The Team, Eh?

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Name:	The Team, Eh?
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The Team, Eh? is a group of fans who assist fan artists at convention art shows.

In 1992, they were "running" about 6-8 art shows at cons a year. Some of these cons were ConFusion, Contraption, Ad Astra, Toronto Trek, and Conclave. In 1995, they ran the Gaylaxicon art show.

An early 1992 description:

The Team, Eh? is a group of people originally brought together some years ago by Elizabeth Pierce. Elizabeth had a great love of art, and a desire to encourage new talent. To this end, she organized many a convention art show. Slowly, she put together a team of people that new how to treat artists, and how to handle the many facets of convention art shows. This became The Team, Eh? (The Canadian eh? from Second City's McKenzie brothers).

The Team still continues after her untimely death (at MarCon only a year or two ago). We run art shows mainly in Toronto, New York and Michigan. Recently, we did the ChiCon Worldcon art show as well (and received many a nice compliment on the show). Suzanne Robinson and Sandy Hughes are currently the top-bananas. The Team, Eh? also works closely with the Dorsai Irregulars (convention security group), and have an experienced crew of auctioneers who liven up the bidding with comedy. If anyone needs advise or help, or even a sympathetic ear for the riggers of art show work, the Team is willing to lend the support. Heather and I are regular team members. Frank, Joyce, and April get dragged into things whenever they are local. Even with a bunch of artists running the art show, most of us are buyers too.

Their Own Bank Account

[Cons going belly up] is one of the reasons that the Team Eh has its own bank account when doing convention art shows. We take in all funds, pay all the artists and then handle the convention. It's cut when we've got the books all balanced. This assures that if something bad happens to the convention they don't abscond the art show money to pay off creditors and leave the artists with nothing. After all that money is the artists and NOT the conventions! This practice should become more widespread though I doubt it will.

Elizabeth Pearse

Elizabeth Pearse was an (the?) early founder of "The Team, Eh?" and in 1993, several fans wrote about her in Artistic Endeavors.

When I first began doing artwork, Confusion in Michigan was one of my first conventions. Elizabeth Pearse was running The Team, Eh? and it was the first time my work sold for quite a bit of money. Her letter of congratulations and encouragement kept me smiling for a week. I didn't get a chance to meet her until Worldcon in Boston. What a lady. Classy and professional, she was a joy to simply be with. Her tireless energy made me want to run right back up to the hotel room and work straight through the convention. I sent my work to quite few of her shows and then one evening another artist called me and told me she had died. 1 didn't know her very well, I'd never been to her home or even had a cup of coffee with her. But I cried terribly for her, for a lady I would always respect and love was gone. Now, a couple of years later, I still think of her. How she made me feel, like it was okay to love fantasy and to be proud of that love. I know she made a lot of people feel that way, and I want to thank her for that. What she accomplished is still carried on by The Team, Eh? today. They can be proud that no matter what, they do what Elizabeth wanted and believed in.

I met Elizabeth at my second convention. It was the first time I'd won an award and she was delighted for me. That was way back in 1978 or so and from that moment on she became my mentor even though I lived all the way back in Halifax and she lived outside of Toronto. When I moved up here, she became an even better friend and mentor. Ifyou'd known her you would have loved all the more. She was the best friend an artist could have since she was so supportive but not above giving you a kick in the ass (artistically speaking) if you needed one. A wonderful astronomical artist on her own she made it her special mission in life to watch out for the new artists, lend them support and advice. She passed that on to me and the rest of The Team, Eh? and it's still a point of pride with us. We established the Elizabeth Pearse Award for new artists and we give it out at each of our shows to a deserving newcomer. It's a cash award to go for buying new art supplies. A number of artist that we deal with regularly donate pieces of art for auctioning to keep the fund going. You comments came very close to this year's anniversary of her death and as usually I found myself looking at her photo next to my art table and thinking about her. I'm glad I'm not the only one.