Nadine Kessler did the design, Tom O’Hern the image, Josh Santospirito the words.
Tag Archives: christopher downes
Booklaunch of The Long Weekend in Tassie
26 FebTasmanian Writers Festival: Twitch Weekend – Illustrating the Now
Sat, March 16 – 2:00pm – 5:00pm
Saturday 2-5pm: $55/$35
Venue: Founders Room, Salamanca Arts Centre (Woobys Lane entrance)
Tickets available from Ten Days on the Island website. Enquiries to admin@tasmanianwriters.org or phone 6224 0029
Day one of our Twitch weekend is Illustrating the Now, with two sessions:
Part 1: Political cartooning
Time: 2 pm-3.15 pm
Conveners: Caitlin Richardson and Robbie Arnott
Guest Artists: Andrew Marlton of First Dog on the Moon (Melb), Jon Kudelka (Hob) and Chris Downes (Hob)
Political cartoonists bring us a special brand of wisdom visualising the hilarious, the unthinkable and of course the truth. Kick-starting their creative engines to hit an afternoon deadline, requires talent and nerve. In this session you will come to understand how their process works and grab an insight into their quirky views of the world.
Part 2: Graphic it is
Time: 3.30 pm – 5.00 pm
Guest Writers: Joshua Santospirito (Hobart) and John Retallick (Hobart)
Comic-loving kids have now grown up, and brought their comics with them. The popularity of the graphic novel is on the rise. In this session you will find out how the blending of text and illustration has evolved. Joshua and John will share their experience of the graphic novel movement in Australia and will also discuss what is possible in the brave new world of crowd funding.
Their session will conclude with the launch of Joshua Santospirito’s novel The Long Weekend in Alice Springs, funded through the crowd funding Pozible and supported by the Minister for the Arts through Arts Tasmania.
The book can be snaffled from the San Kessto website from March 14!
The Shipwright & the Banshee
20 Jan
The S&B was first performed by Chris Downes and Josh Santospirito as part of the 2011 Sound to Light evening which pitted a visual artist with a sound artist. Josh approached Chris in early 2011 about doing something together and they slowly developed the idea of performing a ghost story based on the Derwent River near Hobart, Tasmania.
Chris came up with the slow-burning 20 minute story of a young Shipwright meeting a banshee on the banks of Derwent River and Josh wrote the music and created the soundtrack and the music that he also performed. The story was cobbled together from various myths about banshee’s.
The second performance was at Chugnut (comics camp) in Victoria on the 31st of March 2012 where it was watched by every comicer worth a damn in the country (except for all the others) … who loved it.
The performance was then dissected for its weak points and turned into an interstellar monster with the addition of the idea of having an animated component along with Chris’s drawing … then we decided against that.
Then we asked Brian Ritchie (of the Violent Femmes) to include it in the MONA FOMA – an awesomely amazing music and art festival in Hobart, Australia … where Chris and I both live. The video is from the performance at the Rosny Barn as part of the festival.
MONA FOMA 2013 – the Shipwright and the Banshee
13 Jan
Joshua Santospirito and Christopher Downes perform The Shipwright and the Banshee on Friday the 18th at the 2013 MONA FOMA in Hobart, Tasmania.
It’s a performance that combines comics and sound – better make sure you get into the act!!
MONA FOMA 2013
5 OctI shall be playing at this wonderful festival with Christopher Downes!! Announced today … I’m most excited about David Byrne and the Dirty Projectors … I’ll have to try and meet them and not be a ridiculous blubbering fan when I ask them to sign my forehead.
Joshua Santospirito Art 