#Boskone Art Show

[ejbarnes]

I'll be at Boskone (in the Art Show)

This weekend is Boskone, the older of Boston's two science-fiction/fantasy conventions (this year is the 61st, hence "Boskone 61"). I am, once again, showing my art in the Boskone Art Show,  and I've decided for certain to attend the con all three days despite  not being on the program. The con runs this Friday through Sunday, 9--11  February 2024. The Boskone Art Show is in the Galleria on the lower level of the east  wing of the hotel; Art Show sales of original art are by silent auction,  with a separate section for prints. (I'll have items in both sections.)   Art Show hours are Friday 6 PM–Midnight (with a  reception at 8 PM), Saturday 10 AM – 9 PM, Sunday 10 AM – Noon. Quick  Sale (purchase of original art for its designated Quick Sale price,  usually higher than the minimum bid in the silent auction) is Saturday  Noon–9 PM, Sunday 10 AM – Noon. Art pickup will be Sunday 1–3 PM. Boskone returns to the Westin Boston Seaport District Hotel at 425 Summer Street, Boston, MA, which is next to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. It's a short (but often windy) walk from the World Trade Center stop on the MBTA Silver Line SL1, SL2, SL3, and SLW. MBTA Buses #4 and #7 stop near the BCEC, although the #4 does not run on weekends and  the #7 does not run on Sundays. Please be aware of this weekend's MBTA Subway and Bus Service Alerts.

[duckprintspress]

Upcoming Event: Boskone!

We’re coming up on Duck Prints Press’s next vending appearance – we’ll be back at the Westin Boston Seaport District, this time in the vendors room for Boskone on February 9th through 11th! Boskone is the flagship convention for the New England Science Fiction Association (NESFA), and special guests at this year’s convention include Ben Aaronovitch, Emily Hurst Pritchett, and John Scalzi. There’ll also be over 30 vendors, an author’s alley, an art show, and of course scads of cool panels!

One of the authors we work with, Tris Lawrence, will also be in attendance, participating in panels and signing books. You can check out her schedule here.

We’re really excited to be heading back to Boston again, and hopeful that we’ll see some familiar faces from Arisia and meet some new folks too. If you’re gonna be there, make sure you come and say hi!

[emilyhurstpritchett]

I almost forgot to share, I'm going to be showing a bunch of art at the Boskone sci-fi convention this weekend! I got to attend a couple years ago and it was a cool experience, and the art show was great! (Picture by featured artist Eric Wilkerson) posted on Instagram - https://ift.tt/2SAeWGq

[theartofmichaelwhelan]

Michael Whelan will be attending Boskone 54 this weekend in Boston. On Saturday at 1pm, he'll join Guest of Honor Brandon Sanderson for the "Building a Career" panel. Come check out this and other scheduled appearances. We will have original art and prints for sale at the art show.

[carlyjaninemazur]

#drawings bagged and ready for the #boskone art show, baby! #artforsale

[pelagielladesigns]

I had a very, very good Arisia. I sold 14 out of the 23 pieces I had in the art show. As you can sort of see from my not-so-great photos, there are blank spaces where people had taken their art home already & then the ones with pink tags on them were also sold & then more people bought things after I took these photos. So. That was awesome. And unexpected. I will be at Boskone next month! I have so much painting to do! I'm not complaining, this is a good problem to have but yikes time crunch.

[drdoyleseditorial]

A Quick Boskone Note

A Quick Boskone Note

If you look at Duncan Eagleson’s work in the art show, you can get a sneak peek at the cover art for our planned re-publication of our YA novel Knight’s Wyrd.

(Keep watching this space for more news on that front.)

[amazingstories]

Having been proclaimed a SMOF at some point in the distant past, I presumed to assume that the designation was at least somewhat akin to those honors and recognitions British folk (and sometimes foreigners) give to each other from time to time, allowing them to tack a string of letters after their name and sometimes prefix it with titles.  You know, something like “The Left Honorable Steven J. Davidson Esquire, S.M.O.F.”.  In other words, unless dishonorably discharged from the ranks of fandom, you are entitled to the honor for the remainder of your life.

On this thin premise, I chose to believe that my presence would be tolerated, if not welcomed.

I’m not sure if either of those applied, but I did end up on two panels, proving at least one contention:  our vaunted and frequently under-appreciated convention runners are very adept at utilizing whatever resources are at hand in order to accomplish their goals.

I appeared on a panel addressing Security issues at conventions, a panel billed as part one of a discussion on codes of conduct and how our community is going about not just drafting endless variations on a theme, but on the enforcement and handling of the consequences.

No small amount of time was spent on the lessons we all took away from the “Readercon debacle” (harassment charges were leveled at a fairly prominent fan, the convention committee fumbled a bit with their response, which ratcheted up the upset, some board members resigned and the offender was banned for life).  Our discussion addressed more of the nitty gritty – potential liability issues, when and how to engage with police departments, planning, the essential paranoia that accompanies security work.  We covered a fair amount of ground.

