Awards
Art Spiegelman, on August 12, will be the recipient of the MacDowell Medal.
Wikipedia: The Edward MacDowell Medal is an award which has been given since 1960 to one person annually who has made an outstanding contribution to American culture and the arts. It is given by The MacDowell Colony, the first artist residency program in the United States.
John Backderf is a winner of the Cleveland Arts Prize Mid-Career Award.
A nice award for someone who is eligible for AARP membership.
“He is one of the artists that really has that crossover power, because in addition to his comics he actually is a graphic novelist. [He’s] got books and movies now. His bio would almost reflect a lifetime achievement [award] but because of his age we really felt like there was more to come.”
Alison Bechdel has won a Daysies Award as Vermont’s Best Cartoonist.
runners-up: Harry Bliss, Rachel Lindsay, Robert Waldo Brunelle, Jr.
Alumus Profile
Stephen F. Austin State University alum Donnie Pitchford, of Lum and Abner fame, gets a nice write-up in the Sawdust magazine.
Producing weekly “Lum and Abner” cartoons and recording audio versions of each, freelancing as an editorial cartoonist, illustrating children’s books, collaborating on comic books, helping design veterans’ memorial statues, producing a documentary and becoming a sought-after public speaker on all these topics — this is Pitchford’s life today.
Interview
On the release of Love Letters to Jane’s World, a collection of Jane’s World strips over the past twenty years paired with letters from fans, Paige Braddock is interviewed by Newsarama.
I’m still doing Jane’s World almost daily online. I say almost because sometimes my day job takes me away from the drawing board. The most recent collection of comic strips was Volume 11, which came out… wow… I think three years ago now? Time is zooming by. I also did three graphic novels for kids titled Stinky Cecil… and, I’m also working on a memoir project (me and everyone else) but it’s not finished. I thumbnailed about 65 pages and then started over because the work didn’t communicate what I wanted it to.
Hiding in Plain Sight
In 1952 Charles Addams drew a mural on canvas for a Hamptons’ bar that wound up in a Pennsylvania State University library.
Paul Karasik breaks down the layout of the “cartoon” for The New Yorker.
The Dick Tracy Secret Service Patrol
Reminiscing leads to Dick Tracy historian Bart Bush giving background on the detective’s fan club.
Spotlight on Nicole Hollander
The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum profiles Nicole Hollander.
St. Martin’s Press quickly picked up on Hollander’s singular voice and published a collection of her cartoons in 1979 as I’m Training to be Tall and Blonde. The book’s success led to Sylvia being syndicated as a daily by Field Enterprises in 1981. It wasn’t long though before the fiercely independent Hollander decided to self-syndicate…
The Future of the Comics Page
Local youths enjoy cartoon summer camp.
The week-long class drew cartoons and learned that showing emotions in a cartoon brings it to life. The class was led by Marcia Wilson Holliway. “They learned that creating a comic strip is hard work. After all, if you get published, you are required to create a new comic strip every day of the year.”
Pictured are second row, from left: Kolton Carlson and Mason Griffiths;
front row: Marla Barton, Jozie Warner, Nicholas Kostuck, Jillian Warner
This Kid Grew Up to Be a Cartoonist
The Cartoon Art Museum hosts its visiting artist program, Cartoonist IRL (In Real Life) with guest cartoonist Joe Wos on Sunday, August 5th in the museum’s beautiful Bil Keane lobby.
Just Because (sorry, I don’t know where I picked this up)
