At the Alaska State Fair, creativity takes center stage

What you need to know:

• “Chickaloonies” comic creators Casey Silver and Dimi Macheras are at the state fair this month, bringing audience ideas to life, using collaborative character-drawing performances to show that creativity is accessible to everyone.
• “Chickaloonies” draws on Macheras’ Ahtna Athabascan heritage, blending traditional stories and cultural themes with contemporary comics and art. 
• Silver and Macheras aren’t the only cartoonists at the fair. “Tundra” creator Chad Carpenter is also sharing his work and encouraging aspiring artists to be patient, adaptable and willing to promote themselves online.
• Short on time but need the local news scoop? Get free weekly news in your inbox for Mat-Su, from Mat-Su.

PALMER – Jack Palmer isn’t a normal kid.

For one thing, he wears a jacket and tie everywhere. He lives in a treehouse with a pet axolotl and likes to smash things with a hammer. He’s also got a horn jutting from his forehead, tentacles for legs and dragon wings on his back.

And before last week, he didn’t exist.

Jack came to life on the opening day of the Alaska State Fair in Palmer, conjured into existence by audience members at a unique performance where collaboration and creativity take center stage.

“We’re all working together here, right now, this moment in time, sharing our energy to create this awesomely bizarre character,” explained Casey Silver, who, along with collaborator Dimi Macheras, makes up one half of the duo behind the popular “Chickaloonies” graphic comics.

As Silver prompted audience members for character attributes, Macheras stood behind him onstage, drawing the mischievous Jack Palmer. As children and adults shouted suggestions, Macheras used markers to transform a blank canvas into a fantastical comic character who got more interesting by the second.

“Fangs!” yelled one child. Palmer got fangs.

“A mace!” shouted another. Palmer soon wielded a mace in one hand.

When asked whether Palmer should be a hero or villain, the kids in the crowd were unanimous.

“They always choose villains,” Silver said as Macheras inked an evil tilt to Palmer’s eyebrows.

By the end of the 20-minute performance, Jack Palmer was a fully realized cartoon character, thanks to Macheras’ deft pen strokes.

“There’s almost no suggestion that can be given that Dimi can’t figure out how to make work,” Silver said. “And it’s insane to be able to see it happen, and then see the reactions of people as the drawing not only comes to life, but comes together.”

Comic relief

Silver and Macheras are the creative duo behind 80% Studios, a Portland-based comics collaborative whose goal is to spread the message that creativity is “a superpower.” So far, they’ve conjured more than 200 drawings of characters created entirely through audience participation. It’s their way of showing just how powerful it can be to share ideas with others.

“Collaboration is the core of everything we do,” Silver said.

The duo will perform daily at 2 p.m. at the Gathering Place, a unique part of the Alaska State fairgrounds dedicated to Alaska Native culture. Other Gathering Place events include Native Youth Olympics demonstrations, a Native arts market, cultural demonstrations and more from Alaska Indigenous groups. They're also manning a booth there from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day.

Macheras is Ahtna Athabascan and grew up in Palmer listening to traditional stories told by his mother and grandmother. Many of the themes in the “Chickaloonies” series are rooted in Native cultural traditions.

The stage show is Silver and Macheras’ way of demonstrating just how easy it can be to create new stories, characters and even entire fictional worlds. Rather than being an intimidating process, they want to teach people that everyone has a creative spark inside and that no ideas are bad ideas when it comes to creativity.

“That’s what Dimi and I do all day — we just throw ideas back and forth, the dumber the better, you know? And it’s amazing how many things go together,” Silver said.

It’s a message that can have a far more profound impact than simply creating “funky” comic characters. Silver said they encourage people — especially children — to collaborate with family members and elders. Through storytelling, traditions can gain new life, family bonds can be strengthened and new connections can be made.

“Our whole thing is, save your kids from your screens,” Silver said.

Life on the ‘Tundra’

Fairgoers looking for local comic books have no shortage of options this year. Mat-Su Valley cartoonist Chad Carpenter, creator of the nationally syndicated “Tundra” comic strip, is back at the fair in his longtime booth. Carpenter also has a new book out and will be signing copies and drawing doodles for fans at his booth, which is decorated with the quirky polar bears and moose that populate his strips.

Carpenter’s creative process relies heavily on keeping his mind clear, he said. Rather than collaborating, he tries to open himself up to new ideas as they come.

“I get most of my ideas when I’m either driving or when I’m asleep,” he said.

When a new comic strip comes to him, Carpenter said he immediately makes a note on his phone.

“If I don’t do that, five minutes later it’s ‘Well, I had a good idea,’” he said with a laugh.

Carpenter said the best advice he can give to new artists is to be patient and find a good support network — especially when starting out.

“You better get along with your parents because you’ll be living at home for a while,” he said.

More seriously, though, Carpenter said young cartoonists should embrace the digital space and be able to share their work online. That’s the easiest way to get work seen fast.

“You have to be able to adapt.”

Culture club

Adaptability is a key component of Silver and Macheras’ work as well. During their stage show, the duo performs wearing brightly colored, futuristic-looking regalia that are far from traditional but very much in keeping with the idea that culture is a living, evolving thing rather than a relic of the past.

“The Ahtna people were highly adaptable; they would take whatever new materials would come and work it into their clothing, their tools. Everything they made had to be useful,” Silver said. “So that’s what we’re doing, is we’re taking the themes, values and ideals of the traditional things that Dimi’s grandma told him growing up, and presenting them in different ways.”

It’s their third year performing at the state fair and their first with a dedicated cabin, where they sell copies of their books — the third installment in the “Chickaloonies” series was released last week — meet with fans and spread enthusiasm for creating new works of art.

Carpenter, Macheras and Silver will be at the fair through its duration. Carpenter’s booth is located on the Red Trail. Silver and Macheras can be found at the Gathering Place, which is on the Yellow Trail behind the farm exhibits building. There, they’ll be displaying each new comic character created during their daily performances, talking with fans and doing what they love — encouraging people to make art.

“It’s all come together in a way where we can share our heart,” Macheras said. “We can share culture, share stories, and then just create kind of like a fun environment, a fun space.”

--Matt Tunseth is a freelance writer from Southcentral Alaska. Write to him at matthew.tunseth@gmail.com.