"The animation tent is shaped like a chapel. Animation has been a sanctuary for me, provided me with a space to find, cleanse, confess, define, lose, and discover myself... Unlike the solid foundations of a church, this tent can be folded up, it can blow away, it's temporary..."

The tent: Metaphor and actual thing. All images courtesy of Jon Hofferman unless otherwise noted.

In fact, there actually was a tent at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, a temporary structure that was set up to provide some cover during the Animators' Picnic on Friday in Strathcona Park. Generally considered one of the highlights of the festival, the picnic featured hamburgers and hot dogs (not enough), beer (more than enough), the legendary pumpkin-carving contest -- this year won by a sculpted homage to one of the festival films (and the eventual winner of the Cartoon d'Or at Cartoon Forum), The Pearce Sisters -- and a prodigious number of people eating, drinking, schmoozing, networking, and, probably at least some of the time, sharing their love of animation.

It was the large population, as much as anything, that impressed me about this popular festival, now in its 32nd year. One hears constantly about the proliferation of audiovisual entertainment available on an ever-larger number of platforms, and of the increasing isolation of individual consumers, caught up in their own niche interests and personal delivery systems. And yet here were, I don't know, several thousand people coming together in what felt like a real, if impermanent, community to experience an art form that's easily available in so many other more accessible media. Maybe I just don't get out enough, but somehow it seemed like a significant phenomenon, which at least offered an alternate perspective on some conventional wisdom that I'd come to take for granted.

Author and OIAF Artistic Director Robinson signs copies of his book after reluctantly reading a few excerpts to his adoring fans.

Sign of the Pimp
While I didn't make it to any of the nightly parties that may go part of the way in explaining the festival's perennial popularity, I did attend one special event that, while it likely didn't appear on most festivalgoers' radar, was a high point for me (and might resonate with habitual AWN readers). This was the art exhibition/reading/book signing connected with the recent publication of The Animation Pimp, a collection of columns written by OIAF Artistic Director Chris Robinson from 2000 to 2005 that appeared in these virtual pages. [Full disclosure: I edited Robinson's book.] Held at La Petite Mort Gallery, where some of Andreas Hykade's illustrations for the book were displayed, the event drew about 50 people -- which was pretty much the capacity of the space -- to a rather rundown part of the city. (Another exhibit on display across the room featured stark photographs of some of the neighborhood's male denizens.)

Ever the showman (despite his oft-expressed protestations to the contrary), Robinson clearly had a good time reading a few excerpts from the book, especially when he realized that some of the individuals who appear in thinly disguised -- and not always flattering -- form in the book were there in the room. But apparently no umbrage was taken, books were sold and signed, congratulations were exchanged, and -- no doubt energized by the incredible publicity engendered by the event -- the book moved from #346,274 in Amazon's sales rankings to #346,273. (Actually, as I write, the book is #86,192, which isn't all that bad).