Illustration Concentration

Bak’s Book: Island of Memory

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The adventurous graphic novelist T. Edward Bak is coming to Kutztown University to speak about another adventurous explorer from the 18th century. Bak’s ‘Wild Man’ tour includes stops at the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont, SAW in Gainesville as well as KU. The KU event is Free. Boehm, Lecture Room 261, Tues. Nov. 19 at 7:00 pm.

Letterpress print of Stellar Sea Lion © T Edward Bak

Bak, who now calls Portland, Oregon home traveled to Alaska’s Aleutian Islands to research “Island of Memory.” The 72-page graphic novel is based on the adventures of the German naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller.

Steller worked on the ill-fated Russian expedition led by Vitus Bering that explored Alaska in 1741. Steller discovered a number of species of birds and animals unknown to Europeans. The Steller Sea Cow became extinct within a 25 years of his initial description of the docile beast. The Steller Jay, though, is still common on the Pacific coast. It’s similarity to the American Blue Jay led Steller to rightly conclude Alaska was not an island, but part of the North American continent.

Bak’s publisher, Floating World, puts it this way, “Steller’s ﬁrst-hand descriptions of the natural and human worlds at this crossroads of continents illuminate the unique confluence of culture and ecology binding North America to Asia via the North Paciﬁc.” Island of Memory is “Part natural history, part adventure yarn and part experimental narrative, this …fever dream is the artistic realization of Bak’s inquiry into the socio-ecological consequences of empire.”

Bak’s Island of Memory is a labor of love, and only the first installment of a planned four-volume epic work on Steller. In an interview with designer Francois Vigneault, Bak recalled when he first visited to Alaska to work on a ship, “I flew to Sitka, and the minute I stepped off the plane, I realized ‘I’ve been headed here my whole life. I’ve been on a trajectory my entire life to come here.’

detail from Bak's Alaska sketchbook/ — Steller Sea Lions detail from Bak’s Alaska sketchbook

I got on the ship, and the first morning I woke up to the announcement: “We’ve got humpbacks starboard!” and there were humpback whales breaching beside the boat. I ran to the window and flipped out. So there are humpbacks every day. Constantly around the boat, breaching around the boat. There were sea lions constantly. Sea otters! We saw sea otters, like rafts of sea otters, floating out in the passage. And of course there are bears everywhere on the shore, and moose everywhere, wolves and orcas and Dalles porpoises, so many crazy birds. Anyhow, all of this was completely overwhelming for me. I had no idea what to expect. I expected to see wildlife, but not anything like this.”

Bak’s Island of Memory presentation touches on art, ecology, geography and the humanities. The event is co-sponsored by Kutztown’s Modern Language, Geography, and Communication Design Depts. A book signing will follow his illustrated presentation.

Paul Pope’s Battling Boy

Battlling Boy arrives to an earth-like place with some baggage, literally. He finds 12 T-shirts packed in his suitcase each bearing the image of a different animal. A smart kid, he realizes, “these were painted with inks made of pulverized moonblood! I am supposed to wear these into battle.” Each T-shirt imbues him with the power of the pictured animal.

B.B. is second generation superhero. His father is a busy guy, he wears an operatic costume that channels Thor and Batman. Early on in the story another aging superhero, Haggard West, a sort of Rocketeer with wrinkles, dies at the hands of Sadisto. Sadisto, with a name like that you have got to be bad! Pope draws his demonic villians with verve.

Pope’s drawings of elephants evoke Heinrich Kley’s pachyderms in motion. Pope’s individual frames are each splendid, in sequence they become absolutely stunning.

Just as today’s films are edited at a faster clip than yesterdays, Battling Boy’s pace is ramped up from that of superhero comics’ silver age. Of course, individual readers can slow the motion down a notch, or even back up if need be. I found the story compelling and I know I am way older than the target audience. The violence is cleverly staged to shock without gore. This book is library safe, but still exciting. And Battling Boy has pluck. I hope to see him again.

