We wrote about this event back in the fall of 2008 and word has it, it was a big success. In light of that news, we thought it would be cool to have one of the founders on, Pat Wilshire, to discuss the show's inaugural year and future plans. Pat and his wife Jeannie seem to have started something really special in their hometown of Altoona, PA, and we're super excited that he took some time out to talk with us.

As we mentioned in that other blog post, IlluXCon was designed to be more of an illustration "symposium", not a convention. The goal, as Pat describes it, was to create an intimate mingling bewteen artists, students, collectors and anyone else with a desire to learn about and celebrate, art. Membership (yes, that's right) would be limited to maximize the one on one time for not only the attendees, but also for the guests. This is the kinda show where an artist who wants to hear a lecture from a peer, can get up from their table—and go hear it! Kinda neat!

Last year's guest list, well—it was a doozie! Boris Valejo, Julie Bell, Stephen Hickman, John Jude Palencar, Ian Miller, Dave Dorman, Justin Sweet, Michael Whelan and Greg Hildebrandt were some of the stellar names that were on-site that November weekend. And from what we hear, most of 'em will be returning in 2009.

In the interview with Pat, he gives us the lowdown on his background as an original art collector with The llustration Exchange, why he and Jeannie started IlluXCon, some of the challenges they had making it happen, and how bright the days ahead look like for this awesome event.

**For the first episode of the New Year, we played a snippet U2's kick ass song!

IlluXCon Site