Ricardo Caté Receives 2021 Governor Award for Excellence in Arts
Ricardo Caté, whose cartoons have offered a laugh and penetrating insight to readers of The New Mexican for 15 years, was one of seven recipients of the 2021 Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts.
Ricardo Caté: The only Native American cartoonist in a mainstream daily newspaper, Caté began drawing in the seventh grade. During his time with The New Mexican, he said he has created two main characters — the Chief and the General. Through them, he has tried to bridge the gap between cultures.
“I don’t feel I should be responsible and represent all Natives because each tribe is different with its own history,” he said in a news release issued by the Department of Cultural Affairs. “I think mainstream America often depicts us as one even though there were well over 1,000 tribes before the Europeans came. I base my cartoons on my knowledge of other tribes as well as my own.”
Chris Epling Bear Design Selected for Downtown
Pike County native, artist, and educator Christopher Epling’s design was selected for one of the Pikeville Main Street program’s new batch of downtown bears.
“I illustrate children’s books, I also write and illustrate my own graphic novels, they’re more comic related,” said Epling. “I teach at UPIKE, I work as a staff editorial cartoonist with the Appalachian News-Express, and teach through Berea College. I’m one of their artists in residence, so they send me out a lot virtually here lately.”
Epling says his passion as an Appalachian artist is what inspired his bear design and, although no details about the bear are to be released, he can say the new bear’s design is unique in its own way and there’s not another like it in Downtown Pikeville.
Chris is featured in a WYMT-TV segment.
Pulitzers 2021 – No Award Given
There was one category that did not have a winner this year. Ken Fisher (drawing as Ruben Bolling), Lalo Alcaraz, and Marty Two Bulls Sr. were all named finalists in the Editorial Cartooning category. However, no prize was awarded.
Although they didn’t take home a Pulitzer Prize this time, the three cartoonists acknowledged that it was still an honor to be named a finalist.
“The prize is considered to be one of the top recognitions a journalist or an artist can get, and to have it two years in a row, I feel acknowledged as an editorial cartoonist,” Alcaraz said.
Bolling, also a finalist for the second time, said, “I greatly appreciate the Pulitzer Prize jury’s appraisal of my work, and I only hope it’s something that helps justify the faith that my syndicate Andrews McMeel, my print and web clients, and my readers and subscribers have shown to me over the years.”
First time finalist, Two Bulls said, “It is a validation of my work and inspires me to do even more.”
Editor and Publisher has a late story about the 2021 Pulitzers,
but it is never a bad time to embarrass The Prize committee about their failing.
RIP – Jean Louise Jablonsky Rickard
Jean Rickard (Age 85) of Vienna, VA, passed away on July 13, 2021.
During college in 1957, Jean began working for Herbert L. Block (Herblock), the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist at The Washington Post. As his Executive Assistant, she managed his office and was involved in all aspects of his work, including the organization, editing and publication of his political cartoon books. She collaborated with Mr. Block to create the Herb Block Foundation, which helps promote and sustain the causes he championed during his 72 years of cartooning. As a trusted advisor, Jean became the founding Executive Director of the foundation, ensuring Mr. Block’s legacy and vision for the organization. She served as Executive Director Emerita/Vice President until her death.
The Herb Block Foundation remembers.
Tooning In The Olympics
While serving as marketing director for the IOC, Michael Payne’s hobby was collecting Olympic-centric comics.
At the bottom of my heart, I thought I should use it for a book.
Illinois News Today reviews and previews the Olympic cartoon book.
Lieutenant Dangerous: A Vietnam War Memoir
Danziger initially avoids the military draft as a college student. But once he graduates, his deferment ends and military service becomes inescapable. As he rides the bus to Fort Dix for basic training, he finds himself weeping. “I realized,” he writes, “that I was going … to fight in a questionable war in a country that I knew nothing about and cared nothing about, to be trained to shoot and kill people against whom I had absolutely no complaint.” He is, in short, a reluctant soldier.
The Christian Science Monitor reviews Jeff Danziger’s book.
Lalo Alcaraz Interviewed about Simone Biles Cartoon on Today Show Website
A cartoon that praises Simone Biles for focusing on her mental health during the Tokyo Olympics is going viral on Instagram this week.
The image, created by editorial cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, caught the attention of many social media users over the weekend for its symbolism. It currently has more than 18,000 likes and counting on his Instagram account.
“Even though she is one of the top athletes in the world, I saw that she was under such a harsh spotlight and (facing) inappropriate criticism simply for trying to take care of herself. I felt the need to support her struggle by drawing this cartoon,” he wrote in an email.
Editorial cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz spoke to TODAY about his viral cartoon.
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