illustrationclass

Felt Art at CASA, in the state of Oaxaca

In 2006, when all hell broke loose in Oaxaca, and the streets were filled with tear gas, Jesus ‘Chucho’ Martinez was a founding member of ASARO, a radical printmaking collective. Today he works 6 days a week in what may be the most beautiful location for an art workshop. CASA’s Taller de Fieltro, the feltContinue reading “Felt Art at CASA, in the state of Oaxaca”

A Printmaker in Puebla Named Victor Hugo

Passing through beautiful Puebla on my way to Xalapa, I stopped to see a one-man exhibition of prints. The artist who I knew as ‘Lukas’ invited me to view his Peregrinajes (Pilgrimages) at the Municipal Institute of Art and Culture. The gallery space does double duty as a classroom. When I entered, the floor wasContinue reading “A Printmaker in Puebla Named Victor Hugo”

Muralist Carmen Cereceda worked with Diego Rivera

Carmen Cereceda carefully climbed up the metal scaffold in the lobby of a Mexico City office building. From a brown bottle she poured the solvent liquin on her palette of oil paints from the day before. She mixed a middle sepia tone and with long brushes began to paint the face of the sun. SheContinue reading “Muralist Carmen Cereceda worked with Diego Rivera”

TROKA: Mexico’s IRON GIANT fights Religious Superstition!

MEXICO, 1930. Before Iron Man, before Iron Giant, Mexico had TROKA. These illustrations come from the Vanguardia en Mexico exhibition at MUNAL, Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City. The original illustrations were done in india ink by Julio Prieto in 1934. The quality of Prieto’s brushwork is evident in mural-sized reproductions of his artwork inContinue reading “TROKA: Mexico’s IRON GIANT fights Religious Superstition!”

New Mural for Kutztown Library

This article originally appeared in “The Gonser Gazette” -the Friends of Kutztown Community Library’s newsletter. The Kutztown Community Library was selected once again this year to participate in Kutztown University’s “Designathon” for non-profit organizations. Janet Yost, Lisa Schnell, and I presented Kutztown U Communication Design students the tasks of creating a new mural for our library’sContinue reading “New Mural for Kutztown Library”

The Lady Loves to Cut: Maude White

I met artist Maude White at Grit N Glory on NYC’s Lower East Side at an opening reception for Carrier Pigeon Magazine. Her medium is cut paper. She illustrated “The Girl Who was Struck by Lightning,” a quite peculiar short story by Chris Stanton. If there is a literary genre called Backwoods Surreal Noir, this storyContinue reading “The Lady Loves to Cut: Maude White”

Portrait Gallery Illustration II from Gaiman to Rasputin

Ryan Bittle writes, “I have been influenced by the work of Neil Gaiman for over a third of my lifetime. I find his offbeat and eerie style fascinating, and I’ve made attempts at a few lackluster portraits, so I thought it was about time to make a good one in honor of all the inspirationContinue reading “Portrait Gallery Illustration II from Gaiman to Rasputin”

Traces of Lucidity

When I was a grad student I asked my teacher Marshall Arisman how to use the ancient lucigraph tracing machine in SVA’s illustration studio. He cocked his head back and laughed in my face. “You never used one of these? Good for you, I am not going to teach you!” I can’t find a picture ofContinue reading “Traces of Lucidity”

Paul Hoppe – Keeping it Real

Paul Hoppe was at MoCCA fest selling prints and handcrafted zines. Born in Poland, he grew up in Germany and came to NYC on a DAAD scholarship. (DAAD is the German version of a Fulbright Exchange.) He got his MFA at SVA’s Illustration as Visual Essay program in New York City. Our Kutztown students wereContinue reading “Paul Hoppe – Keeping it Real”

NEW SVA MFA in Visual Narrative

Nathan Fox will direct the new Visual Narrative MFA program at NY’s School of Visual Arts. Nathan is a comic book artist and illustrator. Like me, he is a grad of SVA’s MFA Illustration as Visual Essay program. Nathan is juiced about what he calls “the future of storytelling.” I asked him how this newContinue reading “NEW SVA MFA in Visual Narrative”