Letter From The Prez (Exaggerated Features 2020.1)
 EF Issue 2020.1 Cover By Daniel Stieglitz | |
| Author | Tom Faraci |
|---|---|
| Genre | Editorial |
| Published | EF Issue 2020.1 |
Publication date | February 2020 |
| Pages | 2-3 |
| Website | Full Issue PDF |
About
This article appears on pages 2-3 of Exaggerated Features Issue 2020.1.
Article Transcript
Dear ISCA Friends and Family,
Another ISCA Con, another year, and another decade are behind us. I hope those of you who joined us in Memphis loved it every bit as much as I did. I’ve said it before and I’ll repeat it here: What an incredible, unique experience we are privileged to take part in. A chance to spend a week amongst friends new and old, to be able to draw, paint, and sculpt in such a vibrant, stimulating and creative atmosphere, and to be able to do so alongside some of the best artists in the world — I am forever grateful for every convention I get to experience and all that this organization has given to me. Which is why I am honored to be writing to you today as president of the International Society of Caricature Artists. When I joined this organization ten years ago, I never could have imagined myself in a leadership position. I’d like to thank my friends and former board members Ali Thome, Cory Lally, and AJ Jensen. A big special shoutout to Matt Zitman and Chris Moore, the two presidents I served under. Matt provided guidance when I was a rookie on the board, and Chris has continually encouraged and inspired me over the years, eventually giving me the push I needed to step up as president. Thank you both for all you’ve done for me and for ISCA. I’d also like to introduce your 2020 Board of Directors. Returning this year are Manny Avetisyan, Ben Bloss, and Erik "Rowdy" Roadfeldt. Joining us are Robin Schwartzman and Christopher Tamlyn. Keeping everyone in line, as usual, is our incredible manager, CeCe Holt! ISCA wouldn’t be half of what it is without her.
Speaking of the con, I’d like to congratulate Sebastian Martin, our 2019 Golden Nosey winner, along with our Silver and Bronze winners, Damon Renthrope and Manny Avetisyan, respectively. I’d also like to congratulate Joe Bluhm, our 2019 Hall of Fame inductee. And one last congratulations to all of our winners at #ISCAcon28! You can see the list of winners and their work starting on page 4 of this issue.
In other news, the results of the post-con survey are in! Generally speaking, the results were overwhelmingly positive! And with 213 attendees producing amazing artwork, a great lineup of speakers, and the nightly free PB&J bar, how could they be anything but? We’ve received a lot of good constructive feedback, as well: 75% of respondents said they’d be equally (48.3%) or more (26.7%) likely to attend a paid workshop if it took place during the regular con schedule, as opposed to a pre-con add-on. A whopping 30% of people who commented on what they’d like to see in future seminars asked for more focus on the business side of things — bookkeeping, salesmanship, insurance, and retirement planning came up several times. Other popular topics included a focus on anatomy, tackling various mediums, and how to be a better communicator in live settings. As for competitions, you prefer slides to live models for the Likeness Competition, wish for the Speed Competition to return to its former glory as a full-fledged event, and prefer the Art Fight of previous Ice Breakers to this year’s Talent Show. (Fun fact — we switched to a talent show because last year’s survey suggested it was time to retire Art Fight! See, we listen!) Some more feedback: The photo booth and reference album were a hit! I saw a few recurring comments suggesting that online registration should be easier (more on that below), new attendees would appreciate a hand in meeting veteran attendees and being overall better integrated, and many of you would like to see a clarification of voting categories. And I have some good news — we’ve already been discussing a lot of those concerns, some for quite a while now. All of this information will help us perfect the 2020 ISCA convention in Las Vegas, NV — taking place November 15-20! Regarding registration: One of our priorities going into this year was streamlining the membership and con registration process — and judging by the survey, it seems many of you were concerned about this as well. With that in mind, we decided to limit the number of membership options to two: Online Only and Professional. In addition,we’ll be offering a package option so you can re-up your membership and register for the con in a single transaction. We will no longer be offering the Associate and Gold membership. Associate membership is being replaced by the Online Only membership. (See page 27 for more information.) Current Associate members will be upgraded to Professional status so they may still register for the convention. As for Gold membership, the original intention was to reward members who wanted to support ISCA by paying a little more than a standard membership would cost. When we crunched the numbers, however, we realized the Gold membership system was actually costing us money. That said, we will still be recognizing those who wish to support us via our Contributor program (more info on that coming soon.) Many of the same Gold perks will be available to members who wish to contribute via a donation option at checkout. On top of that, we will be offering the VIP Reception as a separately ticketed option to all attending convention members, much like our workshops.
Speaking of — how cool was this year’s VIP Reception at Presley Motors? Thank you to our Guest of Honor Valentin Chibrit for making it a memorable, once-in-a-lifetime experience! I know I may be biased because he painted me, but I think it was awesome for everyone else, as well. While I’m on the subject, thank you to all of our 2019 speakers and workshop instructors: Stephen Silver, Jota Leal, Ben Bloss, Kirby Rudolph, Mae Adao, Jon Guerzon, Sebastian Martin, and Nolan Harris. And thank you all for allowing myself and my good friend Joe Ciomek to screen our long-gestating documentary film, American Caricature. It was an unforgettable experience and it was an honor to be able to share it with everyone who attended.
Lastly, I want to share that I had the privilege of attending not one but TWO gallery shows featuring work from past ISCA Guests of Honor here in central Ohio. The first was Art of Caricature, a group show featuring Tom Fluharty, Carlo La Rosa, and John T. Quinn III at The Works in Newark, OH. Rob Hren and I made it to the opening reception and got to meet Carlo and attend a demo by Tom. The event is open to the public until March 30th. After that, we stopped by the Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum in Columbus, OH to check out Drew Friedman’s show, Drawn to Presidents, a collection of new portraits of every U.S. President, and a retrospective collection of his political artwork and influences. That show has since ended, but you can see John Kascht’s traveling exhibit, Making Faces, from now until May 3rd. Regardless of the exhibit, I highly recommend a visit to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Museum to anyone passing through Ohio.
That’s all I’ve got for this issue! I look forward to working with this board to make 2020 a standout year for ISCA. We have a lot up our collective sleeve. One last thing — you wouldn’t be reading any of this if not for our diligent editor, Debbie “Debbo” Burmeister. Working with Debbo on the magazine has been one of the highlights of my tenure on the board, and I look forward to continuing that collaboration as president. I realize I owe a lot of people a lot of thanks for a lot of things. But for now, I’ll leave it at this: Thank you, ISCA friends and family. I hope to serve you well.
Sincerely,
Tom Faraci
President of the International
Society of Caricature Artists
tomfaraci@caricature.org
@tomfaraciart (instagram/fb)
www.tomfaraci.com
www.americancaricature.com
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