Battling Boy, written and drawn by Paul Pope, with surberb coloring by Hillary Sycamore, is published by First Second. More images from the book can be found here.

Nils Balls and The Ship of Soiled Doves.

“Soiled Doves” is Civil War slang for prostitutes. Hold that thought. We’ll get back to the prostitutes shortly.

Meet Nils Balls. He is the guy wearing a tin foil helmet in the Carnegie Library on Pittsburgh’s Northside. He’s seated with a fairy princess and a teen zombie who has a knife through his head, drawing free caricatures for the Library’s Halloween Party.

At Syracuse University Nils majored in film. His writing teacher was the now star George Saunders. Being a working class kid from Pittsburgh at what he calls a “rich kid’s school” Nils felt like a fish out of water. Saunders inspired him to stay true to his blue-collar roots.

Syracuse has a great illustration program, but Nils never set foot in an illustration class. Still, the fact that there were so many first-rate illustrators on campus made a difference. The school paper, The Daily Orange had a comics page with as many a 20 student drawn comics. Nils began drawing “The Brighter Side of Sunshine” in his freshman year. He shared the page with artists like Ben Marra, Dan Meth, and Nick Gurewitch who created the Perry Bible Fellowship strip.

He graduated from Syracuse in 2001 and returned to Pittsburgh. He works for Mellinger’s beer distributer. He loves his job and if he needs 3 days off to draw or go to a comics convention, his boss is supportive.

He is the cartoonist for Pittsburgh’s Northside Chronicle. He contributes to local comic anthologies and showcases his artwork on his website, skeletonballs.com. His most recent achievement is the graphic novel, Ship of Soiled Doves. The story began when Nils and Erin Colby Griffin had a conversation over a beer or two about a little-known event during the U.S. Civil War. In 1863 the new steamship Idahoe was docked in Cincinnati. The captain got orders from General Morgan of the Union Army to proceed to Nashville to pick up some V.I.P’s.

Turns out Gen. Morgan wanted to marginally reduce the number of prostitutes in Nashville and the Idahoe was ordered to relocate 100 ‘soiled doves.’ Much of what occured on the journey downriver is lost to history, but Griffin and Balls conjure up a remarkable tale of love, lust, mutiny and adventure.

Drawing the 150-page book took over 3 years, Nils learned a lot arcane 19th century slang for sex and sex organs ( syrup of squill? ) but some terms were so obscure, they got edited out. For a better description of the story or to purchase a first edition of The Ship of Soiled Doves visit Copacetic Comics. It is a masterpiece of historical proportions.

Nils has worthwhile links on skeletonballs. He lists a number of Pittsburgh newspapers and newsletters. He tells aspiring cartoonists to offer their work for free. Yes, Nils has heard the viral arguments against free work, but says it might take a decade to find your groove in comics.

Elsewhere on his site he links to over three dozen other Pittsburgh cartoonists. Asked why Pittsburgh has such a vibrant comics scene, Nils said, “One reason is when Ed and Jim got successful, – they didn’t leave Pittsburgh for New York,”referring to Ed Piskor and Jim Rugg. Nils also credits another pillar of the Pittsburgh comic community Bill Boichel, of Copacetic Comics for nurturing and sustaining local talent. Nils Balls is one of the many hardworking and gifted Pittsburgh artists who deserve a wider audience.

Nils Balls photos by Kevin McCloskey. All artwork copyright Nils Balls.

Irving Herrera, the Artist and his Models

Irving Herrera creates wonderful images of beautiful woman. What is so remarkable about his artwork is that he appreciates the beauty of the indigenous and mixed-race woman of Oaxaca.

Throughout Mexico the leggy newscasters you see on T.V. and the models on billboards, calendars, and magazines often look like pure-blooded Europeans. I took a walk looking for examples and found this mind-boggling image in the lobby of a liposuction clinic.