My second panel was “Fandom is Large” and it was originally intended to discuss ways that fandom (traditional fandom, that is) could reach out and touch new generations of fans for whom the “fan experience” is a far different one.

Someone from the audience pointed out about midway through that we were supposed to be discussing solutions as opposed to discussing the issue, but we never really got around to solutions.  We did manage to agree that fandom’s fall-down is in marketing.  There are cultural imperatives, economic factors and societal obstacles in the way towards organizing better marketing, but I suspect that our community is almost ready to embrace some concepts (if only out of a sense of survival) that might have been dismissed in previous years.

I also attended the Welcome to Smofcon (I encourage everyone, new and jaded, experienced and wide-eyed) to attend whatever “welcome to” panel is offered when they are attending any particular convention for the first time.  Such talks are usually delivered by high-profile individuals (at least for that particular con), helping you identify the movers and shakers; you get to see, if not meet, the other novitiates (and if you are feeling that fish-out-of-water feeling, these are your new convention friends), and, if you pay attention, you’ll pick up some history, tradition and a get a good feel for the temper of the convention.

I also attended most of the Fannish Inquision, that event where bid committees (and seated convention committees) sing songs, do dances and are grilled like a cheese sandwich at a roadside dive.

One big announcement:  Dublin in 2019:  An Irish Worldcon and Worldcon 76 San Jose will be offering retro Hugo Awards for 1943 and 1943 (works from 1942 and 1943 respectively).  Worldcon went on hiatus during the peak years of World War II.  Previous Hugo Award rules allowed Retros to be handed out for conventions that had not handed out Hugos, but not for Worldcons that had never been held.  Rules changes allowed the inclusion of those no-Worldcon years.

The Committees from both Dublin and San Jose presented this announcement jointly, along with a well-made video, but here I have to gripe a bit:  the video featured film posters, magazine and book covers for potentially eligible works from the years in question.  I was initially pleased to see an Amazing Stories cover on the screen, promptly followed by an Astounding cover, and another Astounding cover, and another, a Planet Stories cover, Astounding, Astounding, Astounding, Astounding…

We all know that Astounding dominated the field during those years, but there were many other magazines on the stands, most of which managed to publish great artwork and at least a handful of memorable stories.  1941 saw the publication of no less than 26 different titles in the US and the UK – Weird Tales, Amazing Stories, Fantastic Adventures, Fantastic Adventures Quarterly, Amazing Stories Quarterly, Thrilling Wonder Stories, Startling Stories, Astounding Stories, Astounding Stories UK, Unknown (& UK edition), Tales of Wonder, Marvel Stories, Science Fiction/Future Fiction, Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Startling Stories, Captain Future, Astonishing Stories, Super Science Stories, Fantastic Novels, Science Fiction Quarterly, Comet Stories, Cosmic Stories, Stirring Science Stories, Yankee Science Fiction….

If we are going to vote on stories, art, editing and publishing from 75 years ago, we should at least begin this process in an unbiased manner and I would encourage everyone to remember that.  Please.

I had dinner with the talented and lovely Regina Kanyu Wang, a contributor to these pages, one of the actifans of China’s largest fan group AppleCore and the Executive Editor of Storycom, that has, among other things, worked with Clarkesworld magazine to bring translated Chinese SF to the west.

We talked about the cultural revolution, the reception of science fiction in China, censorship, the possibilities of a Chinese Worldcon, the fact that fans are fans the world over, different strains of “Asian” science fiction (the differences between Japanese SF and Chinese SF:  Japanese SF is far more influenced by western tropes than Chinese SD) and I felt like I took a crash course in the subject.  I’ve a lot more to learn, as do we all, but my prediction is that in not so many years, China is going to be dominating this market.

I also spent a fair amount of time helping out with the NASFiC bid for Utah in 2019.  They joined a wine and other liquors tasting party on Saturday evening (I don’t imbibe, but I sure as heck can carry cookies and danish to the room).  As a result of my generosity, I have been allowed to purchase a supporting membership (Grabthar’s Hammer level) and have been volunteered to run the bid table at the 2018 Boskone in February.  (An actifan’s reward is more work!)

I was also able to meet briefly with John Scalzi (unsurprisingly we talked fiction), and say hi in person to a number of fans I have been engaged with and working with online for years – Steven H Silver, Kevin Standlee, Elspeth Kovar, and many others whose names memory fails at the moment.

I’m not a drinker, so my evenings were spent collapsing in my hotel room.  I’ve heard that everyone had a good time with the alternative programming.

