Now in its tenth year, Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival brings around forty top cartoonists to town to draw for the public. On Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st April there will be giant cartoons, hundreds of caricatures drawn, instant exhibitions and free workshops for anyone who wants to try drawing their own cartoons.
The Square and Shrewsbury Market Hall are the focus of much of the activity from 11am – 4pm both days. On Sunday the emphasis is on family cartoon fun in the Market Hall which will open specially for the day. To help celebrate the Festival’s tenth birthday there will be free cupcakes for the first 100 ten year olds. The Market Hall will be decorated with cartoons, there will be the chance to see artists at work, get advice on your own cartoon work and have your caricature drawn for free.
Fetlock Moans and the Thief of Time will be performed in The Square at 3pm on both Saturday & Sunday. This is a Melodrawma – an artform devised specially and performed exclusively at Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival. A story is narrated to a live musical accompaniment and illustrated on the spot in comic strip form by a team of cartoonists.
Also only to be seen at Shrewsbury is the art of Reverse Caricaturing in which the ‘victim is given a new body of their, or the artist’s, choice, drawn, life size, below their head.
As well as a weekend packed with cartooning activities, the festival also includes exhibitions of cartoon art over a longer period. A free-entry themed exhibition of original cartoons and quality prints gives the chance for collectors to see and buy from a range of artists and styles not seen in one place outside London. And the chance for everyone to enjoy the humour and superb drawings. This year’s theme is ‘Time’. The exhibition, entitled, ‘It’s About Time’ is at the upper floor gallery in Shrewsbury Market Hall from 2nd April – 6th May. It then tours to three other Shropshire galleries during the summer.
There are more exhibitions in Theatre Severn’s Chapel Bar and upper floor gallery plus a display of work by local young cartoonists and by Festival workshop participants from Sunday 21st April in Bear Steps Gallery.
One of the most popular features of Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival is always the workshops and cartoon clinics. These give everyone a chance to try cartooning for themselves and to get professional advice and tips on their work. Workshops range from simple have-a-go drop in sessions to more detailed sessions which develop over two days to enable participants to produce a finished piece of work.
Details of all workshops, which are free, and all other activities & exhibitions are on the website at www.shrewsburycartoonfestival.com and in the brochure available from Shrewsbury Market Hall or Shrewsbury Visitor Information Centre.
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