And here is a more typical image from a dress shop window…

Such images of so-called ‘female perfection’ bombard the men and women of Oaxaca daily. Dark, broadbodied Indigenous women might play the sympathetic maids, but not the love interest in telanovelas (soap operas.) Irving was born to an indigenous Mixteco family in the high mountain village of Huajuapan de Leon in 1984. He came to Oaxaca and studied with the master printmaker Shinzaburo Takeda.

Today, Irving Herrera is an artist on a roll. He illustrated the current issue (Oct. 2013) of the magazine, El Jolgorio. It is a special Oaxaca Poetry issue and can be downloaded here. Irving recently had a roomful of his prints exhibited at MACO, The Museo del Arte Comtemporaneo de Oaxaca. He has twice won ‘Young Creative Artist’ grants from the State of Oaxaca to complete the series of oversized portraits he calls, ‘Senora Matanzas.’ I don’t know how to translate this, maybe,’ Killer Women?’

He told me he carves these portraits from models directly into the wood in a matter of hours. Then he crowns the portrait with the bones of a slaugthered animal, often a goat. The senoras’ seductive expressions are jarringly juxtapozed with the formal posture and dress of the Porfiato (Mexico’s version of Victorian era.) Irving says he’s mixing memories from the slaughterhouses of his boyhood town and the prints of Jose Guadalupe Posada. This past weekend Irving travelled into the mountains accompanied by his beloved teacher Maestro Takeda. The two artists were honored guests at a regional festival in Irving’s pueblo, Huajuapan de Leon, were the woman are so very beautiful.

In Oaxaca, Irving Herrera and his talented companeros of Gabinete Grafico studio can be found at 307 Xincotencatl.

Art Oasis in Mexico City

Maestro Gerardo Torres Gonzalez (center) tends an oasis in one of the world’s largest cities. Mexico City’s Bosque de Chapultepec is home to many wonders including Emperor Maximilian’s castle. Below the castle in a grove of eucalyptus trees you will find a house called Quinta Colorado. In the patio every Saturday and Sunday there are art classes. At the center of this school is an extraordinary art teacher, Maestro Torres. Anyone who finds their way to his class is welcome. The classes are free. Maestro Torres gets support for the project from the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes , the famed Mexico City art school where he studied.

Carolina, one of the youngest artists in the open-air class.

Mexico has a long tradition of open-air and free art education. It was especially big in the 1930’s. It is wonderful to see the tradition continue. Maestro Torres told me he has been in the park for 6 years; before that he taught classes for 11 years at another location. He has a truly amazing in his capacity to teach a class of diverse students of mixed abilities. Some of his students arrive with recycled copy paper and a single pencil. Others bring watercolors and proper sketchbooks. When I visited one young artist , Luis, was painting in oils. Maestro Torres works with what he gets, and treats every student with respect. Over the years I have observed many art teachers in action. This man is special.
My friend Diego works as a civil servant in a skyscraper at the metro stop Zapata. Weekends he gladly rides the train a few extra stops to Chapultepec Park. Diego has no expectation of quitting his day job to become an artist. He told me the art class means so much to him because his office work is so very routine. At Quinta Colorado, Diego has a chance to do something creative and forget the stresses of his week.

Carolina, a talented little girl came with her grandfather, who sat behind her on a stone wall reading a novel while she painted. There was one older fellow with gray flecks in his beard and long hair tied up in an odd knot like a Hindu monk. His fingernails were painted black and he didn’t say much. Maestro Torres greeted every student with enthusiasm, and hopped from table to table giving encouragement and technical demonstrations.

Alberto, age 7, uses crayons for his art.

