Once Upon A Dream:
The Art of Sleeping Beauty

Cartoon Art Museum exhibition: July 18, 2009 – January 10, 2010

*Calendar:  Please note that the Cartoon Art Museum exhibition “The Art of Stan Sakai” has been extended through July 12, 2009*

The Cartoon Art Museum proudly presents Once Upon a Dream:  The Art of Sleeping Beauty, celebrating 50 years since the original release of the classic animated feature from Walt Disney Studios.

Once Upon A Dream explores the creation of one of Walt Disney Studios’ most enduring films, from pencil art and model sheets to animation cels, color guides and behind-the-scenes photographs of the cast and crew.  Almost ten years in the making, Sleeping Beauty was designed to look like no other Disney film, drawing from both medieval illustrations and cutting-edge 1950s graphic design.  Artist Eyvind Earle, who supervised the film’s look and hand-painted most of the dozens of lavish backgrounds, gave the film its unique blend of lush detail and bold, stylized designs.  Disney production designer Ken Anderson developed these elements into a visually arresting feature, much of it animated by members of the Nine Old Men, Walt Disney’s most trusted cadre of animators.  Sleeping Beauty was the last Disney film to use fully hand-inked animation cels and one of only two ever filmed in 70mm widescreen.  A box-office hit when it premiered in 1959, it’s now renowned as one of the most beautiful and beloved animated films ever made.

This exhibition also includes a spotlight on Disney artist/illustrator Ron Dias, whose first professional job in the animation industry was as an in-betweener to clean-up animator on Sleeping Beauty.   Dias went on to become one of the most highly-regarded and sought-after background artists and color stylists in the business.  The Cartoon Art Museum will feature a selection of his background paintings and color concepts from The Secret of Nimh, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and The Little Mermaid.

Details about the opening reception with special guest Ron Dias will be announced shortly.

About Ron Dias:  

In 1956, Ron Dias, an 18-year-old kid fresh from Hawaii, came to Hollywood to work for the Walt Disney Animation Studios.  After finishing his assignment in the Animation Department on Sleeping Beauty, Ron worked throughout Hollywood as a scenic artist for 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Columbia Pictures and MGM Studios.  He returned to the animation field to work with such studios as Hanna-Barbera (Jonny Quest), Warner Brothers (Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny), Don Bluth (The Secret of Nimh), and many others, ending with Disney’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Little Mermaid feature and television series.  

In recent years, Dias has created artwork for Disney Imagineering’s “Disney Seas” murals in Tokyo, Japan, and has collaborated with noted marine life painter Wyland on a series of paintings featuring characters from The Little Mermaid.  Dias now lives in central California and has gone full circle with his career, creating fine art as he was trained to do at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.  He is still actively creating work for the Disney Studios, as well.

Get Animated! Booksigning

Cartoon Art Museum Bookstore Event:  Sunday, July 19, 2009 1pm  to 3pm

Free and Open to the public

The Cartoon Art Museum Bookstore welcomes Tim Maloney, author of Get Animated!  Creating Professional Cartoon Animation on Your Home Computer for a booksigning on Sunday, July 19, 2009, from 1pm to 3pm.

About Get Animated!

Never before have there been so many amazing tools with which to create high-quality professional animation.  Thanks to today’s computer programs - many freely available on the internet - the computer sitting on your desk likely has all you need to produce theatrical-quality cartoons.  Get Animated! is the entertaining and informative guide to help budding animators unlock all this potential and create studio-grade results with out spending a fortune on software and special equipment.  

Professional animator Tim Maloney offers expert advice on every step of the process – from thinking of an idea, choosing and using software, and putting on the finishing touches.  Hundreds of illustrations make even the most complicated notions fun.  The step-by-step directions demystify: writing the script, storyboarding, designing the artwork, creating the characters, making characters move, animating sequences, lip-syncing preparing high-quality output, editing, and sound.  Plus, there is a bonus Tutorial DVD included, packed with useful open-source software, links to animation sites, and – best of all – cartoon animation that explains concepts from the book.  With a copy of Get Animated! and the possibilities already available in their home computer, aspiring animators are fully empowered to create top-notch cartoons that will rival any mega studio creation.

