Pigeons/Friend or Fowl (Pun Intended!)

I’m not the only one thinking about pigeons and art. I found this teacher’s art blog that touches on Duke Riley’s “Fly by Night” and my “Real Poop on Pigeons.”

criscophebes's avatarOH THE ART PLACES WE CAN GO

Possible Classroom Concepts: Science – Birds (Pigeons), Ornithology,  Endangered Species, Extinction

Language Arts – Nonfiction, Reading For Information

Social Studies – History (WWI And WWII Carrier Pigeons)

Possible Art Concepts: Art History – Pablo Picasso, Duke Riley, Rachel Berwick, John Beck, John James Audubon

Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Installations, Casting, One Point Perspective

For pigeons, there seem to be a lot of haters out there. Some haters may even think pigeons capable of  this. Hate might be a strong word, but until a recent turn of events, I was one such hater. Let’s just say, I refrain from feeding pigeons or sea gulls and don’t appreciate people who do. I am always fearful of being  (for lack of a better phrase) “pooped on”. The first turn of event was a visit to a MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) Store, where I found a book entitled, The Real Poop On Pigeons by Kevin…

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NEW KUTZTOWN U ZINE LIBRARY

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Sometimes, a zine of things I do, by Jonathan Stutzman with art by Heather Fox.

Zines by Kutztown students will form the beginning of a new Zine Collection at Kutztown University’s Rohrbach Library. Other academic institutions have famous Zine Libraries including Barnard College and Hampshire College. Kutztown is starting small.

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A zine, rhymes with seen, is a small book or pamphlet. Merriam Webster defines a zine as “often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject matter, such as a feminist zine.” The works above by Kate Chambers and Deanna Black offer insights on body image and are great examples.

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Jesse Warner, student and co-founder of Brain Bug, proposed the idea to librarian Bruce Jensen. Bruce responded with enthusiasm telling Jesse,” Your idea of a zine library in Rohrbach is brilliant!  KU’s a perfect place for one, with so many knowledgeable zine-loving faculty and supertalented zinemakers hereabouts.”

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Zines by Rachel Behm and Alexis Manduke

Zines are harder to catalog than the typical book. Some have odd dimensions and many have no pages numbers. The Rohrbach librarians will have there work cut out for them. Hopefully by the fall, KU zinesters will find their work in the library.

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Fantasy and SF zines by Kristen DeMelfy and Carly Zehring

If you are a student or faculty and have an idea for a zine, you need not be in a special class. Just do it! The library’s new ‘maker space’, now called STEAMworks has printers and the rare extra-long staplers needed for binding a simple zine. STEAMworks is located in room RL 18. Maybe we can have a zine workshop in the fall.

Zines do not have to be serious. Spoiler Alert: Next image is the final death scene from a very funny zine, SnailMan by Kate Desiderio!

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As my zinester son, Daniel McCloskey always says, ” Zines are a great calling card for an artist. Zines have a life of their own.” Very often the original reader will think of a friend who likes a particular sort of story and pass it on. And so on.

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Urban Nomad from http://www.alisaharris.com

At least one former KU student has become something of a zine star. Alisa Harris studied here before transferring to SVA in NYC to major in traditional animation. Her Urban Nomad is a step up from a zine, but we will have issue #1 from 2008 at Rohrbach. It tells of her journey from Pennsylvania to New York. Urban Nomad is a simple autobiographical tale that might inspire other young artists to head to the big city. It is available at select bookstores like Bluestocking in NYC. Alisa’s website has more info about the project.

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photo: Bruce Jensen

Are you a Kutztown grad who made a zine? If you would like to donate a copy to be lovingly housed in the new zine library, get in touch with Bruce Jensen at Rohrbach Library.

Pigeons, Pigeons, everywhere. Keep your hat on!

Pigeons to the left of me. Pigeons to the right. OK, I wrote a book about pigeons, so I’ve been thinking about ’em. BUT! I am astounded by how often pigeons cross my path. On the NYC subway, my entire car was filled with pigeon-themed ads for Jet Blue.

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Arnold Zwicky defined the phenomenon Frequency Illusion”- once you’ve noticed a phenomenon, you think it happens a whole lot, even “all the time”. Your estimates of frequency are likely to be skewed by your noticing nearly every occurrence that comes past you. “

Seen my pigeons? I’m having an show at the Hoboken Historical Museum. McKevin Shaughnessy designed this cool poster for the event, adding to the pigeon image barrage.

