2011 Girona, Spain Minicon Recap

Article Transcript

The European Minicon in Girona, Spain (April 19 through April 22) was a huge success! 36 Attendees from all over the world, including Korea, Canada, USA and Japan.

It was about midnight. Markers, pencils, laptops, canvas, acrylics and other drawing stuff had already been taken upstairs. The farewell dinner had just finished and diplomas and traditional golden glasses given out to a select group of winners....Well, in fact we had all been winners…as our faces displayed.

Firstly, let me make a well deserved tribute to the winners: Harold from Holland with his sophisticated tablet and tiny printer, Rui Duarte from Portugal, Xi Ding...wow!!! what a talented guy!!!. And with them, the masters who never fail: Jan, Karal, Johanna, Liesbeth, Emi, Marc, Yonie Woo, Tony Parsons and some new faces and a future star like Gustavo Tarantino...

As I said, the official farewell ceremony had been completed and the organizing committee, Master Jan Op de Beeck, as outgoing president, always with his little Sakura in his arms, Emi, our efficient treasurer and me,” the writer”, were at the reception front desk of the hotel requesting for the bill, when a small group of artists (no doubt, the youngest) encouraged us to have a drink and drain the last moments of these four intense days we had shared together....

So that, talking to such a small group I really realized how important this mini-con had turned out to be. Gathered at the same table; Tony (UK), Bill (USA), Cathy (Canada), the Portuguese colony in the centre, Belgians and Dutch at one end and the Latin group, Spanish, Argentine and Brazilian at the other…cheering, celebrating and strengthening ties of friendship that went further than mere shared interests ...I could see happy faces and I at once felt relief which compensated for those hard and stressful moments during a whole year of organizing...

Organization, which began exactly one year ago, as I mentioned, with me exchanging ideas with my admired friend and co-organizer Jan Op de Beeck, ideas that were becoming passionate desires. Firstly we agreed that the mini-con had to be celebrated in the small but magical town of Girona, no doubt about this point. Secondly, Joan Vizcarra, possibly the best Spanish caricaturist for the last twenty years, had to be our guest speaker and finally it had to be officially the first of the mini-conventions in Europe and a framework for creating ISCA European branch!!!

From there on, a long and exhausted journey of “ups” and “downs”, visits to public and private institutions, phone calls and e-mails, contacts and discussions...Well, even after all that, I can say out loud that all the effort has been worthwhile!!! For everything shared and learned and for new friends and for an opportunity to meet old friends again...for all that, it has definitely been worth it!!!

I just hope that soon another adventurer like me decides that their city deserves to be a candidate to hold the next European mini-con in 2013 and we will have the chance to meet up again, because friends...I miss you all!!!

Likeness competition:
1. Tony Parsons
2. Gustavo Tarantino
3. Harold Hugenholtz

Best studio piece:
1. Rui Duarte
2. Yonie Woo
3. Harold Hugenholtz

Best portfolio:
1. Rui Duarte
2. Harold Hugenholtz
3. Liesbeth Beckers

3D competition:
1. Johanna Veerenhuis
2. Karel Op De Beéck
3. Emi Sato

Black and white competition:
1. Jan Op De Beéck
2. Rui Duarte
3. Marc Till Schmid

Color competition:
1. Xi Ding
2. Tony Parsons
3. Harold Hugenholtz