About the Author:

Tim Maloney has been a professional animator for more than 15 years.  Formerly the animation director for Mrs. Munger’s Class and Centerville for Disney’s One Saturday Morning, he has lectured widely and is an assistant professor in the radio/television/film department at California State University at Fullerton. He lives in Los Angeles.

July Cartoonist-in-Residence:  Briana Miller

Cartoon Art Museum Event:  Saturday, July 18, 2009 1pm  to 3pm

Free and Open to the public

 

  

The  Cartoon Art Museum hosts freelance artist and cartoonist Briana Miller on Saturday, July 18, 2009 from 1pm to 3pm as part of its ongoing  Cartoonist-in-Residence program.  Museum visitors will be offered the chance  to talk to her about her comics and watch Miller at work.  

Briana Miller is a Berkeley-born, East Bay resident who has lived in almost every city that touches the eastern side of the San Francisco Bay.  She created her first comic in 2000 and quickly discovered what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.  She has produced at least one hand-drawn, hand-silk-screened comic a year ever since.

Each of Miller's comics is a self-contained story with no recurring characters or story lines.  Her stories are often a mixture of whimsy and loss that becomes magical realism in unexpected moments of comic-book maturity.  When not creating her comics, Briana Miller is a full-time high school art teacher.  She also works as a freelance illustrator and silk-screener, with a focus on posters, postcards, event invitations and shirts.  In her spare time, Miller enjoys sewing and being a member of the National Puzzlers League.

This event is free and open to the public.

The Cartoon Art Museum regularly hosts professional cartoonist in its galleries as part of its Cartoonist-in-Residence program. Museum patrons see cartoonists at work on their latest projects and learn everything you ever wanted to know about cartoonists--but were afraid to ask.  Past featured Cartoonists-in-Residence include Paul Madonna (All Over Coffee), Keith Knight (K Chronicles, (th)ink), Paige Braddock (Jane's World), Michael Jantze (The Norm) and Jimmy Gownley (Amelia Rules) among many others.

Small Press Spotlight on MariNaomi

Cartoon Art Museum Exhibition:  June 20 – September 13, 2009

Beginning on June 20, 2009, the Cartoon Art Museum's ongoing Small Press Spotlight will feature the art of MariNaomi.
 
Currently residing in San Francisco, MariNaomi was born in Texas and raised in Northern California. Her comics were first published in Action Girl Comics in 1998. That same year, MariNaomi published her comic art in the form of a zine called Estrus Comics. Now a series, Estrus Comics is an autobiographical collection of stories chronicling, among many other subjects, relationships, sex and coming of age. MariNaomi’s comics have also appeared in many national and local publications including The Comics Journal’s Women in Comics issue, and the Storytime Anthology.
 
MariNaomi has also found success as a longtime painter. Her works have been featured in group and solo exhibitions throughout the Bay Area and beyond, including multiple live paintings/exhibits at the de Young Museum and an exhibit entitled TV of Tomorrow at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Her work has also appeared in galleries such as SomArts, 111 Minna Gallery, and at events like Ladyfest Bay Area as well as WonderCon. MariNaomi’s prints along with her Estrus Comics and some original works are currently available at Artist Xchange as well as the Femina Potens Gallery in San Francisco.
 
For more information about MariNaomi’s works and upcoming events, please visit http://www.marinaomi.com

About the Small Press Spotlight:
San Francisco has been a hotbed of innovative, groundbreaking comic art since the late 1800s with the advent of the modern comic strip.  In the1960s, the Bay Area gained further notoriety when the underground comix movement launched from San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district.  Today, some of the biggest names in alternative and small-press comics hail from the Bay Area, and the Cartoon Art Museum's Small Press Spotlight focuses on the works of these talented individuals.

The Small Press Spotlight is funded in part by The Zellerbach Family Foundation and The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation.

