I’m getting ready to head out to the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau. For the next 4 days I will be a guest of the 9th Rendez-Vous International de la BD de Gatineau.

I’ll be at the Festival doing signings, live drawing presentations, and a few other events. I also have an exhibition in the gallery section. About 30 pieces of original art will be on display, so drop on by. It’s FREE.

The full press kit follows the cut.

Opening ceremonies at the Canadian Museum of Civilization
Thursday, October 23rd at 6:30 pm

This year, the opening ceremony will be held at the same venue as the Rendez-vous itself, at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. This will be a unique occasion for visitors to celebrate in the company of guest authors, exhibitors and the organizers of the 9th Rendez-vous.

Meet and Greet at the EMI (UQO)
Thrusday, October 23rd

Again this year, the Ecole multidisciplinaire de l’image (EMI) is proud to welcome some of the guest artists of the RVIBDG for stimulating discussions about the 9th art. An exceptional event that is open to all!

1. Canadian Museum of Civilization
Level 2 / Foyer of the Museaum’s Theatre
100 Laurier Street in Gatineau

2. Art Gallery of the Alliance francaise
352 MacLaren Street in Ottawa

3. Universite du Quebec en Outaouais
ecole multidisciplinaire de l’image (eMI)
Lucien-Brault Pavilion
101 St-Jean-Bosco Street in Gatineau

1:30 p.m.: Meet and Greet with Taillefer (Ontario) and the duo Delaf and Dubuc (Quebec)
2:45 p.m.: Meet and Greet with Aymond and Johanna (France)

This activity is open to the public. For more information, please visit http://www.uqo.ca/emi.

Unveiling at the Alliance francaise

Friday, October 24th, at 6:00 pm

L’Alliance francaise d’Ottawa is pleased to host the exhibit Philippe Aymond, du reel a la BD, which includes approximately 30 of the thousands of comic strips produced by the illustrator since 1989.

LAUNCH : TOUT SPIROUZ
Saturday, October 25th from 5:00 to 7:00 pm

Spirou and his gang find a permanent home at the UQO library!

The UQO library and the Ecole multidisciplinaire de l’image (EMI) invite you to a special celebration in honour of the famous Belgian bellhop who, to mark his 70th birthday, will be setting up residence in the UQO library, thanks to the generosity of the Journal de Spirou. An evening not to be missed!

A reception will be held.

Information: (819) 595-3900, ext. 1628

Action… Reaction !
For every action there is a reaction; that’s how the ideas that take shape in an illustrator’s head become a comic strip. The audience is invited to react to the zany ideas of the activity leader and provide inspiration.

Comics Action
Whether as an observer or a participant, don’t miss this activity, which involves the impromptu creation of a storyboard in the form of comic strip sketches.

Comics to the Highest Bidder
An extraordinary auction! For sale: speech bubbles! The currency: words! May the best phrase win!

Live Illustration
During the festival, the guest artists will improvise a drawing before the eyes of the audience. Accompanied by an interview that will shed light on the author and his or her work, the activity will end with a draw for the signed illustration. Be there!

Express Yourself
Comic art professionals reveal the importance of expression in creating comic art characters and stories.

Discussion: Serie BD, la clef du succes?
Is the publication of a comic series a determining factor in a comic artist’s success? Along with the guest artists of the 9th RVIBDG, discover what motivates artists to choose this route, and the hopes and disappointment that come along the way.

New Releases
Each year, the Rendez-vous de la BD offers comic fans the chance to discover recent newcomers to the comic art world. For the 9th edition of the RVIBDG, Kan-J and Paul Roux present their most recent publications to comic fans from the Outaouais.

Strip… teaser
Armed with sheets of paper, pencils and markers, spectators become illustrators during this activity. A super-effective method for discovering the various aspects of comic art, from scripting to creating a frame, and the search for expressions and angles.

Round table : La vie apres le bac BD
Several graduates of the comic art program at UQO will discuss the various professional avenues that have opened up to them since they finished their studies, and talk about their plans.

Masters at Work – Presented by Desjardins
As visitors look on, the guest authors will take turns creating a giant comic strip based on a particular theme. Comic fans can watch the images take shape, plucked from the imagination of these comic art wizards!