Maestro Torres believes that copying photos is a fruitless way to learn to draw. He told me there must be a balance between observation and imagination. He has developed a number of quick exercises to facilitate imagination. One he calls the ‘Constellation.’ He peppers a page with random dots. Then with the side of a pencil, or a hexagonal bar of graphite, he connects some of the dots creating a balanced, but abstract, tonal composition. He then takes a quick breath. I noticed at this point he sometimes looks up into the trees for an instant. Then he finds something on the page. If he is working with a child, he might draw an animal. If he is working with an adult he can create a complete figurative drawing in a matter of minutes. He dates his drawings, signs them with a carved stamp and gives them freely to his students.
The maestro is a firm believer in keeping a sketchbook. In fact, he keeps two. He was good enough to share these pages. Even his tiny pocket-sized Fabiano notebook demonstrates his mastery of the human figure and his delightful drawing ability with brush, pen, and pencil. Maestro Torres is working on a book about his teaching methods. I look forward to seeing it. When I return to Chalputelpec Park, I know where to find him. Gracias, Maestro.

ARTIST HARVEST Kutztown, PA

KUTZTOWN as GALLERY

Here is your invitation to walk into Lucky 13 Tattoo & Piercing Parlor and The K’town Pub and Basin Street Tavern. If you don’t want another tattoo, go to Lucky 13 before you hit the bars! Meet Kutztown area artists at a variety of local businesses. Each venue will feature works from one or more artists, and many of the artists will be available to talk to about their work on Friday evening.

Linear Composition, painting by Jan Crooker. — Linear Composition, painting © by Jan Crooker on view at Lucky 13.

What I really like about this event is this: it’s not a fundraiser! It is meant to build an audience for Kutztown artists and give you a reason to enter a new business. It is free to see. The artists don’t have to pay to play; perhaps someone might buy their work. The Kutztown Community Partnership is the sponsor. Thanks to Kutztown booster Jim Springer of Dunkelberger’s Jewelers for coordinating this unique event.

Navajo Madonna and Child by Maureen Yoder. Kutztown — See *Navajo Madonna and Child* © by Maureen Yoder at Vynecrest Wine Shop

Artists will also be at Global Libations, Uptown Espresso, Jackie & Daughter, Monaghan Realtors, Wholesome Foods, Adam N’ Eve, Firefly Books, J.A. Meyer, CC’s Wooden Grill, Pop’s Malt Shoppe, Main Street Inn, and Spuds. Start anywhere and grab a list!

Portrait of Azuka ©Leah King at KTL Cigars.

Leah King was my illustration student at Kutztown. She’s had success lately doing art for children’s books like Bathtime for Brandon by Angela Hunt. Leah will be showing her mixed media artwork at KTL Cigars, 100 Constitution Blvd. Two of my former KU design colleagues are Artist Harvest participants, Dianne V Dockery and John K Landis.

Clay monoprint © by Dianne Vottero Dockery at Dunkelbergers.

John Landis is sharing his hand-made miniature buildings. His work will be on view at Colasanti Printworks. He sent me some photos of his tiny buildings based on real places he recalls from his childhood, like the one below. What is happening on the second floor?

Dress Store and Doctor’s Office © John K Landis at Colasanti Printworks

All the artists and venues will be happy to see new faces. Most are located along Main St. At the edge of town Nectar’s Cafe will be open for dinner Friday Oct. 4 from 5-8pm in celebration of the Artist Harvest. My friend Camille Eaton Romig will be showing quilts there and Nectar’s will be rolling out a new orange cognac coffee just for the event.

Graphic © by Matt Williams of Firefly Books, Kutztown

Depending on the venue, the art work may be on view Saturday and Sunday Oct. 5 and 6, as well. However, if you want to meet and great the artists, get to Kutztown Oct. 4. It’s like New York, but smaller.

The Last Unicorn in Kutztown

The Last Unicorn in Kutztown
Kutztown’s Strand Theater is 100 years old. They are kicking off a series of classic films with a screening of the animated classic, The Last Unicorn. Peter S. Beagle, author of the tale will be there, Monday, Sept 23 for two shows, screenings at 5 and 7:30. Details here.

Jason of the Strand tells me The Last Unicorn is remarkable because even though was a U.S production, it animated by Japanese animators who went on to form Studio Ghibli and create animation masterpieces including My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke. The cast of voice actors includes Jeff Bridges, Angela Lansbury, Alan Arkin and Christopher Lee. The sound track features the one-hit wonders, America, best known for A Horse with No Name.

