Jonathan Rotsztain

I will be leading a Self-Loving Jew comics workshop this Sunday, March 19 as part of Limmud Toronto. Limmud is an international, one of a kind festival celebrating all the richness Jewish identity can offer. I’ll be leading participants through the history of Jewish memoir comics and the creation of their own confessional visual stories. I’ll also be selling my books as part of Café Limmud. I’m very excited to see you at the St. Andrews Club and Conference Centre at 150 King Street West this Sunday. My presentation closes the day at 5pm. And don’t forget to read the original Self-Loving Jew comics on my website. 

The latest edition of Self-Loving Jew is now up on Scribe, the Forward’s Contributor Network. The Chanukah themed strip builds on the previous editions you can read on Koffler.Digital here. 

Happy Chanukah from your Self-Loving Jew!

This event is free, all-ages and open to the public. See you at Artscape Youngplace at 1pm! Above poster by me.

As the US election is about to wrap up with either a bang or a whimper, now may be a good time to look back at last year’s Canadian election. I had the pleasure of working with Noah Richler’s NDP campaign. The result is Noah’s new book The Candidate: Fear And Loathing On The Campaign Trail a frank, witty and heartfelt memoir of seeking and losing a federal race. I supplied graphics for this video as well as a comic that appears in the book. Go pick up a copy and get the inside look at the how and why of politics in Canada from one of our nation’s leading writers. 

I’m back from my residency at KIAC in Dawson City, Yukon and had a blast! We were lucky enough to receive some great press for the Dawson Comics Crier from the Yukon News [Read Here] and What’s Up Yukon [Read Here], including having my artwork from Dreary Diary appear on the cover—and above the fold—of the News. You can also see that my comics were printed on the same folio piece of paper as the official comics section. Long Live Print! Pretty cool. 

Tonight in Dawson City, Yukon! I’m giving my KIAC Artist Talk and we’re launching the Dawson Comics Crier! Join us in the KIAC Ballroom at 7pm.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.

For the last five weeks I’ve been an artist-in-residence at the Roundtable Residency. While there, I completed a new comic Exercises 3 which will be available at Zine Dream this weekend! For the Roundtable’s closing show, I took the 24 interior pages of the new Exercises, hung them on the wall and painted images from my comic on top off them, images based on paintings by Roy Lichtenstein, “inspired” by the graphic storytelling of Mike Sekowsky and Tony Abruzzo, dialoging with the intersection of fine art and funny books. I also spoofed the residency bunny, recreating shots of it for the residency’s Instagram takeover. Roundtable was an amazing experience and I am grateful. Thanks to all the organizers and the Dragon Academy for hosting. 

Tonight at 7pm in Toronto: Join us for The Roundtable Residency Closing Reception including art by me like the launch of Exercises 3 and new pieces from over a dozen local and international artists. 

today’s my #takeover on the @roundtableresidency #instagram! #follow4follow

It was my privilege to host two editions of my workshop Rhythms: The How and Why of Ritual at the Hillside Festival this July. With gentle guidance, participants crowd-created a communal ceremony drawing on mental, physical, spiritual and emotional pillars. Hillside was a blast and these workshops/rituals were especially fun and meaningful. Thanks to Hillisde and all who came out to the workshops. Thanks to Daniel Rotsztain for photos of the Saturday ritual on Guelph Lake. xo

I’m heading out to Guelph, Ontario this weekend for the Hillside Festival! I’m thrilled to be delivering my workshop *Rhythms: The How and Why of Ritual* on Saturday at 1pm and Sunday at 5pm. Hope to see you there to engage in some communal intentionality, healing and celebration. Photo by Tabercil via Wikipedia.