Tele-Quebec’s Little Library
In partnership with publishers of books for young people, Tele-Quebec is offering the youngest visitors of the Rendez-vous de la BD a selection of illustrated books and albums to read on site in a playful atmosphere and safe environment. An excellent occasion for young readers to lose themselves in the passionate adventures of the characters from the series for children aired on Tele-Quebec, such as Kaboum, Toupie et Binou, Toc Toc Toc and more!

BDmix Reading Room
Intended mainly for teenagers and adults, the BDmix reading room feeds into the BDmix activity by offering visitors a selection of approximately 50 albums to read on site.

BDmix – Presented by the French Embassy
Visit the BDmix exhibit and retrace the steps that have marked a century of French-language comics. Through the magic of the screen, BDmix will present 35 comic strips from original collections. Then, settle in and immerse yourself in the world of French-language comics by flipping through a collection of some 50 albums at your disposal.

Gilles Villeneuve… Le champion du peuple! – Presented by Desjardins
Formula 1 superstar Gilles Villeneuve not only left his mark on his era and on an entire generation of adrenaline junkies, but he was also immortalized in a comic strip! To tie this publication in with the 30th anniversary of his first win, the Musee Gilles Villeneuve will be presenting a collection of objects and images that will revive memories of this “people’s champion”.

Reality and the Fantastic: The Magic of the mundane
Craig A. Taillefer’s “savoir-faire” is best revealed through his illustrations, which focus on ordinary people in extraordinary situations, slices of life taken from fiction or reality. This exhibit will provide you with the opportunity to get to know the illustrator, for whom the magic of fantasy goes hand-in-hand with the equally fascinating magic of the mundane.

Philippe Aymond, du reel a la BD
At the Alliance francaise d’Ottawa
From October 24 to 31, the walls of the Alliance francaise d’Ottawa will be adorned with an exhibit of approximately 30 original comic strips by Philippe Aymond. This selection, which represents only a fraction of the French illustrator’s work, is taken from two decisive periods in his career. The first, from 1989 to 1999, looks at his collaboration with scriptwriter Pierre Christin, and the second, from 1999 to the present, looks at the creation of the series ApocalypseMania and Lady S.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the world-famous Smurfs, the Rendez-vous de la BD is teaming up with Radio-Canada’s Premiere Chaine (90.7 FM) and LeDroit to present the contest Invente-moi un Schtroumpf! From October 14 to 17, between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., listen to Le monde selon Mathieu on 90.7 FM and discover the invented Smurf of the day. Write the Smurf’s name on the entry ballot published daily in LeDroit for your chance to win one of five prizes, including the complete collection of albums featuring those odd little blue men created half a century ago by the illustrator Peyo.

Barely two years after Philippe Aymond finished his studies in the plastic arts, Les Humanoides Associes charged him with the task of creating illustrations for the Canal Choc series, based on scripts by Pierre Christin. This collaboration continued with the album L’Homme qui fait le tour du monde (1994) and the adventure series Les 4 x 4 (1997 a 2000). A second series, ApocalypseMania, written by Bollee, followed in 2000. In 2003, Jean Van Hamme, who was drawn in by the elegance and simplicity of Aymond’s work, asked him to illustrate Lady S, a series in which action, suspense and modern adventures come together in a perfectly controlled geopolitical environment.

An architect by trade, Daniel Bosshart always had a strong penchant for comics. After publishing several illustrations, he produced his first solo work, Geteilter Traum (Shared Dream), in the late 90s. This album, which relies completely on the strength of the illustrations and contains no text, was awared the prize for Best Germanic Publication at the Erlangen Salon in 2000. Because he communicates through images, Daniel Bosshard has presented his readers with a new challenge in the form of Alberto, a work without text whose grandiose and detailed vignettes are open to endless interpretation.

Sandra Breault spent most of her childhood and adolescence poring over comic books. She began with French and Belgian comics, with a brief stop at alternative comic art, before moving over to manga. After studying plastic arts at college in her home region, Lanaudiere, she began her BA in comic art at the University of Quebec at Ouaouais (UQO). She graduated in the spring of 2008 with high honours; this achievement highlights the esthetics and lyricism of her final project. In her comic art, our talented next-generation ambassador draws inspiration from fairy tales and legends to show her readers the poetry that resides in the human spirit.