From what I’ve gleaned from Wikipedia, Peter S Beagle was none too happy about the way The Last Unicorn profits were divvied up and felt the home DVD versions were sub par prints. So he is touring the country with the authoritative digitally remastered hi-def Last Unicorn. He is happy to autograph books and loves if the audiences dresses in medieval garb.
Beagle’s tour is reminiscent of the early days of animation, when cartoonist Winsor McCay personally introduced his animated Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) to vaudeville audiences. McCay would begin his act with a chalk talk. Then the screen would open and Gertie would appear. McCay tossed a ball to Gertie. Through the magic of animation she caught it every time. Happy Birthday to the Strand! It is wonderful to have some old-fashioned magic, in the form of a unicorn, come to town.

Medula Negra of Xalapa

Sebastian Fund is an artist on the move. He was born in Argentina, moved to Mexico as a child, and is now beginning an artist’s residency in Havana, Cuba. He collects abandoned shoes. He deconstructs them, inks them up and prints them. The remarkable results evoke the humanity of the individuals that once walked in those shoes.

Javier Arjona is the second half of the Taller (Studio) Medula Negra of Xalapa, Mexico. He does woodcuts. He likes to use a technique he calls placa perdida. A single plank is carved and printed, color after color, for as many a six colors. Because there is no turning back with this method some U.S. printmakers call it a “suicide print.”

I met these two dedicated young artists in July in Xalapa. They gave me a studio tour, and we drank a toast of mescal at their printing press. They have invested heavily in their studio and put in long hours at the press. I wrote about Medula Negra for the online journal, Printeresting. They lent me a batch of their small works to exhibit at Kutztown University’s Rohrbach Library.

The press at Medula Negra, Xalapa. Photo by Tirso Pérez

They have a killer website: www.medulanegra.com. Their photographer friend Tirso Pérez did a photo shoot of the studio. His black and white photos are far superior to mine, so I will share a few of his fine works here. More of the photoshoot entitled “Un Dia de Trabajo” (One Day of Work) can be found here on Medula Negra’s Facebook page.

Javier checking a proof. Photo by Tirso Pérez.

Sebastian preparing shoes to print. Photo by Tirso Pérez

Medula Negra: Grabados Pequenos de Xalapa is on exhibit until Oct. 16 on the 2nd floor of Kutztown University’s Rorhbach Library in the Voices & Choices Gallery space.

The exhibit at KU's Rohrbach Library runs through Oct 16. — The exhibit at KU’s Rohrbach Library runs through Oct 16.

DRIVE BY PRESS to Park at KU

The Legendary Drive By Press, touring woodcut printmakers, will print in Kutztown, PA, next week. They will do a brief residency in the KU Printmaking Studio and present an illustrated lecture: Thursday, Sept 12 6pm @ 120 Sharadin, Free and open to the public. Here is the scoop thanks to this guest post by Lindsay Derecola, KU student and President of the Art Club:

“Drive By Press is a portable print shop made up of artists and designers that believe process is just as important as the results. Quality over quantity; while we live currently in a world surrounded by the desire for instant gratification. Drive By Press believes that craft is and always will be top priority. It is about doing what you love because you love it, not to be the next superstar in the art world or to make lots of money.”

I found out about Drive By Press through Evan Summer, Printmaking Professor at Kutztown University. He mentioned he met Greg Nanney and heard about this amazing tour he puts on with his crew. The idea of a portable print shop was intriguing, so naturally as I explored their website and social media outlets, I was becoming even more excited over their work and their mission. I persisted in making it official to have Drive By Press come to Kutztown to bestow their wisdom and creativity on the student body. Thankfully, everything worked out marvelously.

