The Oz Club’s convention honors Oz in the arts

August 5, 2022, 8:00 AM to August 7, 2022, 5:00 PM Eastern Time

Pre-reception August 4th at 5:30 PM Eastern Time

Join fellow fans and Oz Club members for a weekend filled with Oz! Our destination, East Aurora, NY, home of the Roycrofters, means we’ll pay particular attention to the illustrators of Oz. W. W. Denslow, the first Oz illustrator, was also the first artist invited by Elbert Hubbard to join the Roycrofters and make their Arts and Crafts community his home.

Chair Cindy Ragni has filled the program with Oz in the arts. Activities for early arrivals on Thursday, August 4 include the unveiling of a Denslow memorial stone on the Roycroft campus followed by a private reception. Friday offers Oz presentations, programming and the annual Oz Club auction at the Hampton Inn. (Yes, a Friday auction breaks tradition; plan accordingly.) Friday evening Club member and pianist Robert Lamont performs Oz music of stage, screen, and radio in a local church celebrated or its original Tiffany windows. After Saturday morning’s program we’ll have lunch on our own, then regroup to visit the Roycroft campus to see a Denslow exhibit of material from Club members’ collections. Tour the grounds with Roycroft historian Robert Rust, attend a banquet at the historic Roycroft Inn, and join our after-hours campus ghost tour with Mason Winfield.

From an Ozzy poetry reading to Jory Neill Mason’s presentation about her grandfather, John R. Neill, we will celebrate Oz in the arts. Michael Gessel, a life-long Oz and Denslow collector will talk about W. W. Denslow. Brady Schwind shares his Lost Art of Oz project, and Atticus Gannaway will recap a number of post-Neill Oz artists. Whether you like your Oz art on T-shirts (Dee Michel will talk about those) or on the pages of Russian Oz books, there is sure to be something you’ll enjoy.

Friday Jory offers small groups the opportunity to learn her grandfather’s inking techniques using his own quill pens. Sunday optional hands-on classes in the Roycroft crafts of printmaking, illumination, and bookbinding will use traditional Roycroft tools and equipment and original printing plates from the Oz books.

Register here. For questions about registration, contact Ryan Bunch at [email protected].

See the convention schedule here.

The Hampton Inn and Roycroft Inn are now full for Aug 4-7, but there are still opportunities at AirBnB (https://www.airbnb.com/) or other homestay sites, and hotels in nearby Buffalo, NY.

Learn more about our presenters.