Thierry Coppee, a teacher originally from Brussels who studied illustration at the Ecole de Recherches Graphiques, spent four years teaching elementary school before dedicating himself to his art. Following a brief collaboration with Spirou magazine, he began working on Les Blagues de Toto for Editions Delcourt. In 2004, he created a humourous world full of teasing tenderness in which the situations and characters are centered around Toto, an impish little boy who possesses an extraordinary gift for witty retorts. With nearly 200 jokes under his belt, Thierry Coppee is currently putting the finishing touches on the 7th Blagues de Toto album while keeping a close eye on the production of the first Toto cartoons.

Johanna (Schipper) was born in Taiwan in 1967 and now lives in Bordeaux, France. After Chinese and Dutch, she learned French by reading Tintin! After finishing high school, she moved to Angoulême to study comic art at the Ecole Superieure de l’Image. She has worked as a colorist and as an organizer of exhibitions on French-language comics, and has also taught master classes to young authors in Vietnam. After publishing several short stories and illustrations, she again began working on the stories of Nana, the young heroine of Les Phosfees, and presented the series in colour to Editions Delcourt in 1999. Her most recent publication, a comic for adults entitled Nos âmes sauvages and published by Futuropolis, earned her the Artemisia award in January 2008.

Based in Montreal, Maxim Douglas – a.k.a. Salgood Sam – has always drawn, just like his parents. Even before leaving school, this self-taught artist began creating his own comics and selling them through specialty shops. At the age of 18, he left home and began his career as a professional illustrator. For almost 20 years, he has worked as a freelancer, producing a multitude of drawings for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Kitchen Sink and the Montreal Mirror. While putting the finishing touches on his album entitled Therefore Repent, he received a bursary from the Canada Council of the Arts in 2007 that allowed him to begin work on his next publication, Dream Life.

When he was young, Marc Delafontaine dreamed of becoming a police officer. However, deciding that he was no good at swinging a baton, he instead opted for his first passion: illustrating. He began by illustrating educational brochures, then worked as an animator, and finally moved on to illustrating children’s books and comics. In 2004, he and partner/scripwriter Maryse Dubuc gave birth to three hip and ruthless adolesencents who came screaming into the comic world with the series Les Nombrils, which has garnered acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.

Maryse Dubuc developed a marked interest in school – and more particularly in writing – at a very young age. Her love of words soon developed into a true passion that lead her to study French literature at university. A colorist, author of books for young people and partner of illustrator Marc Delafontaine, she writes the adventures of Jenny, Vicky and Karine, the three young stars growing up in the sexy and cruelly hilarious world of the scathing series Les Nombrils.

Born into a family of artists from the Bas St-Laurent region, Michel Falardeau completed his studies in the late 90s, first studying plastic arts in Sainte-Foy, then animation at Riviere-du-Loup. After spending a number of years creating video games, he turned to comic books. In 2005, Les Editions Paquet (Switzerland) discovered his talent as a comic artist and published Mertownville. In the form of an intimate narrative, this three-volume series focuses on Lydia, a heroine unlike any other, who invites the reader to discover the secret lives of superheroes. While Michel Falardeau may claim that his own life is boring, he certainly cannot say the same for his characters!

As Craig A. Taillefer explains it, his diet as a young boy consisted of crayons, modeling clay and comic books. It is clear that his exposure at a very young age to the worlds of Asterix, Uncle Scrooge, Turok Son of Stone and others shaped his mind. Which is why, against the advice of those around him, he chose to pursue a career in the arts. For over two decades, Craig has earned a living as an illustrator. Whether in television animation, illustration or the creation of his comic series, Wahoo Morris, the artist divides his time between his obsession for illustration and his passion for old albums …and hammocks!

Each year, the Rendez-vous international de la bande dessinee de Gatineau has the pleasure of welcoming several comic artists who, in a few strokes of a pencil, add their talent to that of the guest artists. This years suprise guests are Tom Fowler and Kan-J. These two surprise guests will be joined by Paul Roux and the comic artist-hosts from Surpriz Comix.

