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GYTHA PRESS
Gytha Press is a Calgary-based small press specializing in comics, zines and art. Keep an eye on this space or follow us on social media to hear about our upcoming projects!
Jillian Fleck, "It Is The 32nd Day of My Epic Desert Adventure And." Preview of Toad Hex Issue 6 (read here)
Nicole Brunel, Excerpt from Toad Hex Issue 1 (read here)
from Victoria Bailey, "Women's Bands." Excerpt from Toad Hex Issue 1 (read here)
The idea that historically women- who have endured and continue to endure persecution, doubt, suspicion, dismissal, ridicule, disparagement, beatings and burnings -can find safety, space and expression in music and art, is, if true, a Goddess-send. Women are still typically given less artistic credibility, opportunity, promotion, payment, reward, and recognition than men within traditional music and art realms. This the current situation, as it has been throughout time. While women have been depicted as witches, angels, whores, mothers, and – abracadabra – any and all stereotypes ad infinitum, which ultimately serve to maintain the dark art of patriarchy – a spell was also cast to confine women under the enchanting guise of muse by male artists.
That they might call on their power to invoke their own creativity is magical. To use the arts to explore and express their experience, to grab their brooms and refuse to be swept away, to weave their toil and troubles into something more valuable than gold; this is what women have always done. As Pencerdd Gwffyn also observed: "To music the witch flew at last, there to find a sanctuary, a home, an occupation. What more natural, for is there not an affinity between the two crafts? The musician is certainly something of a necromancer, one dealing in form without substance, building fabrics out of nothing, calling from the empty air powers which speak to the innermost heart of man." |
Verso - Toad Hex Issue 7 (read here)
from Joey Gruszecki , "Intro to Toad Hex Issue 7" (read here)
... This past May should have been our 5th annual festival. Alas, it was not to be. While it was an easy decision to make to cancel the event this year, circumstances being what they were (are), it certainly stung. Putting on the show is a large undertaking but it is also a real pleasure and the day of the event is always the most enjoyable of my year. (Well, actually, the night after the event is the most enjoyable as I frankly spend most of the actual day pacing and panicked that everything is terrible and everyone will hate it oh no LOOK WHAT MY CARELESS HANDS HAVE WROUGHT!)
Panel One remains committed to putting on the show, and to gathering us all together once again to celebrate each other and our creations. The amount of talent and dedication in the community never ceases to amaze. It inspires me every year, and I can’t wait to see what everyone has been working on, you know, just as soon as it’s safe to all be in the same hall again. If the global pandemic has taught me one thing, it’s that I was right to be stockpiling all these comic books and blu-rays for the last 20 years. If it has taught me two things, the second is to never take for granted the power of comics to entertain, inspire, express and, above all, to unite. Verso - Toad Hex Issue 6 (read here)
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