Recap: SPX 2011 and Library of Congress

Small Press Expo was September 10-11, 2011 in North Bethesda, Maryland. We premiered the Curls: MASER book, which is the current ongoing storyline on www.curls-studio.com/curls right now. Those who purchased the book, got to read the story before anyone else.


Some of the highlights from SPX included the giveaway of the Curls Canvas (from Easy Canvas Prints). Here is a photo of Joe and I with baby Simon. Simon's mom, Casey, won the canvas and was able to pick it up in-person at SPX.


Saturday was a very busy day and SPX had record breaking attendance records. The crowd was so big that it was announced by Warren Bernard that the show will expand next year and the aisles will be wider. The Ignatz Awards on Saturday night was also bursting at the seams. I've never seen so many people gathered for the awards show before.


I got to draw a few fun commissions including a variant cover for The Dollar Bin's Buried Treasure Friends Assembled anthology. I believe they will be hosting a giveaway for the illustration I did.


Joe and I were interviewed by Rusty and Joe of Full Sanction, who were hosting their show and conducting interviews in the lobby with a full SPX backdrop. We will post a link to the interview once it is available online.

Another awesome thing that happened at this year's SPX besides the magical chocolate fountain is the Small Press Expo Collection at the Library of Congress. Curls Studio books were selected to be included in the collection and we are very happy to be included.

Here is some info about the collection (from http://www.spxpo.com/loc):

The Small Press Expo Collection at the Library of Congress was established to preserve the history both the artistic output of the creators who come to SPX, as well as the art that SPX itself generates as part of its yearly festival. The Collections scope was developed in partnership with the Prints and Photograph, and Serial Divisions of the Library of Congress, with the yearly gifts of donated works expanding the Library’s collection of comic books and comic art into the world of independent comics.

This collection at the Library of Congress firmly establishes independent comics as being both culturally revelevant and historically important enough for ongoing collecting and preservation.

Only those guests and exhibitors who have attended Small Press Expo are eligible for inclusion in the collection, with the scope focusing on the following areas:
- Mini-comics, comics, tabloid comic sections and graphic novels that are not sent for copyright deposits to the Library of Congress.
- All posters, flyers, banners ads and other collateral created to promote SPX, including the original art, where possible .
- All Ignatz Award nominees in the print categories.
- Original art by Small Press Expo exhibitors and special guests

In addition, both the winner of the Ignatz Best Online Comic as well as the Small Press Expo web site will become part of the Library of Congress Web Archiving Collection.

Small Press Expo has also created an SPX-Library of Congress Advisory Committee to work with Library of Congress collections and curatorial staff to identify works to be included in the collection. This is to ensure that a wide range of tastes is considered when assessing items for inclusion to the Small Press Expo Collection.

You can check out more photos on the Curls Studio "SPX 2011" Photo Album on Facebook.

Thanks to everyone who attended SPX. We look forward to next year - mark your calendars for September 15-16, 2012!