News & Events

Seneca Participates in Live Comics Jam at the Art Gallery of Ontario

As part of Seneca’s sponsorship of Broken Pencil's Canzine Toronto 2016, students of the Independent Illustration program, led by Program Co-ordinator JoAnn Purcell and professor Martha Newbigging ran an all-day live comics jam at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) on Saturday, October 29.

A comics jam is a form of collaborative graphic storytelling. After reading comics in-progress participants continue the story by adding their own panel to the artwork. No one knows how the stories will end until the last panel is complete. 

Visitors to Canzine Toronto 2016, Canada’s largest festival of zines and underground culture, were invited to the Seneca art room to participate in the comics jam. Each large format, one-page comic was gradually completed collaboratively through the contributions of visitors. The final comics can be viewed on the Independent Illustration program blog or on Seneca Comics Jam Instagram

With over 200 tables showcasing artist’s books and zines at Canzine Toronto 2016, it was also a great opportunity to add to the Seneca zine collection, administered and housed in the Seneca@York library. Zines are non-profit, self-published, independent works motivated by self-expression. The history of zines is rooted in alternative culture and readers will often find articles and illustrations that give a voice to topics out of the mainstream.