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My pigeon history began when I sketched a pigeon racer on his Hoboken rooftop. I put that image in my 1986 book, Walking Around Hoboken. That same drawing would later appear on the cover of The Pigeon Guys.

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Holly Metz was editing a series of chapbooks for The Hoboken Historical Museum and asked me to illustrate this project about the city’s last pigeon racers. I spent a morning at Vinnie Torre’s loft on Monroe St. and he told me some amazing stuff about pigeons.

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Prof. Ann Lemon took a snapshot of another NYC subway poster for Dinosaurs Among Us at the Museum of Natural History. The headline: You’ll Never Look at a Pigeon the Same Way Again. Of course, I was asking for pigeon overload when I went to the Mo Willems’ exhibition at the NY Historical Society. Good show, Mo.

A student sent me a link to Bert Doing the Pigeon. If I’d seen it before, how did I forget it?

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Patt and I, Takoma Park MD Library, photo Bruce Guthrie

I have been visiting schools, libraries, bookstores, with a stuffed pigeon on top of my hat. So, I am getting what I deserve. The one time I went looking for pigeons, but failed was the first weekend of Duke Riley’s pigeon art performance at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.bridgeI got a wonderful view of the Brooklyn Bridge, but that night the rain and fog kept the pigeons cooped up. If you are anywhere near Hoboken, or a public library, check out The Real Poop on Pigeons.pigeoncover

 

 

 

 

1st MFA’s at Kutztown U

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pattern © 2016 Emma P. Brooks

Emma Brooks and Al Bronokowski made history as the first MFA’s in Communication Design. This MFA is the first terminal degree offered at Kutztown University. I, myself, was once in a first MFA class at another college, so I know it takes a leap of faith to embark on something so new. Emma and Al are to be congratulated. They learned a lot and produced fascinating work.

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Emma’s thesis project was called ‘Kindred Memories’ a collection of illustrated pattern designs based on her family history. The imagery on dinnerware and curtains above, for example, are based on her great-grandfather Martin Schicker, an outdoorsman who collected luna moths.

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Emma said her education was transformative. She completed her thesis under the able direction of Prof. Denise Bosler. “I came here to get an MFA so I could teach. I realized designing is what I want to do!”said Emma. “Maybe I will teach someday in the future, but  now I really want to design patterns.” More of Emma’s work can be seen here.

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Emma Brooks explaining her thesis for Kutztown faculty and Dean Mowder.

Al’s final project was not so illustrative, but no less impressive. He did an interactive project with Prof. Josh Miller. Al said his breakthrough came when Prof. Josh Miller told him, “Interactive design doesn’t have to be just web design, it can be so much more.”

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Al created an immersive multi-sensory experience based on Arcadia National Park. The experience included multiple projectors, natures sounds, and even scents meant to evoke the features of this particular park. It reminded me of the Holodeck on Star Trek.

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Screenshot from AlBronakowski.com

Al explains it on his website: ” I constructed an interactive table that uses an infrared camera and reacTIVision software to track fiducial symbols on the bottom of objects. The table also includes servos and multicolored LEDs that are controlled by an Arduino and react to the fiducial symbols. The interface projects information about the park onto three walls and the table top.” He  wrote the program that controls the entire project in Processing. I must admit that is all Greek to me, but the end result was remarkable.

More of Al’s work including video of his thesis project can be found here.

The Kutztown University MFA in Communication Design Program is still looking for a few good students to begin classes next fall. More info can be found here.

 

Viva Frank Viva!

 

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From Trip to the Bottom of the World © Frank Viva.

I love Frank Viva’s “Trip to the Bottom of the World with Little Mouse.”  It is drawn digitally in Adobe Illustrator, yet it has a retro feel. I got to meet the Canadian author/illustrator at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Boston.

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2- page spread from Sea Change ©Frank Viva

He flew down from Toronto where he heads an award-winning graphic design agency, Viva & Co. I was blown away by his new book Sea Change. The book is getting sensational reviews for both its story and graphic design. Sea Change is a Toon Graphic title. That means it is geared toward middle-grade readers. The literary quality and the visual design is so fine that older readers will appreciate its genius.

