Patrick Allaby, a 2015 graduate of Mount Allison University, will enter the University of Waterloo to pursue a Masters of Fine Arts. His distinctive work as a cartoonist and illustrator impressed the jury as rich in creative promise
Biography
Patrick Allaby, originally a Fredericton native, has been working in Sackville since his graduation from Mount Allison University. His work has been mainly focused on making comics and zines. In selecting Mr. Allaby for a 2017 Sheila Mackay Advanced Studies Scholarship, the jury noted the distinctive quality of Mr. Allaby’s style and his focused embrace of a contemporary form of expression. He will enter the University of Waterloo in September to pursue a Master’s Degree in Fine Art.
Artist Statement
My practice is mainly focused on making comics. The comics I make have two primary concerns.
The first is a concern for the personal. Sometimes this means making works like The First Anniversary, a reflection on my first year of living with Type 1 diabetes, or Gracie, an elegy for my family’s cat, who died in 2015. However, in my case, this has also resulted in making comics that are very specific to New Brunswick. As someone who has lived in New Brunswick since birth, I find myself constantly feeling that this province is overlooked and underrepresented. Many of my works aim to change that. New Brunswick Trash is fictional anthology of three New Brunswick comic artists, myself and two alter-egos (since I know no others). These comics all concern themselves with life here, in particular, the economic, cultural and social difficulties that come with trying to stay and live in New Brunswick. Record Hunting, tells the story of a father and son who frequented New Brunswick’s independent record stores during the mid-2000s,
The second main concern in my work is an interest in the physical and formal structures of comics. In many of my works I have played around with the different ways that a comic can be printed and bound. I have also considered whether a comic needs to be printed at all, and have begun creating sculptural and performative comics, which introduce a whole new world of possibilities.