Gladstone Weekend

Last weekend Darwyn had an art show at the beautiful Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. It was a 2 day thing, with the first night being a show and reception, the 2^nd day being a workshop and then an evening reading with discussion. We had a great time!

The events were hosted by Art Originals http://www.artoriginals.ca/. Walter Dickinson and Sean Menard working in conjunction with the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop put together a fantastic event, the first in a series hopefully! Keep your eye out because the location and the presentation were top-notch. They treated us like superstars so we were both in great spirits all weekend. Everyone who attended had a nice time and enjoyed seeing Darwyn and some of the latest works. There is a nice set of photos from Friday evening http://www.comicbookdaily.com/wp/daily_news/noir-and-beyond-the-darwyn-cooke-artshow/ here (thanks for the report guys).

We saw a ton of old friends including the one and only J. Bone, Darwyn’s longtime art partner and friend. It was also our friend Chris Stone’s birthday, and lucky for us the festivities were being held in the Gladstone Karaoke bar. There is a great set of photos here http://kaylamariehillier.com/2009/10/25/there-aint-no-party-like-a-chris-stone-party/

Saturday morning Darwyn met with 15 people who had signed up for a workshop, including one of my online favs Diana Tambyln http://www.dianatamblyn.com/ . Everyone seemed happy so I assume they enjoyed themselves. Saturday evening Mark Askwith hosted a reading from The Hunter – Darwyn read the first chapter while the pages from the graphic adaptation were projected behind him. After the reading Mark hosted a discussion about the adaptation of The Hunter, it was informative and interesting. Afterwards we mingled with the crowd and signed some books, then had a few beers with our friends and off to bed.

Overall , the weekend was a huge hit – we had a great time, saw a ton of friends and had a good turn out at the show. All of the thanks here go to Walter and Sean, their professionalism and just plain awesomeness made our weekend. This was the first in their planned art originals series, so look forward to some really amazing gallery and workshop experiences from them. Special thanks as well to Jason who helped hang everything, Liana K & Steve, Mark Askwith, Sean Wainsteim and Mo :)