers all participants the opportunity to refine their craft, and remain committed to telling difficult, marginalised and nuanced Australian stories. The outcomes of the Workshop will ripple through Australian culture for decades to come."
SAM WALLMAN
"reading and thinking analytically about such a huge range of diverse works developed my critical thinking skills and widened my creative scope so that I could successfully provide others with feedback that was beneficial to them and the work that they created. It forced me outside of the bubble of work that I am usually comfortable reading and taught me about the importance of giving feedback to others that isn’t self serving and is designed to help them make more successful work.
Overall, I can’t recommend the Comics Art Workshop enough. It provided a safe and comfortable space to talk about others and mine works with a group of respectful and talented cartoonists from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences. Since coming back I have already noticed a huge shift in my approach to writing and making comics that I don’t think I would have gotten if I didn’t attend the workshop.
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NICKY MINUS
"The Comic Art Workshop is an experience that exceeded the expectations of my wildest imaginings - the wisdom and experience that everyone brought to the table for the workshops from their personal and professional backgrounds left me awestruck, and my project has benefited immensely from everyone's feedback. It has helped me identify the blind spots I had in my work and gave me more insight about my practice that I'll definitely carry with me to future projects."
MAX LOH
"The Comic Art Workshop creates an incredibly trusting and warm connection between all its participants. This connection creates a trust between those involved which allows them to give some of the most robust critiques that I have ever been involved in. I couldn’t be happier with how CAW has benefited my project and my entire practice, as well as creating a very powerful international collaborative network between comic-artists."
JOSH SANTOSPIRITO