Steve Nease talk attracts an audience

I'll post more later, but here's an interesting story about the name of the Pud comic strip. It was posted in response to this blog post, which questioned the reason Steve used the name:

As a kid, Steve loved the Lionel Barrymore movie "On Borrowed Time". When he had a child named Ben, he started calling him "Pud" (Bobs Watson as John "Pud" Northrup), after the child in the film.

In the 1980s, he did an editorial cartoon about how children flock to advertisements. The editorial was illustrated in two panels, and received great response from readers and newspaper co-workers.

He decided to do up some more samples, which he showed the editor. The editor decided he could use extra content to fill up the space on the editorial page, and the strip's been going strong since.

At the time the strip started Fleer had stopped putting their "Fleer Funnies starring Pud" strip in the Dubble Bubble gum packages. He decided he could safely name the strip after this character, without confusion. Four years later, the comics in the gum packages restarted.

He says he's considered renaming the strip, and has a title that he's batted around in his mind (which he didn't reveal to us), but he's just never got around to it.

VAB in "What's On" section of the Star

Editorial cartoonist Steve Nease talks about his works Wed. 7 p.m. (free). Visual Arts Brampton, 1 Bartley Bull Pkwy #10.

Let's hope this brings in the crowds.

VAB @ City Hall for flower art show

As we have done other years, VAB is holding an exhibition of flower artwork at the Brampton City Hall atrium gallery. The exhibit will be open May 31, and go through June.

All members are welcome to exhibit, contact Keith ASAP at 905-453-9142.

Fine art on display at annual Peel Art Gallery show

Fine art on display at annual Peel Art Gallery show
Tuesday May 8 2007

BRAMPTON - The 34th annual Juried Show of Fine Art opened last week, with 66 works chosen from more than 250 submissions.

The exhibition will be on display until June 3 at the Art Gallery of Peel in the Peel Heritage Complex, 9 Wellington St. E.

Of the 66 artists selected for this year's Juried Show, 25 are from Peel: 10 from Brampton, three from Caledon and 12 from Mississauga.

Heather Appleby and Delroy Russell of Brampton were selected for the Jurors' Award sponsored by Colony Ford-Lincoln of Brampton, which they share with several other artists. Debra Ali of Brampton was revealed as the winner of the People's Choice Award at the opening.

The complex is open to the public Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., on weekends from noon to 4:30 p.m. and on Thursday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. Admission costs $2.50 for adults, $1.50 for seniors, $1 for students and $7 for families.

For information about the Peel Heritage Complex, call 905-791-4055 or visit www.peelheritagecomplex.org.

First time's the charm! Debra wins AGP Juried Show

The Art Gallery of Peel's annual Juried Art Show had 254 artists entering work, of which 66 were accepted. Two hundred people came to the show opening, and 150 of them cast ballots for the People's Choice Award.

The winner? Debra Ali, one of our most recent new members.

According Peel Heritage Complex curator David Somers, via email, "Debra's work was far and away the most popular work with over half of the votes."

Debra's flower painting was a Christmas gift to her sister, that Debra has continued to work on months after the holidays, including during an event at Shoppers World.

As mentioned before, VAB member Mary Noble, lapsed member Kim Lee Kho and Kal Honey, and former VAB vice president Kate Taylor were all accepted into the show.

Yes, that is our corridor on TV.

An argument started inside Shoppers World mall last night at 7:15 pm. Whether it was between either three or four males, and whether they were in their teens or 20s, you take your pick, the news reports have been thoroughly ambiguous. The fight soon spilled outside to the parking lot, and things got "louder and angrier", according to Citynews.

The corridor they went through to get to the parking lot? It was the Artway corridor.

As a result, Torontonians watching Global News Morning got to see Peel Regional Police wander past the Steve Nease Laughlines exhibit. People watching Citytv's Breakfast Television only got to see the doorway.

More new books, part 10

• Spiderman: The Ultimate Guide, Tom DeFalco
• The Wonderful World of Dogs, Octopus Books
• Looney Tunes: The Ultimate Visual Guide, Jerry Beck
• ROM Encounter Series: An Introduction to Ontario Fossils, Janet Waddington
• Color Under Ground: The Mineral Picture Book, Lee Boltin and John S. White, Jr.
• Wilderness Canada, Borden Spears (editor), Jon Eby (designer)
• History of the Primates: An Introduction to the Study of Fossil Man, W. E. Le Gros Clark
• Termites, P. E. Howse
• Rainbow Trout in the Great Lakes, Hugh R. MacCrimmon, Barra Lowe Gots
• Hammond Nature Atlas of America, E. L. Jordan, Ph.D., Rutgers University