Thursday, October 23rd
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm – Meet and Greet at the EMI with Taillefer and Delaf et Dubuc (venue 3.)
2:45 pm to 3:45 pm – Meet and Greet at the EMI with Aymond and Johanna (venue 3.)
3:00 pm to 4:00 pm – Masters at Work with Salgood Sam (venue 1.)
4:30 pm to 5:30 pm – Masters at Work with Delaf et Dubuc (venue 1.)
6:30 pm to 8:00 pm – Opening ceremonies (venue 1.)

Friday, October 24th
1:30 pm to 2:30 pm – Masters at Work with Falardeau (venue 1.)
2:00 pm to 2:45 pm – Action… Reaction! (venue 1.)
3:30 pm to 4:30 pm – Masters at Work with Coppee (venue 1.)
4:00 pm to 4:45 pm – Express Yourself (venue 1.)
6:00 pm to 7:30 pm – Unveiling of the exhibit Philippe Aymond, du reel a la BD

Saturday, October 25th
10:30 am to 11:30 am – Masters at Work with Bosshart (venue 1.)
11:00 am to 11:30 am – Live illustration with Salgood Sam (venue 1.)
11:30 am to 12:30 pm – Masters at Work with Aymond (venue 1.)
11:45 am to 12:30 pm – Comics Action (venue 1.)
1:00 pm to 1:30 pm – Live illustration with Taillefer (venue 1.)
2:00 pm to 2:45 pm – Round table: la vie apres le baccalaureat BD
3:30 pm to 4:00 pm – Paul Roux and Kan-J’s new releases (venue 1.)
3:30 pm to 4:30 pm – Masters at Work with Johanna (venue 1.)
4:15 pm to 5:00 pm – Strip… teaser (venue 1.)
5:00 pm to 7:00 pm – Launch :Tout Spirou (venue 3.)

Sunday, October 26th
10:30 am to 11:00 am – Live Illustration with Bosshart (venue 1.)
11:00 am to 12:00 pm – Masters at Work with Breault (venue 1.)
11:30 am to 12:15 pm – Action… Reaction! (venue 1.)
1:00 pm to 1:30 pm – Live Illustration with Coppee (venue 1.)
1:45 pm to 2:30 pm – Strip… teaser (venue 1.)
2:00 pm to 3:00 pm – Masters at Work with Taillefer (venue 1.)
2:45 pm to 3:30 pm – Discussion: Serie BD, la cle du succes? (venue 1.)
4:00 pm to 4:45 pm – Comics to the Highest Bidder (venue 1.)

AYMOND: Thu 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm Fri 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm Sat 10 :00 am to 11 :30 am and 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm Sun 10:00 am to 12:00 pm and 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm

BOSSHART: Thu 11:00 am to 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm Fri 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm Sat 11:30 am to 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm Sun 11: 00 am to 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm

BREAULT: Thu 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm Fri 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm Sat 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm Sun 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm and 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm

COPPEE: Fri 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm Sat 10:00 am to 12:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm Sun 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm

DELAF ET DUBUC: Fri 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm Sat 10:30 am to 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm Sun 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm and 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm

FALARDEAU: Thu 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm Fri 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm Sat 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm and 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm Sun 11:00 am to 1:00 pm and 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm

FOWLER: Sat 10:00 am to 11:00 pm and 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm Sun 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm

JOHANNA: Thu 11:00 am to 12:30 pm and 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm Fri 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm Sat 11 h 30 am to 1:30 pm Sun 10:00 am to 12:00 pm and 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm

KAN-J: Sat 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm

ROUX: Thu 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm Fri 11:00 am to 1:00 pm Sat 11:00 am to 12:00 pm and 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm Sun 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

SALGOOD: Thu 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm Fri 11:00 am to 12:30 pm and 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm Sat 10:00 am to 11:00 am and 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm Sun 11:30 am to 1:30 pm and 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm

TAILLEFER: Thu 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm Fri 11:00 am to 1:00 pm and 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm Sat 11:30 am to 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm Sun 10:00 am to 12:00 pm

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