The pages of Sea Change are filled with playful typography, -the sort we read about in Phil Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. I showed my copy to Prof. Karen Kresge, who teaches advanced typography at Kutztown. She was so impressed she went directly to her computer to preorder a copy.

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Experimental type by Lewis Carroll and Stéphane Mallarmé from “Meggs”

School Library Journal says “Viva’s bold, simple illustrations are whimsical and bring to life the story’s unique characters. The unconventional format of this funny, poignant coming-of-age story will appeal to fans of comics and graphic novels.”

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detail from Sea Change ©Frank Viva

Graphic designer Chip Kidd is a fan: “In ‘Sea Change’ Frank Viva ingeniously weaves words and pictures to evoke that heartbreaking, strange, wonderful moment—when the very worst experience of your life somehow becomes the very best.” 

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It would be a crying shame if the design was extraordinary and the story fell flat. That is not the case here. The story is quite moving, written with an understated grace. The narrative has a great sense of place, namely, a remote fishing village in Nova Scotia. The author’s voice reminded me of Jack Gantos’s popular Joey Pigsa novels, though Viva told me he was not familiar with those books.

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details from Sea Change © Frank Viva

None of the great reviews I’ve seen touched on the chilling anti-Italian bias our young hero  endures. The book is not a memoir, but I asked Frank Viva if he had experienced bigotry as an Italian kid in Canada. “Oh Yes” he said, “I grew up in a very Anglo neighborhood. It wasn’t hurtful, but it was memorable, and it was typical.”

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The drawing style in Sea Change recalls Ben Shahn’s best graphic works. Viva explains that he sketches freely in pencil, then digitally colors the work in Photoshop.

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    A New Yorker cover by Frank Viva

Besides his children’s books Frank Viva is known for his elegant design work for fortune 500 companies and many New Yorker covers. He has come a long way. He told me about his college years delivering seltzer bottles to fifth floor walk-ups in Manhattan. Oddly enough, Ontario College of Art and Design allowed him to pursue his art studies in New York City.

Young Frank once thought he was headed for a career in fine art, but found work as a junior art director when he returned to Toronto. In the 70’s, he was a contributing cartoonist to the short-lived Toronto-based underground comic, “Berford Seaman’s Fabby Thighs and Butter.” I found a cover of the comic online. It bills itself as “a Canadian Magazine Everyone Can Read and Not Understand.

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Sea Change is an important work. It delivers a sea change from the typical design of ‘chapter books’ for young readers. I found myself totally immersed in the story, and I expect younger readers will, too.

Full disclosure: I got a free advance reader’s copy of Sea Change. Not only that, Frank Viva bought me a beer on a barge in Boston Harbor. Really! However, that one strong pint at the Barking Crab did not affect this review.

Kutztown Comics to MoCCA, NYC, 2016

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Custom Banner for KU CD’s MoCCA table designed by Lindsay Trzaska

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Rachel Zuppo is going to New York City. She is a student at Kutztown U from Philadelphia. She made a zine, or mini comic, about an interesting date she had in Philly’s Chinatown. She will be bringing her mini comic to MoCCAfest 2016.

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These two panels are from the opening spread of her All the Tea in Chinatown. Cartoonists known that their opening pages should include a strong establishing shot. Rachel certainly succeeds here.

Kutztown will be among a select group of colleges at MoCCAfest, the indie comic showcase in New York City. Most of the other tables will be small presses, large presses, distributors and independent comics creators. There will be stars there: Cece Bell creator of Newbery Honor winner El Deafo and illustrator/animator Bill Plympton. Sample art by other wonderful exhibitors can be found on the MoCCA’s Tumblr pages.

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Kutztown University’s Communication Design Dept pays for the table space at MoCCA. This event is a great opportunity for our students to compare their work with projects from other art programs and meet indy publishers and artists.  MoCCA’s general admission is just $5 a day, a bargain for an art fest. Look for Kutztown at Table 114 next to TOON BOOKS.

12 students from our Illustration 2 class are showing their stuff at MoCCA, Sat. April 2 at  Metropolitan West, 639 West 46th St, NYC. I’ll be there with their zines on Sunday, too. All of the books were completed across the first eight weeks of this semester.