The Cartoon Art Museum Presents:

Cartooning Classes for Adults
Summer 2009 Sessions
Saturday, June 14; Sunday June 15, 1:00 - 4:00pm
Saturday, July 11; Sunday July 12, 1:00 - 4:00pm
Saturday, August 8; Sunday August 9, 1:00 - 4:00pm

Cost per class:  $100 per two-day session, $50 per one-day session, with discounted tuition for CAM members
Register for The Cartoon Art Museum's Adult Classes - Summer 2009
Classes will focus on cartooning, character design, and comics.
Each 2-day session is a new course, so you may register for all three sessions. Classes are designed as 2-day workshops but you may also attend single days as well.
Classes are Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 pm.

June 13 and 14
July 11 and 12
August 8 and 9

$100 per 2-day session or $50 for a single day ($90/$40 for members) To register call 415-227-8666 x303 or email: education@cartoonart.org

Defining the Project
Instructor: Brian Kolm
Level: Beginning/Intermediate - Adult
Days: June 13-14, 2009

Are you thinking about working on a personal comic or cartoon project? Do you need some motivation to get the ball rolling? Come to this hands-on workshop where like-minded creators can work on their projects together. We will go through exercises that will help you explore ideas for stories, settings, and characters for your projects. We will then learn how to take our projects to the next level. We will learn how to outline our stories, as well as design the characters and settings that will help bring the story and character ideas to life.

Characters, Storyboards, and Layout
Instructor: Daniel Salcido
Level: Beginning/Intermediate - Adult
Days: July 11-12, 2009

Do you have a great idea for a comic strip, comic book, web-comic or cartoon? In this class we will go over the basic breakdown of the human form as well as basic design methods and a "things to consider" check list for designing characters. Once we have our characters, we will go over the basics of story boarding, and creating thumbnails and page layouts, which are a crucial part of story development and pre-production. By the end of this class, not only will you have a character for your concept, but you will also be well on your way to starting final production on it.

From Comic Strips to Animation
Instructor: James Hummel
Level: Beginning/Intermediate - Adult
Days: August 8-9, 2009

This class will talk about the transition from comic strips to the animated cartoon. We will discuss how the animation industry began and how it grew to where it is today. Then we will go through some of the basic principles of animation and talk about how animated movies, television shows and commercials are produced. Exercises will include creating flipbooks to illustrate storyboarding, key poses and in-betweening. We will also do exercises in gesture and proportion and incorporate our character(s) into a scene.

The  Cartoon Art Museum hosts freelance artist and cartoonist Brian Andersen on Saturday, June 20, 2009 from 1pm to 3pm as part of its ongoing  Cartoonist-in-Residence program.  Museum visitors will be offered the chance  to talk to him about his comics and watch Andersen at work.  
 
Brian Andersen is the super nerdy, super flirty, indie comic book creator behind such colorful comics as So Duper Duper, Reignbow & Dee-Va and Unbashedly Billie.  Under his itty bitty comic "company" (CBG Comics), he's also published works by other creators,  such as Rick Worley's A Waste of Time and the trade paperback collection of living comic book legend Trina Robbins's 1980s series California Girls.
 
Aside from the upcoming eighth issue of So Super Duper (out soon, he hopes), Brian also has a second issue of Reignbow & Dee-Va on its way and three brand new comics, Sex & The Superhero,  Loser 80 and a six-page free mini comic called Saint Carrie of the Divine Pageant, which is available on his website.  Yay! Creating comics is fun, kiddies!
 
Brian hopes you get a smirk, a smile, or a slight laugh from at least one of his meager comic creations!  Find out more about Brian's fabulous works by visiting www.sosuperduper.com.  You can also catch free So Super Duper pages twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday) on Newsarama.com/blog.  :) Groovy!

This event is free and open to the public.

The Cartoon Art Museum regularly hosts professional cartoonist in its galleries as part of its Cartoonist-in-Residence program. Museum patrons see cartoonists at work on their latest projects and learn everything you ever wanted to know about cartoonists--but were afraid to ask.  Past featured Cartoonists-in-Residence include Paul Madonna (All Over Coffee), Keith Knight (K Chronicles, (th)ink), Paige Braddock (Jane's World), Michael Jantze (The Norm) and Jimmy Gownley (Amelia Rules) among many others.

