Here’s something amusing: my Three Billy Goats Gruff and, more importantly, their troll, as featured on John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” this past Sunday. The speech bubble is a lie; sadly, John Oliver never said he loved my art. In fact he was discussing the problem of “patent trolls,” and if you want to know what he actually said, you can watch the segment here. (This begins at the appearance of my piece. Back up slightly to start at the beginning of the segment.) If you want to know more about my process in making the “Three Billy Goats Gruff” block print, you can read about that here.
The process of getting my artwork on the air was kind of interesting. I arrived home from my cousin’s wedding to find e-mail and phone messages from someone on the show. They had presumably done an internet search for images of trolls and found mine. I called back and there followed a quick flurry of back and forth as they tracked down the right people, explained how they wanted to use the image, and sent me forms to fill out. They had first left messages on Saturday, but I didn’t return and see the messages until Sunday, when they were already shooting the show, so it was all quite a whirlwind. Anyway, I think John Oliver is great and I’m honored to have my art featured on “Last Week Tonight,” even if he didn’t actually tell the world how much he loved it!
In upcoming news, Needham Open Studios is in less than two weeks, and for the first time NOS artists are taking part in Boston ArtWeek during our open studio weekend. I’m one of those offering a special demonstration and hands-on activity for ArtWeek during NOS, so come by on May 2 at 2:00 to learn how I make my block prints and to carve a miniature block of your own. Details can be found on the ArtWeek site here. Info about Needham Open Studios, including map of my location and all the other participating artists can be found on the NOS web site here. This is one of my biggest shows of the year, so I’d love to see you! Plus there are several other artists offering demonstrations and activities during the weekend, which should be very cool. Be there if you can!
[Picture: still from “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Patents,” April 19, 2015 (speech bubble added by AEGN).]
Thanks for telling us how it happened. I recognized the print while John Oliver went on about patent trolls, and wondered how it got there. Great fun, and congratulations!
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