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Yu Wen Sun, who goes by Sue, is Rachel’s buddy. Sue is an exchange student from Tunxi, Huangshan, Anhui, China. She tells us her hometown is smaller than Kutztown. Hard to believe. Her My Friend is A Freak! is a story of of an outsider searching for a friend, and (spoiler alert!) befriending another outsider. Sue got help with the English text from her Philly friend Rachel.

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A number of students added stickers as a bonus to their zine. Most of these zines are under $5. Sue’s My Friend is a Freak! is a bargain at $3. This is the third time Kutztown has tabled at MoCCA. This year’s entires are varied, but many have horror and suspense themes.

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Zines by Katie Bertolet and Jordan Duffy

Meridith.jpgMeredith Shriner’s A Most Bothersome Bat demonstrates her great potential as a children’s book illustrator. Elaine Knox’s work, below, is cleverly designed with a ghostly overlay printed on transparent paper.knox.jpg

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Here is a detail from Kristen DeMelfy’s Inseparable. She manages give great form to her figures even in black and white. Like many of the other stories Inseparable has the potential to be expanded into a longer story.hannah.jpgHannah Faber’s Kruikje has a fanciful mid-century feel. Her colors are a tad off-register making her digital printout resemble a risograph or linocut. We have lots more artwork to see, but here below is a page from Katelynn Chamber’s Self Talk, a more serious project about the issue of body image.Katelynn.jpg

Hope to see old friends at MoCCA. I am always inspired by the work of young illustrators from great schools like FIT, or SAW, or CCS and Kutztown University. Thanks to Lindsay Trzaska for designing our banners. If you make it to MoCCA you will find us at table 114.

I will share photos and more student work from MoCCA next week.

 

 

Science Comics & Global Warming for Kids

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I was driving in my car and heard a radio interview with Randall Munroe. The author and illustrator of Thing Explainer was speaking on Science Friday. I was stunned when host Ira Flatow said to Munroe, “Before you were a full-time comics artist you were a roboticist at NASA…” YOW!  I thought, “How can I do science comics for kids if NASA engineers are making comics?”

I saw his wonderful book and I calmed down as I realized his bestseller is far different than anything I will ever write. Munroe uses only the most 1000 common English language words to explain science. Cells are called, “tiny bags of water you’re made of.” The Mars Rover is “the Space Car for the Red World.” It is a chill formalist exercise I appreciate, but I am not likely to ever try myself.

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Munroe is not the only scientist turned comic book artist, however. I met Maris Wicks at the Miami Book Fair. She is a museum educator at Boston’s New England Aquarium. She was signing copies of her hit informational comic book, Human Body Theater. That book made School Library Journal’s list of 2015 TOP 10 Graphic Novels for Kids.  I have hip friends who used Human Body Theater to teach anatomy to their home-schooled daughter.

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Maris Wicks draws in a kid-friendly style. First Second Books sent me a review copy of her new book, Coral Reefs, Cities of the Ocean. It is is quite wonderful. It has a cute Kawaii feel, but still delivers the goods -educational info on the undersea world. When I met Maris in Miami, she was rushing to that airport to draw while she waited in the terminal for her plane back to Boston.

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Maris Wicks is quite amazing, she can write, she can draw, and she knows what she is talking about. Plus: she clearly has a professional attitude about deadlines.

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Coral Reefs is geared toward middle schoolers, but I read it aloud who to a precocious second-grader who hung on every word. There is one sequence that explains the scientific evidence for global warming. Kids who understand this science will be smarter than several candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Imagine that.

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Maris Wicks has a great attitude despite the challenges our oceans face. She presents the science, yet manages to be upbeat about the future of the oceans. She tells young readers that even if they live far from the ocean they can help to protect their local ecosystem.

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First Second is also releasing another volume in the Science Comics series, Dinosaurs, Fossils and Feathers, written by MK Reed, illustrated by Joe Flood. Years ago I loved John Noble Wilford’s 1985 book, The Riddle of the Dinosaur. This new book has the same amazing cast of characters. I’m thinking of the humans, not the dinosaurs: Young fossil hunter Mary Anning; feuding paleontologists Marsh and Cope, and the larger-than-life Baron Nopsca. Who knew a paleontologist was the first person to hijack an airplane?