 Cartoon Art Museum receives Certificate of Recognition from Senator Mark Leno

The Cartoon Art Museum’s received a Certificate of Recognition from California State Senator Mark Leno at its fifth annual Comics 4 Comix event on Thursday, April 23, 2009.  Senator Leno’s proclamation reads as follows:

Congratulations on your 5th annual Comics 4 Comix event!  I commend your many years of dedication and commitment to providing a unique space where the community can come together, enjoy the exciting world of comics and discover rare and new comic finds.  I further commend your support for the local community, nonprofits, and independent artists.  Congratulations and thank you for all that you do!

Mark Leno, State Senator, 3rd District
April 23, 2009

Senator Leno presented the certificate to Director Summerlea Kashar and Curator Andrew Farago before a sold-out audience at the Cartoon Art Museum.  Headlining the event was Concord, California native Carlos Alazraqui, a stand-up comedian best known for his recurring role as Deputy Garcia on Comedy Central’s Reno-911!, voicing Rocko in the Nickelodeon series Rocko’s Modern Life, and providing the voice of the Taco Bell Chihuahua.  Additional performers included Michael Capozzola, Jethro Jeremiah, Charlie Knote, Justin Lamb, Harmon Leon, Mike Meehan and Steve Munger.

Cartoon Art Museum curator Andrew Farago and his wife, Shaenon Garrity, visited Japan this past week to assist Studio Ghibli, the NHK network and the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art with an upcoming exhibition entitled "The Colors of Mary Blair," which was inspired in part by the Cartoon Art Museum's 2007-08 exhibition "The Art and Flair of Mary Blair."

While in Tokyo, Farago and Garrity toured the famed Studio Ghibli, and met acclaimed director Hayao Miyazaki, seen in the photo below:

Comics 4 Comix Benefit
Cartoon Art Museum Event: Thursday, April 23rd, 2009, 7:00-10:00pm
Tickets: $20 general admission, 2-for-1 for CAM members
Please call (415) CAR-TOON, ext. 300 to purchase tickets



SAN FRANCISCO, CA. -- Comics and comix collide as the funnies meet the funny in the fifth annual fundraiser and silent art auction for San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum. Join the Bay Area's funniest folk for a night of food, drink, and entertainment, and bid on original art by some of today’s brightest stars in comics. This year Comics 4 Comix takes place on Thursday, April 23rd from 7 pm to 10 pm at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. Tickets are $20 per person for general admission, with 2-for-1 admission for Cartoon Art Museum members. Tickets may be purchased in advance at the museum, by telephone, or at the door on the night of the event.


The Cartoon Art Museum will host an all-star cast of stand-up comics for this event,, featuring headliner Carlos Alazraqui of Comedy Central’s Reno 911!, as well as local comedians Mike Meehan, Harmon Leon, Justin Lamb and Joe Klocek, all hosted by Michael Capozzola, comedian and creator of the comic strip Surveillance Caricatures in the San Francisco Chronicle’s 96 hours section. Travel and accommodations for our headliner are being provided by Southwest Airlines and InterContinental San Francisco. Performances will begin at 8 pm. In addition to getting a dose of high comedy, attendees will have the opportunity to peruse the museum's galleries while enjoying an array of delectable snacks. Patrons can look forward to sampling tastes of Safeway and Popchips, and beverages complimentary of Schmaltz Brewery and True Sake. Additional sponsorship provided by Flax Art & Design. Please visit our website (www.cartoonart.org ) for additional sponsors as they confirm.

As for comix, partygoers can bid on original comic strip art from popular local and national cartoonists, including Dan Piraro (Bizarro), Mort Walker (Beetle Bailey), Lynn Johnston (For Better or For Worse), Gene Colan (Marvel Comics), Michael Jantze (The Norm), Jack Davis (Mad Magazine), Keith Knight (The K Chronicles), autographed photos from the legendary Adam West (television’s “Batman” and The Family Guy’s “Mayor West”), and much, much more.

Featured exhibitions include:

February 21 - July 19, 2009: WATCHMEN

This exhibition features dozens of concept illustrations, preparatory sketches and original comic book pages illustrated by Dave Gibbons, the co-creator and illustrator of the critically acclaimed Watchmen graphic novel. Viewers will be able to follow the creation of the Watchmen universe from Gibbons’ conceptual sketches through his completed artwork to the actual props and costumes used in the creation of the Watchmen motion picture, courtesy of the Warner Bros. Corporate Archives.

