* WHAT IS V.I.T.A. ?
Visitors in the Arts (V.I.T.A.) is a co-operative project of the Art Gallery of Windsor, the University of Windsor's School of Visual Arts, Artcite Inc (Windsor's Artist Run Centre for the Contemporary Arts), House of Toast Film & Video Collective, Common Ground, Windsor Feminist Theatre, and Windsor Printmaker's Forum. The VITA project brings practicing artist and curators into our community for the purpose of lectures, studio visits and critical discussions. V.I.T.A. is generously supported by The Canada Council Visual Arts Programme: Project Assistance to Visual Arts, Craft and Architecture Organizations.

* HISTORICAL ARCHIVE :
To access the V.I.T.A. Historical Archive page for 1986-2005
(an amazing resource featuring information on all of our past visitors including bios and links)
click here

* CURRENT V.I.T.A. PROGRAM >

 

2006-07 :

image: Best of American Splendor, published by Ballantine Books

Harvey Pekar & Joyce Braber (Cleveland, OH)
Hosted by Artcite Inc. in partnership with Bookfest Windsor

> Sat Nov 4, 2006, 2:00 - 4:00 pm, Art Gallery of Windsor, Studio (second floor), 401 Riverside Dr. W.

** Please note: details on obtaining tickets is currently TBA -- stay tuned for details!

Harvey Pekar is best known for his autobiographical slice-of-life comic book series American Splendor, a first-person account of Pekar's downtrodden life. The series has been published on an approximately annual basis since 1976. Pekar self-published the series until the early 1990s, when Dark Horse took over publication. In 1987, Pekar was honored with the American Book Award for the series. Dark Horse celebrated the 25th anniversary of American Splendor in 2001 with a special issue. American Splendor is illustrated by high-profile artists such as Robert Crumb, Frank Stack and Joe Sacco. The comic strip's international appeal was also made evident through Pekar's collaboration with comic book illustrator Colin Warneford of Gateshead, England for the aptly-titled issue American Splendour: Transatlantic Comics. Pekar began his writing career as a prolific music and book critic. His reviews have been published in The Boston Herald, The Austin Chronicle, Jazz Times, Urban Dialect (a paper native to Cleveland), and Down Beat Magazine, among many other journals. His critiques are available on the Internet at numerous websites and dispersed amongst personal homepages from his devoted fans. Pekar also collaborated with his wife, Joyce Brabner, on a book-length autobio comic Our Cancer Year (Four Walls Eight Windows).

Joyce Brabner (born 1952) is a writer of political comics and sometimes collaborator with her husband Harvey Pekar. As Pekar's third wife, she has appeared as a character in many of his American Splendor stories. In addition to Pekar and American Splendor, Brabner has worked with many of independent comics' highest-profile writers and artists. She edited Eclipse's Real War Stories, which brought Mike W. Barr, Steve Bissette, Brian Bolland, Rebecca Huntington, Paul Mavrides, Dean Motter, Denny O'Neil and John Totleben (among others) together on behalf of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors. Her work on Brought to Light with Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz brought critical praise from both the artistic and activist communities. In 1994, Pekar and Brabner collaborated with artist Frank Stack on the Harvey Award-winning graphic novel, Our Cancer Year. Our Cancer Year takes readers through Pekar's struggles with lymphoma, as well as serving as a social commentary on events of that year.

Joyce Brabner and Harvey Pekar are presented by the VITA (Visitors in the Arts) Lecture Series, a collaborative project organized annually and funded in part by the AGW, Artcite Inc., Common Ground Gallery, the House of Toast Film & Video Collective, the Windsor Feminist Theatre, the Windsor Printmakers Forum, and the University of Windsor's School of Visual Arts, with additional funding support from the Canada Council's "Project Assistance to Visual Arts and Crafts Organizations" program.