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Joe Flood’s dinosaur illustrations are perfect for the story. His art is detailed, energetic and clearly well-researched.

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Near the close of Dinosaurs is a page that channels Winsor McCay’s Gertie the Dinosaur. Reed and Flood, author and illustrator, are pictured with a Brontosaurus. Earlier in the book they had reported the brontosaurus was not a separate dinosaur. But in 2015, just as their book neared its deadline, the scientific community reinstated the creature.

dinosaurs 1.jpg Both Coral Reefs and Dinosaurs have forwards written by Phd’s. No doubt the editors want to assure parents and educators these books are accurate. From a design standpoint, I would have preferred if these text essays came as an afterword. That said, I love the series so far. These two wonderful books should compel more youngsters to maintain their natural curiosity about the world around us.

KU Kid Lit Conference 2016

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Poster design and illustration by KU student Christina Davies

The Kutztown University Children’s Literature Conference is 18 years old this year. The event takes place Saturday, April 16. The beautiful poster by Christina Davies is a puzzle showing a cast of famous children’s book characters heading for Kutztown’s campus.

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Cover and an interior page from Jonathan Bean’s latest book.

This year is a great year for illustrators. Three of the four keynote speakers are illustrators, and the fourth is married to one. Jonathan Bean, a native son of Fleetwood PA, is author & illustrator most recently of This is My House, This is My School. The Kutztown U Bookstore will have plenty of copies of this and all the titles by the conference speakers.

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Emily Arnold McCully,  Caldecott Medalist, will share her wonderful stories, many about empowered young women. Best known for her illustrated picture books, McCully is also the author of Ida Minerva Tarbell: The Woman Who Challenged Big Business–and Won!  Ida Tarbell was  one the the few independent journalists with the guts to fight the most corrupt and greedy American robber barons including John D. Rockefeller.

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Art by Daniel Kirk from Library Mouse, A World to Explore

Daniel Kirk is the author and or illustrator of over 40 children’s books, including the hit series about Library Mouse. He often brings his acoustic guitar when he visits elementary schools. We will see if he sings at the KU conference.

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Rhythm Ride by Andrea Davis Pinkney. cover illustration by Dave Scott

Speaking of music, Andrea Davis Pinkney is the author of Rhythm Ride: A Road Trip Through the Motown Sound. School library Journal calls it ” A well-crafted spin that will reverberate in the hearts of music, African American culture, and history buffs.” Pinkney may be one of the most famous names in the field of American Illustration. Andrea Davis Pinkney is the daughter-in-law of Jerry Pinkney and the wife and sometimes collaborator of illustrator Brian Pinkney.

This year’s KU Children’s Literature Conference is a bargain at $50. Enrolled KU students can attend for $10. There will be autograph sessions and lots of networking. Qualified teachers earn Act 48 credits.  There will be free events for the KU community. Details can be found here.  Like the Conference Facebook page for updates. Questions? Contact Sarah Bryski: childlitconfku@gmail.com

I’ll be there, too, launching my 2016 Real Poop on Pigeons Tour. KU MFA student Rachel Yoder will display her bilingual PA Dutch/English children’s book, Penny Olive. And Kathi Ember, KU grad will be there with lots of her illustrated books.

Serious Comics, Deadly Serious.

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Dr. Rachel Williams talked comics with Kate Chambers and Alexis Manduke.

Rachel Marie Crane Williams, PhD, was invited to Kutztown University to speak at the 6th Annual Diversity Conference. She draws comics about social issues –prison, poverty, lynch mobs. She also teaches at the University of Iowa. She has a joint appointment at the University’s School of Art and Art History and the Dept. of Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies. Her flight from Iowa to Pennsylvania got cancelled (twice !) due to winter storms. It seemed she would not reach the conference. She jumped in her car drove across country. She’s unstoppable!

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Her work on The School To Prison Pipeline

She raced straight from her car to our illustration class. Her artwork is informed by news, history, politics, and social practice. She shared a stack of images from her graphic novel on the Detroit Race Riots of 1943. She told us how she traveled to Detroit to do research. She obtained original news photos from The Detroit Free Press archives and transcribed contemporary interviews done by the NAACP.

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A project based on her work at an Iowa women’s prison.