February 27 - July 5, 2009: Stan Sakai: Celebrating 25 Years of Usagi Yojimbo

The Cartoon Art Museum presents a career-spanning retrospective featuring over 60 pieces of original artwork by the critically-acclaimed artist Stan Sakai It has been 25 years since Sakai’s signature character, a samurai rabbit named Usagi Yojimbo, first appeared in comic books, and this exhibition follows the entire existence of Usagi, from the very first pencil sketches to completed story pages, covers, and watercolor paintings.

March 21 - August 23, 2009: The Brinkley Girls

The Brinkley Girls exhibition celebrates one of the most popular cartoonists of the early 20th century, Nell Brinkley. This retrospective, guest-curated by comics herstorian Trina Robbins, showcases over 30 lavishly illustrated newspaper tearsheets, magazine illustrations, original artworks and other highlights from Robbins’s personal collection.

RIP Rod Gilchrist
Executive Director of the Cartoon Art Museum




Anyone who believes cartoons are just idle doodlings never met Rod Gilchrist.

For the past 11 years, Mr. Gilchrist was cheerleader, town crier and fan No. 1 of the provocative, wacky world of art embodied by Snoopy, Bizarro, Iron Man and every other comic strip or book that made you laugh or shout with excitement.

As executive director of San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum, he hosted hundreds of book signings and exhibits and ran a program bringing the craft of cartooning to schools. The aim was always the same: to help people realize the real skill cartooning takes, and to understand that in those playful drawings and thought bubbles lie narratives that often tell as much truth as a good short story.

When he died of brain cancer on Feb. 26 at his San Francisco home, the 58-year-old Mr. Gilchrist left a gap in the close-knit world of cartoonists and those who love the art. It's a void that will be hard to fill.

"Rod just treated comic art with such dignity and respect," Patrick McDonnell, who draws the Mutts comic strip, said from his New Jersey home. "Some people express themselves with paint, others with little doodles. Rod appreciated the beauty of what we do."

One of Mr. Gilchrist's foremost achievements was keeping the 24-year-old museum - the only one of its kind in the Western United States - afloat through the dot-com boom of the late 1990s when rents soared so high that it and other art organizations were priced out. He relocated the museum in 2001 to 655 Mission St., where it thrives today with a world-renowned collection including Spider-Man, Peanuts and the macabre renderings of Gahan Wilson.

"We owe Rod a lot of thanks," said Jean Schulz, whose late husband, Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz, helped found the museum. "Rod kept that museum going with a staff of three, volunteers and wonderful board members, and he put on great shows."

Mr. Gilchrist was born in Detroit. After earning a master's of fine arts from the Pratt Institute, N.Y., in 1992, he sold art at the Shapolsky Gallery in New York City and exhibited his own work of paintings on steel. He moved to San Francisco two years later to help his life companion, Maryann Fleming, run the Portola Family Connections center she founded.

Eleven years ago, he took the Cartoon Art Museum job "because he was looking for a place to support himself by doing the arts," said Fleming. A lifelong fan of comics, it turned out to be a great fit.

"He fell in love with the museum, and it went from there," Fleming said.

In addition to Fleming, Mr. Gilchrist is survived by two sons, Andrew Gilchrist of Ann Arbor, Mich., and Ryan Gilchrist of Davis; his mother, Margaret Gilchrist of Romeo, Mich.; two sisters and a brother.

In lieu of flowers, Mr. Gilchrist's family requests that donations be made in his memory to the Cartoon Art Museum or Portola Family Connections.