Founded in 2006 by Greg Nanney and Joseph Velasquez, the Drive By Press team finds the best designers and artists to work along side them on their mobile printing journey across the country. They have two studio locations, one in Austin, Texas, the other in New York, NY. They are currently on tour doing educational and promotional trips to “spread the ink” about their purpose and passion. They will be making their next stop at Kutztown University on Thursday, Sept.12 and Friday, Sept. 13 in the Sharadin Arts building’s Printmaking Studio, Room 12G.

During their stay they will be inhabiting the University’s Printmaking studio that Evan Summer, Professor of Printmaking at Kutztown University, has opened up for their special visit. Drive By Press will be in 12G from 12-6pm doing demonstrations on various printmaking processes, techniques, talking about history of their medium and their process of printing t-shirts. At 6pm, Thursday 9/12 in room 120 Sharadin, they will be presenting the history of their company and how they have evolved and progressed through the years. The Printmaking Studio will be open for all students Friday for additional demos, or just to say hello to the Drive By Press crew. Please stop by to welcome Greg Nanney and crew Thurs Sept. 12 and Friday Sept. 13.

T-shirts and prints for sale for $20. Bring your own t-shirt and have it printed for $10! Don’t forget to spread the ink!

Family Promise Mural, Reading, PA

Kutztown,PA: Sometimes on our beautiful Berks county campus we forget 16 miles away our county seat, Reading, is the poorest city in the entire U.S.A. Thanks to KU Prof. Ann Lemon for providing this story.

Reading,PA: The mural at Family Promise of Berks County in downtown Reading was a collaborative effort between the Outreach Team of Immanuel UCC Church of Shillington and KU’s Designathon.

Designathon is an annual KU Communication Design event where students work for free for 24 hours to design projects for worthy nonprofit groups. The Designathon team consisted of Prof. Denise Bosler and designers/illustrators Mellen (Melissa Reinbold), Isaiah Arpino, Michelle Foster, Dana Harrison, and Brian Martin. Amos Lemon Burkhart, junior designer, was the link between the designers and the painting team from Immanuel. This mural’s “Wild Things” theme was suggested by Family Promise Director Gwen Didden.

Family Promise is an interfaith program providing homeless families a place to stay together through local churches. This program is unique in that it keeps family units together. In a typical week, it serves three families, providing 168 meals plus shelter. Families are housed at local churches on a rotating basis. Although families sleep at host churches, they use the day center for services, like laundry and job training.

The Immanuel Outreach team transformed a vacant, gnarly yard at the Family Promise office into a playground for the homeless kids. The team pulled weeds, laid down mulch, and provided outdoor toys. The cinder block wall was an eyesore. Reverend Megan Huesgen and Sue McCoy of the Outreach Committee thought UCC parish teenagers might contribute a mural. KU faculty member Ann Lemon was drafted to design it. She turned to Designathon.

The Designathon process was remarkably smooth. Mellen took charge and the group collectively decided to assign characters, animals, and background elements to the various artists. Everyone sketched ideas, met to pick the favorite parts, then scanned and vectorized the final art into a unified scene. A simple palette of eight solid colors was chosen to make the painting process easier.

The paint was donated by Sherwin Williams. The design was traced on the wall using both a grid technique and projector. There was some excitement the first morning of painting when a car slipped out of gear, smashing through the back fence of Family Promise. No one was hurt. The hole in the fence made it easier for 30 plus volunteers to find the site. We had painters as young as 3 years old. A full crew of painters from Immanuel showed up, as well as KU Prof. Kate Clair and her daughter Sasha, and friends. Fleetwood High students helped, too.

The painting took two and a half days, during beautiful cool, sunny weather. The exterior latex gloss paint went on beautifully. At one point the guys who hang all day at the neighborhood garage approached the volunteers and asked, “So, what is this mural FOR?” We explained it was to brighten the play yard for the homeless kids. Prof. Lemon added,”So I guess the purpose is to make people smile. Do you think it will work?” One guy took a long hard look. He smiled and said, “Yes.”

Ann Lemon and her son Amos Lemon — Ann Lemon and her son, Amos Lemon Burkhart

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