The UP! Fair Experience: Part 1

This weekend I took part in the inaugural UP! Fair – a celebration of indie comics held in Lexington, Kentucky. I am so glad I went – I not only met up with folks I already knew, like Jerzy Drozd, Mark Rudolph, and Sara Turner, but I also had the pleasure of meeting a lot of folks who I’ve only known on Twitter – people like Rob Stenzinger, Kim Holm, Matt Zolman, Ryan Dow, Justin Stewart, Shawn Robare, Jim Lujan and Pat Higgins.

My flight from Tampa kicked off at 5:15AM and I arrived in Lexington 20 minutes before 9AM – picked up by Sara and Brian Turner, of CricketPress. Sara and Brian generously let me and a few other cartoonists crash over at their place this weekend. I am very grateful for their incredible hospitality!

After arriving at their place, I met Norwegian cartoonist Kim Holm. Like me, Kim was a regular guest on the Art & Story Alive podcast, so it was an honor to finally meet him in person.

Shortly after, I was reunited with my good buddy Mark Rudolph. I also met his friend, Holly, who came down to take photos of the entire event. (BTW, the photos she took were amazing and really captured the mood of the event!)

We left the house shortly after to set-up at the Carnegie Center for Literacy. At the Center, I met Jerzy Drozd, his wife Anne, and Shawn and Carrie Robare.

(NOTE: If you’re wondering why this blog post is a bit text heavy, I opted not to bring my camera on this trip. Photos of the event were nicely chronicled by Jerzy Drozd and ghettomation extraordinaire Jim Lujan.)

I had a chance to see the beautiful artist gallery upstairs, featuring work from UP! Fair supporters around the world. After setting up, we indulged in some downtime before returning to the Carnegie Center for the gallery hop, which took place from 5PM – 8PM. Citizens from Lexington milled around – checking out the gallery while sampling some delicious finger foods.

These photos were taken by Shawn Robare. You can see the rest of his photos on his Flickr page.

The highlight for the evening for me was the Drink-n-Draw event that took place that night. It was at this event that I had a chance to meet and mingle with a whole host of amazing cartoonists. Beverages were consumed, art was made (on a 30 foot wide wall, no less!), and a good time was had by all. It was at the Drink-n-Draw event that I first met Jim Lujan and his wife Leann, and Justin Stewart, and mingled with Lee Cherolis, Joe Combs, Pat Higgins, Matt Zolman and other folks. The vibe was great! Everyone was really laid back, friendly, and interested in hanging out. Below is a video Jerzy took of Jim Lujan drawing on the wall:

The party lasted until 1AM or so, and we said our “see you laters” before arriving at the venue on Saturday morning. Friday night was terrific!

Stay ‘tooned for part 2!

-Krishna

Krishna November 22, 2010 Lexington Kentucky, UP Fair 2010