Sometimes her visual essays are sponsored by organizations. The School to Prison Pipeline, for example, was done in 2011 for Jane Addams Hull House Museum, the Chicago Freedom School and Project NIA.

She talked about her work inside the Iowa Correctional Facility for Women. A student asked if she liked Orange is the New Black. She said she didn’t think much of the Netflix series, but recommended Image comic’s Bitch Planet. It’s science fiction, but somehow manages to evoke a real sense what life is like for women behind bars.

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Dr. Williams asked every student in the class to give their ‘elevator pitch’ for their zine project. She gave lots of good advice. She advised cartooning students to make a font from their own handwriting. A personal font creates a far authentic match to one’s drawing style than using comic sans. There are a number of web sites that will convert your handwriting into a usable font for free. Here is one tutorial.

She also recommended the digital publishing platform ISSUU. Many of her comics and graphic essays are available on ISSUU via her website.

The pages reprinted above and below are from  Black and Blue: Stories of Police Violence. This comic was distributed by Chicago’s Project NIA , part of an educational outreach project about police violence.

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Detail from Black and Blue: Stories of Police Violence

Her forthcoming project is the monumental graphic novel, Run Home If You Don’t Want To Be Killed: The Detroit Race Riot of 1943. She began work on this project in 2008. It is finally nearing completion and will be published by University North Carolina Press and the Duke Center for Documentary Studies. Meanwhile, there is much more graphic work by Rachel Marie Crane Williams on her website.  All images in this post © Rachel Marie Crane Williams

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From her forthcoming graphic novel on the Detriot Race Riots.

Maddy’s Dream Job: Lego Star Wars

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LEGOLAND, Billund, Denmark  photo credit: Bobby Hidy via Wikipedia

Like a lot of young Americans, Kutztown’s Madison O’Neil grew up loving Star Wars and Lego. Now he is headed to Denmark to design Lego Star Wars characters.

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Design by Maddy O’Neal, done for fun, before he got the job!

I last wrote about Maddy in 2013 when as a new BFA grad he took an odd career detour to become a ranch hand. Maddy’s new official job title: Character & Graphics Designer, LEGO STAR WARS.  

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Madison O’Niel was a ranch hand at Vista Verde in Colorado.

He starts work on February 22, 2016 at Lego, Billund, Denmark. He doesn’t even have a place to live. He and girlfriend, Megan Blair, also a talented KU design grad, found a Bed & Breakfast a short bus ride from Lego HQ.

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There are already 2 KU Communication Design grads working at Lego, Austin Carlson and Lauren King. Maddy interned at Crayola and met Lauren there, before she, herself, took off for Denmark. Lauren alerted Maddy to this job opening.

It all happened fast. For the past few years he’s been a designer at the quirky online store Think Geek. He flew to Denmark for the first time over Thanksgiving.  Maddy explains,”I prepped an online portfolio, had a skype interview, was flown to Billund, Denmark for a series of interviews and design workshops, and got the job a week or two later. ” He told my illustration class he was one of a dozen candidates flown in from all over the world for the interview.

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His interview in November included hands-on tests. He and the others were given a table full of Legos and told to create specific scenes and characters on the spot. Maddy says it was fun, stressful, but fun!

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Maddy was ready. In fact, he had packed his suitcase with these tiny characters from cult movies and TV shows including Game of Thrones, Firefly, and, of course, Star Wars. Note all Maddy’s creations in this post are totally unofficial and not available in stores. He custom prints stickers and fabricates props to adorn off-the-shelf Lego people. All rights are retained by the original creators.

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See more of Maddy’s imaginative creations including Beast Boy from Teen Titans and Sherlock Holmes here. As he says at www.maddyoneil.com: “I loooove LEGOs! As a hobby I enjoy creating LEGO minifigures of my favorite characters from pop culture. With custom decals and paint applications I can give these little guys big personalities.”

Lessons from Maddy: Network, Build a great portfolio web page, and Looooove what you do!

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Note: My new book, The Real Poop on Pigeons is available for pre-order on Amazon, at the discount price of $8.88.  The first review was good, and it is a selection of the Junior Library Guild. I am exhibiting  artwork from the book at Kutztown U in April and at The Hoboken Historical Museum in June. More details to come soon.pigeons.jpg