--remembrance written by Kevin Fagan, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer

And here are two more links for your reading pleasure, both featuring interviews with Cartoon Art Museum curator Andrew Farago:

Jazma Online

Graphic Novel Reporter

Now online for your viewing enjoyment:

Here's a look at our Gene Colan exhibition, on display through March 21: Comic Vine: G-Man Visits the Cartoon Art Museum

And here's the new Watchmen exhibition, on display through July 21: G4 Watches the Watchmen

March Cartoonist-in-Residence Weekend:
***
MariNaomi, author and illustrator of Estrus Comics
Saturday, March 21st, 1 pm to 3 pm
***
Jimmy Gownley, creator of Amelia Rules!
Sunday, March 22nd, 1pm to 3 pm


The Cartoon Art Museum hosts MariNaomi, author and illustrator of Estrus Comics, on Saturday, March 21st followed by Jimmy Gownley, author and illustrator of the popular comic Amelia Rules! on Sunday, March 22nd as part of its ongoing Cartoonist-in-Residence program. Museum visitors will be offered the chance to talk to the artists about their comics and watch them at work.

About MariNaomi:

Currently residing in San Francisco, MariNaomi was born in Texas and raised in Northern California. Her comics were first published in Action Girl Comics in 1998. That same year, MariNaomi published her comic art in the form of a zine called Estrus Comics. Now a series, Estrus Comics is an autobiographical collection of stories chronicling, among many other subjects, relationships, sex and coming of age. MariNaomi’s comics have also appeared in many national and local publications including The Comics Journal’s Women in Comics issue, and the Storytime Anthology.

MariNaomi has also found success as a longtime painter. Her works have been featured in group and solo exhibitions throughout the Bay Area and beyond, including multiple live paintings/exhibits at the de Young Museum and an exhibit entitled TV of Tomorrow at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Her work has also appeared in galleries such as SomArts, 111 Minna Gallery, and at events like Ladyfest Bay Area as well as WonderCon. MariNaomi’s prints along with her Estrus Comics and some original works are currently available at Artist Xchange as well as the Femina Potens Gallery in San Francisco.

For more information about MariNaomi’s works and upcoming events, please visit http://www.marinaomi.com

About Jimmy Gownley:

Jimmy Gownley was born and raised in Girardville, Pennsylvania where he began creating and distributing his own comics in high school. Gownley now resides in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with his wife and twin daughters.

Gownley’s first success in the comic world came at the age of 15 when he wrote and published about 100 copies his comic book, Shades of Gray. He soon produced twelve more additions of the comic as well as a graphic novel and the distribution turned nationwide with over a thousand copies circulated.

In 2001, Gownley became recognized as a force in the comic industry when he created Amelia Rules!, a comic aimed at and about children. As an advocate for children’s’ comics, Gownley co-founded Kids Love Comics, an organization that promotes literacy and education through comics and graphic novels. Joined by other comic creators, publishers, and educators, Gownley travels to schools, libraries, and events to promote the distribution of high-quality kids’ comics. Gownley has received seven nominations for the Eisner Awards, a prize given for achievement in American comics. In 2008 alone, he was nominated for four of the awards, tying him for the most nominations of an individual that year. In addition, Gownley recently won the Pennsylvania Library Associations One Book Award.

To learn more about Jimmy Gownley and Amelia Rules!, please visit www.ameliarules.com <http://www.ameliarules.com>. If you are interested in Gownley’s organization Kids Love Comics, more information is available at www.kidslovecomics.com <http://www.kidslovecomics.com>.

This event is free and open to the public.

The Cartoon Art Museum hosts professional cartoonists in its galleries as part of its Cartoonist-in-Residence program. Museum patrons see cartoonists and work on their latest projects and learn everything they ever wanted to know about cartoonists – but were afraid to ask. Past featured Cartoonists-in-Residence include Paul Madonna (All Over Coffee), Keith Knight (K Chronicles, [th]ink), Paige Braddock (Jane’s World), Michael Jantze (The Norm), and Grady Klein (The Last Colony) among many others.

The Brinkley Girls
Cartoon Art Museum exhibition: March 21 – August 23, 2009



The Cartoon Art Museum presents The Brinkley Girls, a celebration of one of the most popular cartoonists of the early 20th century, Nell Brinkley. This retrospective, guest-curated by comics herstorian Trina Robbins, showcases over 30 lavishly illustrated newspaper tearsheets, magazine illustrations, original artworks and other highlights from Robbins’s personal collection.

Details regarding the opening reception and a special presentation by Trina Robbins will be announced shortly.

