SHOWS
ANGELO LOPEZ, who is an illustrator (magazines as well as three children’s books), muralist and painter in addition to an editorial cartoonist, will show his whimsical cartoonish illustrations and more realistic watercolor work plus a few cartoons, along with the work of five other artists, at the Sunnyvale Art Gallery (Sunnyvale, CA), Aug. 2-30. For more info, see sunnyvaleartgallery.com. He will also have a show in Gallery Saratoga (Saratoga, CA) in October. To see some of his paintings, visit https://www.gallerysaratoga.com/artists/Lopez/index.html
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ED HALL has a one-man show of his fine art, opening at the Corse Gallery in Jacksonville, FL on September 2. Usually he caricatures people; now he has expanded his repertoire to include dogs. He uses a variety of media ranging from house paint to sand and charcoal to portray them leaping, playing and running in action drawings that exaggerate their bodies “almost to abstraction,” according to the gallery notes. “This is not your normal pet painting!” they add. Take a peek at https://www.corsegalleryatelier.com/artgallerya_005.htm
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An exhibit of KAL cartoons and animation was on display at the Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival, July 21-25 in South Korea. KAL will also have more than 40 cartoons, covers and illustrations from his 33 year career with The Economist on display, Sept. 10-Oct. 24 at the Center for the Arts, Jackson Hole, WY. In addition, KAL was a featured speaker at the opening event for the technology festival Betascape, July 15 at WindUp Space in Baltimore, MD.
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BOOKS
In No Cartoon Left Behind: The Best of Rob Rogers, Rogers recounts his humorous path to cartooning and shares his own personal perspective on the major news stories of the past two and a half decades. He covers a diverse range of topics including the Cold War, gun control, smoking, racism, the environment, 9/11 and presidential elections. Funnyman Dave Barry contributed the Foreword. See a review by RC Harvey on page 11.
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Prizewinning Political Cartoons: 2010 Edition, edited by DEAN TURNBLOOM has been issued by Pelican Publishing. The anthology presents work by and brief interviews with the winners of the year’s top ten editorial cartooning awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Headliner Awards, Thomas Nast Award, and the Fischetti Award. It also presents information about each award and its origins.
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Taxpayer’s Tea Party: A Manual for Reclaiming Our Country, by Georgia
State Representative Sharon Cooper (R) and illustrated by CHUCK ASAY, is “more than a manual for political revenge; it’s a step-by-step guide in cartoon form to carry out our own American Revolution.” The book is graced with not one but two introductions, by Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh.
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Mischief in the Forest, a children’s book written by environmentalist philosopher Derrick Jensen and illustrated by STEPHANIE MCMILLAN, will be issued in September by PM Press in partnership with Flashpoint Press.
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TED RALL’S most radical book yet, The Anti-American Manifesto, will be issued in September by Seven Stories Press. In it, Rall argues that the economic and political collapse of the United States provides an opportunity for justice- and equality-minded people to launch a revolution to overthrow the oppressive capitalist system.
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GIGS
Chicago Now has begun running cartoons by MICHAEL GARMAN. Garman is also currently illustrating a children’s book of poetry with writer Paul Handley.
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The Sun-Sentinel (South Florida) has begun running the editorial cartoon Code Green by STEPHANIE MCMILLAN, twice a month on the editorial page. They have also agreed to a six-month trial period for a monthly animated version of the cartoon to run on their website. They will be animated by David Essman.
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b free daily, a paper associated with the Baltimore Sun, has begun running Crabby and Hon, a thrice-weekly comic strip by CHELSEA B. CARR about a crab who hates Baltimore and a woman who loves it. View samples here: https://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bthesite/bs-bthesite-crabbyandhon-gallery,0,5730892.gallery
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After five years as director of the Department of State’s Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance program, CHIP BECK retired. The next day he packed his bags for a new stint as security division director with the Nairobi-based organization Africa Expeditions. He will help provide “life support systems” to NGOs, international organizations, contractors, peacekeepers, governments, oil and mining companies and others in remote areas of southern Sudan, the Congo River basin, Darfur and other places. Previously, Beck created Supercrat, the Super Bureaucrat (1979-1993), State Magazine’s first serialized comic strip. He was also the Navy’s official combat artist for Operation Desert Storm. For more information on his work, see combatartist.com.
