illustrationclass

Opportunity Knocks: Grab Bag for Illustrators

The Sequential Arts Workshop, SAW, in Gainesville, Florida is once again offering two mini-grants of $250 to artists working on a comic or graphic novel project. True, this is not a lot of money, but if you need to buy time to work on your art every cent helps. What I like about this grantContinue reading “Opportunity Knocks: Grab Bag for Illustrators”

“The Last Supper” by Yescka, Oaxaca

Yescka has a grand mural on a full wall in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Oaxaca. It’s his take on the Last Supper re-imagined Mexico style with Narco-trafficers, cops, politicians and a stripper. I knew him when he was running around pasting his work to walls without permission, risking a beating or arrest. IContinue reading ““The Last Supper” by Yescka, Oaxaca”

New Street Art in OAXACA

MACO,The Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Oaxaca has an exhibition of street art on its walls. Does street art belong in a museum? Well, MACO’s Hecho en Oaxaca spills over into the streets. The artists came from all over the globe, Swoon, The Date Farmers, How and Nosm, MOMO, Retna, Saner, StenLex, and Vhils. OaxacanContinue reading “New Street Art in OAXACA”

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”