Box 440422. Somerville, MA 02144-0006
http://www.czekaj.com. e: jef@czekaj.com. p: 617.501.2505

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Recent Grants

Xeric Foundation Self-Publishing Grant
Xeric Foundation, 2003

LCC Grant Winner in Visual Arts
Somerville Arts Council, 2002

Professional Development Grant
Massachusetts Cultural Council, 2001

Project Grant Winner
Somerville Arts Council, 2000

LCC Grant Winner in Visual Arts
Somerville Arts Council, 2000

Matching Funds Grant
Eastern Enterprises, 1999

Recent Exhibitions

20/2000
Group show
Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA
February 2 - 25, 2001

See With Your Eyes, Not With Your Hands
Group show
Somerville Museum, Somerville, MA
November-December 2002

Jef Czekaj and Dan Moynihan (2 person show)
Diesel Cafe, Somerville, MA
December-January 2002

Comic Release: Negotiating Identity for a New Generation
Touring Group Exhibition
Gouger Miller Gallery, Carnegie Mellon University
January 17 - March 21, 2003

other scheduled appearances of this show:

New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center , New Orleans, LA
April 11 - June 15, 2003

University of North Texas, Denton, TX
August 25 - October 18, 2003

Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA
Jan. 12 - March 13, 2004

Professional Experience

Somerville Comics Collaborative, Somerville, MA
Co-founder and Co-director, August 1999-present

Co-founder of an organization dedicated to bringing Somerville residents together to tell stories of the city in comic form. The Collaborative's first book, a 96-page graphic novel telling the story of the 1834 burning of the Ursuline comic in Somerville written by twelve Somerville teenagers was published in 2000. Collaborative comics have also been created in association with various organizations including the Somerville Community Youth Program, the Somerville Arts Council, the Somerville Police Department, Clarendon Hill Towers and the Mystic Public Housing Development.

Highwater Books, Cambridge, MA and Brooklyn, NY
Production Supervisor, October 1997-present

Directly involved in all aspects of a small comic-book publishing company, including marketing, publicity, book editing, design.

Somerville Comix Festival
Co-Director, July-October 2001

Organized a week-long, city-wide comic art festival including art exhibits at several venues throughout the cities featuring local and national artists, workshops, parties, musical performances, lectures, and an animation show.

Washington St. Art Center Comix Show
September-October 1998

Co-organized and exhibited at a show featuring both local and national cartoonists work.

Cambridge Comix Circus
May 1997

Co-organized and performed in a multi-media performance featuring comic artists performing "comic-related" work including puppetry, music, and dance.

Recent Publications

"Grampa and Julie: Shark Hunters"
appears regularly in Nickelodeon Magazine, 1999-present

"The Imposters"
self-published, 2001

"Fuck Other Forms of Art"
An essay about how and why comic artists can and should get arts grants.
The Comics Journal, Issue 238, Sept. 2001

"Fireballs"
Low Jinx #3: The Big Rip-Off
Noe-Fie Monomedia, Feb 2001

"The Man Who Cried Fish" (with Brian Ralph)
Bizarro Comics
DC Comics, 2001

"Hypertruck has seen the future of music"
Expo 2001
SPX, 2001

"Donkey Boy"
Low Jinx #2: The Horrible Truth about Reinventing Mini Comics
Noe-Fie Monomedia, April 2000

"X-Men vs. Galactus"
Coober Skeber #2
Highwater Books, 1997

Fire on the Nunnery Grounds (edited)
The Somerville Community Youth Program and The Somerville Comics Collaborative, 2000

a few other self-published works:

R2-D2 is an Indie Rocker #1-5
Hypertruck #6
Let's Go Bitch, Whine, and Otherwise Complain About Cambridge
The Oath