Various seated and bidding convention crews could be seen at all hours networking, planning and making arrangements for our annual get-togethers.  It’s a little known secret, but SMOFs take this convention running thing very seriously and should be commended for their dedication.

Yes, I did spend a fair amount of time filling folks in on the latest news concerning the Amazing Stories television show.  Owing to elements now contained in the draft amendment I had to be a bit more circumspect than previously (this is a read-between-the-lines moment), but I was very pleased to receive a tremendous amount of support on this subject.  I think what pleased me even more was to find out just how closely the fannish community is following this.  If Amblin and Apple manage to present us with some killer SF TV episodes, they’ll find an eager and receptive audience in the fannish community.

To SMOFCON 35:  I had an excellent time.  I know you all had some issues requiring rescheduling and re-locating, but you all did what a good committee does:  kept it (mostly) from impacting the attendees.  Every fan who considers themselves a fan, SMOF status or not, should give serious consideration to attending a Smofcon at some point during their convention career.

Below, a handful of hastily taken photos from the hospitality area of the convention.

SMOFCON 35: A Brief Report Having been proclaimed a SMOF at some point in the distant past, I presumed to assume that the designation was at least somewhat akin to those honors and recognitions British folk (and sometimes foreigners) give to each other from time to time, allowing them to tack a string of letters after their name and sometimes prefix it with titles. 

[ejbarnes]

Boskone starts tomorrow! The 61st annual Boskone Science Fiction/Fantasy Convention runs Friday through Sunday, 9--11 February, at the Westin Boston Seaport District Hotel.

I am, once again, showing my art in the Boskone Art Show. The Art Show is in the Galleria on the lower level of the east wing of  the hotel; Art Show sales of original art are by silent auction, with a  separate section for prints. (I'll have items in both sections.)  Art Show hours are Friday 6 PM–Midnight (with a reception at 8 PM),  Saturday 10 AM – 9 PM, Sunday 10 AM – Noon. Quick Sale (purchase of  original art for its designated Quick Sale price, usually higher than  the minimum bid in the silent auction) is Saturday Noon–9 PM, Sunday 10  AM – Noon. Art pickup will be Sunday 1–3 PM.

I won't be on the program, but barring calamity, I will be attending all three days of the convention. Maybe we'll run into each other!

The Westin Boston Seaport District Hotel is at 425 Summer Street, Boston, MA, next to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. It's a short (but often windy) walk from the World Trade Center stop on the MBTA Silver Line SL1, SL2, SL3, and SLW. MBTA Buses #4 and #7 stop near the BCEC, although the #4 does not run on weekends and the #7  does not run on Sundays. Please be aware of this weekend's MBTA Subway and Bus Service Alerts.

Attachments

[ejbarnes]

I won't be on the program like I was at Arisia last month, but starting tomorrow evening, my art will be in the art show at Boskone 60 (the 60th Boskone -- it goes back a ways!). The con is open to the public from the afternoon of Friday, 17 February, through Sunday, 19 February, at the Westin Boston Seaport District -- yes, the very same hotel that hosted Arisia.

Unlike Arisia, Boskone has separate sections in the Art Show for original art vs. prints, and sales in the original art section are conducted by silent auction. So not only do I have more space than I did at Arisia, I have more space for original art -- and I've got new prints in the print shop!

Hours for Boskone's Art Show are 6 PM--Midnight Friday, 10 AM--9 PM Saturday, and 10 AM--Noon and 1--3 PM  Sunday. Bidding in the silent auction ends at Noon Sunday; live auction on items  that receive the maximum number of silent bids (4) starts shortly after  silent bidding closes (no later than 12:30 PM). Quick Sale hours are  Noon--9 PM Saturday and 10 AM--Noon Sunday. Pickup time for purchases of  art is 1--3 PM Sunday.

The Westin Boston Seaport District (formerly known as the Westin Boston Waterfront) is at 425 Summer Street, Boston, right next to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, and a short distance from the World Trade Center stop on the MBTA Silver Line.

[ejbarnes]

It's time for Wicked Comic Con! I'll be there both Saturday and Sunday, 10--11 August, at my own table. The show is open to the public 10 AM -- 6 PM Saturday and 10 AM -- 5 PM Sunday. Please see this page for ticket information.

I'll be bringing my comics, as well as prints, cards, stickers, and original comics art.

I'll be at Table GW018 in the Galleria -- the lower level function space at the entire opposite end of the building from the Grand Ballroom and Commonwealth Ballroom (also on the lower level, but you have to go up to the lobby to cross over from one to the other). Psst -- my end is closer to the main entrance.

Wicked Comic Con 2024 is at the Westin Boston Seaport District (yes, the same hotel where Arisia and Boskone have been held the last few years). The hotel is at 425 Summer Street in Boston, MA, near the World Trade Center stop on the MBTA Silver Line. MBTA Buses #4 and #7 also stop nearby.