About Nell Brinkley:

For over thirty years Nell Brinkley’s beautiful girls waltzed, vamped and shimmied their way through the pages of William Randolph Hearst’s newspapers, captivating the American public with their innocent sexuality.

In 1907, at the tender age of 22, Nell Brinkley came to New York to draw for the Hearst syndicate. Within a year, she had become a household name. Flo Ziegfeld dressed his dancers as “Brinkley Girls” in the Ziegfeld Follies. Three popular songs were written about her. Women, aspiring to the masses of curly hair with which Nell adorned her fetching and idealized creations, could buy Nell Brinkley Hair Curlers for ten cents a card. Young girls cut out and saved her drawings, copied them, colored them, and pasted them in scrapbooks.

Nell Brinkley widened her scope to include pen and ink depictions of working women. Brinkley used her fame to campaign for better working conditions and higher pay for women who had joined in the war effort, and who were suffering economic and social dislocation due to acting on their patriotism. Unlike most of her contemporaries, she drew women of different races and cultures.

Today, except for a small group of avid collectors, she is unjustly forgotten.

But no longer. The forthcoming Fantagraphics Books publication The Art of Nell Brinkley collects Brinkley’s exquisitely colored full page art from 1913 to 1940. Here are her earliest silent movie serial-inspired adventure series, “Golden Eyes and Her Hero, Bill;” her almost too romantic series, “Betty and Billy and Their Love Through the Ages;” her snappy flapper comics from the 1920s; her 1937 pulp magazine-inspired “Heroines of Today.” Included are photos of Nell, reproductions of her hitherto unpublished paintings, and an informative introduction by the book’s editor, Trina Robbins.

Retired cartoonist and current comics historian Trina Robbins has been writing graphic novels, comics, and books for over 30 years. Her subjects have ranged from Wonder Woman and the Powerpuff Girls to her own teenage superheroine, GoGirl!, and from women cartoonists and superheroines to women who kill. She lives in a moldering 103 year old house in San Francisco with her cats, shoes, and dust bunnies.

www.trinarobbins.com <http://www.trinarobbins.com>

Small Press Spotlight on Rina Ayuyang

Cartoon Art Museum Exhibition: March 14 – June 14, 2009



Beginning on March 14, 2009, the Cartoon Art Museum's ongoing Small Press Spotlight will feature the art of Rina Ayuyang.

Rina Ayuyang first became interested in cartooning while growing up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she spent mornings watching Merrie Melodies cartoons, afternoons reading the newspaper funnies and Mad magazine, and evenings scrutinizing illustrations in various children's books right before she'd fall asleep.

After focusing many years on painting and conceptual art in Pittsburgh and San Francisco, she reunited with her first love--comics--in 2001, and began self-publishing Namby Pamby, a semi-autobiographical series which focused on the humorous side of the ordinary, everyday moments of one's life.

This Small Press Spotlight exhibit showcases original art for Ayuyang's soon-to-be released graphic novel which will include new stories and old favorites from the Namby Pamby mini-comic series. The book will be co-published by Sparkplug Comic Books and Tugboat Press in Fall 2009.

Also included in this exhibit are samples of her sketchbook strips which she posts daily on her web blog, Doodle Bug Central. She recently self-published a minicomic entitled doodle daze that collected favorite strips and illustrations from the web blog in a pocket-sized print format which was nominated for the 2008 Maisie Kukoc Award for Comics Inspiration.

More of Rina's comics work can be found in various comic anthologies, notably SPX 2005, True Porn 2, Friends of Lulu's Girls Guide to Guys Stuff, Stripburger, Unicorn Mountain, and the upcoming Snow Stories.

Besides drawing comics, she has co-founded an online magazine called Creative Skin (creativeskin.net) which has showcased the work of writers, photographers and cartoonists from around the globe. She currently co-hosts The Comix Claptrap, a comics podcast with fellow Bay Area cartoonist Thien Pham in which they interview influential cartoonists and discuss various issues concerning the comics and small press community.

Rina currently resides in Oakland, California, with her husband and cat. You can view more of her work at her website and blog, rinaayuyang.com.