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A painting by RANAN LURIE was affixed to an Israeli satellite (the Ofek 9, to be precise) and sent into space on June 22. The satellite’s mission is to spy on Iran’s military and nuclear activities. The Chairman of Israel’s Space Agency, Major General Professor Isaac Ben-Israel, declared that the artwork, titled The Uniting Painting, expresses “a universal desire of people to live in harmony.” Lurie says that he recognizes the irony of a painting about peace adorning a military satellite, asserting that it is “the balancing olive branch to the spy satellite’s sword.”
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Congratulations to proud parents MIKHAELA REID and MASHEKA WOOD! After Mikhaela went into labor at the same time as the AAEC convention was being held (which must, somehow, be a good omen), and being in labor for five days (!), Zora Ruby Wood was born at 3:07 p.m. on June 22. She weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs, 6 oz and measured 20.75 inches long. Welcome to the world, Zora!
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Ariail Joins Herald-Journal
By Luke Connell
Veteran editorial cartoonist Robert Ariail is now penning his work under the (South Carolina) Herald-Journal banner.
Ariail’s cartoons on global, national and state issues are featured in more than 600 publications across the country, and his first cartoon drawn specifically for the Herald-Journal appeared on the Opinion page and at GoUpstate.com on July 27.
Ariail worked as The State newspaper’s editorial cartoonist from 1984 until March 2009, when he was laid off during a round of personnel cuts. He was twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize — in 1995 and again in 2000 — and has won numerous other awards for his work, including five Green Eyeshade Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, a National Headliner Award in 1990, and the Overseas Press Club’s Thomas Nast Award in 1997. In 2009, he became the first American to win the United Nations Ranan Lurie Political Cartoon Award.
After leaving The State, Ariail kept drawing, distributing his syndicated cartoons through United Media. Still, he wanted to work with a newspaper.
“Of course, South Carolina is a gold mine for cartooning,” Ariail said. “It’s one of the reasons I didn’t want to leave the state, and a reason I’m so excited about working with the Herald-Journal.”
The recession and a changing job market for journalists haven’t yielded many job openings for cartoonists in recent years, and many newspapers have eliminated the positions entirely.
“I think the Herald-Journal is showing a lot of faith in the future of newspapers and of editorial cartooning,” Ariail said.
Herald-Journal Executive Editor Mike Smith said the newspaper had a unique opportunity to provide more for its readers.
“Robert Ariail will be doing unique local c
ontent our readers have not had in the past,” Smith said. “Most of our readers are familiar with his award-winning work on national issues, but adding his graphic perspective on Spartanburg issues will bring a new level of commentary to our pages and generate additional interest in the Herald-Journal and GoUpstate.com. We’re enthusiastic about this partnership.”
Ariail said Herald-Journal readers should expect local cartoons soon.
“I just have to learn about the people and what’s going on here in Spartanburg before I can do that, but I’m sure I can do that fairly quickly,” the University of South Carolina graduate said.
Ariail recently made headlines after penning a cartoon of Republican gubernatorial Nikki Haley wearing a bathing suit on one panel and a burqa in the adjacent panel. The cartoon, Ariail said, contrasted Haley’s campaign promises of open government and her lack of transparency in some recent actions. Some, however, took issue with the Muslim garb, perceiving it as a slam against Haley’s Sikh heritage.
Ariail lives in Camden with his wife, Fair, and their 15-year-old daughter, Virginia Elizabeth.
—Herald-Journal, July 27, 2010
