[images t-b: Emmanuel Tavares, Sae-am Lee]
Historian and activist Howard Zinn, working with comic artist Mike Konopacki, has produced an illustrated book called A People’s History of the American Empire. Here’s an excerpt from the publisher’s write-up:
Adapted from the bestselling grassroots history of the United States, the story of America in the world, told in comics form.
Since its landmark publication in 1980, A People’s History of the United States has had six new editions, sold more than 1.7 million copies, become required classroom reading throughout the country, and been turned into an acclaimed play. More than a successful book, A People’s History triggered a revolution in the way history is told, displacing the official versions with their emphasis on great men in high places to chronicle events as they were lived, from the bottom up.
Now Howard Zinn, historian Paul Buhle, and cartoonist Mike Konopacki have collaborated to retell, in vibrant comics form, a most immediate and relevant chapter of A People’s History: the centuries-long story of America’s actions in the world. Narrated by Zinn, this version opens with the events of 9/11 and then jumps back to explore the cycles of U.S. expansionism from Wounded Knee to Iraq, stopping along the way at World War I, Central America, Vietnam, and the Iranian revolution. The book also follows the story of Zinn, the son of poor Jewish immigrants, from his childhood in the Brooklyn slums to his role as one of America’s leading historians.
Shifting from world-shattering events to one family’s small revolutions, A People’s History of American Empire presents the classic ground-level history of America in a new form.
Grab your copy here!
Bonus: Here’s a short film called “Empire or Humanity?: What the Classroom Didn’t Teach Me about the American Empire” by Howard Zinn and narrated by Viggo Mortensen.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg&hl=en]
Extra Special Bonus: This weekend, Howard Zinn and Mike Konopacki will be appearing at Cooper Union to talk about the book.
Illustration Alum AJ Fosik has an entire section devoted to his work in Illustration Play, edited by the innovative group over at Victionary. Here’s the official press release description:
Getting more boredom from the computer-dominated design world, we always crave for new ways and trends of illustration. Appealing to the curious in all of us, our latest released title Illustration • Play will give you an insight into that! The title reveals the very different signature skills and unique styles of various illustration techniques and experiments, such as paper cutting, stitchery, hand knit, fabric piecing, origami, patchwork, etc. With exclusive interviews, lets’ spread the pages and understand more about diverse yet distinct perspective of each featured artists in a total number of 23 from around the globe!
Pick up your copy of Illustration Play here and read more about AJ in this great article from Swindle Magazine!
Saturday and Sunday March 29-30, Tuesday April 1 @ 1:00 pmFestivalHUB @ Seaport | LMCC Swing Space210 Front Street at Beekman Street, NYC
Congratulations to all our faculty and alumni on their recent accomplishments!Want to see your news here? Email us!
The Illustration Department is proud to announce the publication of the Spring 2008 Parsons Alumni magazine, R:ED. This issue is devoted to covering topics in Illustration, whether it’s the life of newly appointed director of the Society of Illustrators Anelle Miller (Illustration ’74) or the work of up and coming current student Christine Young. Articles included cover things like the Illustration Department’s collaboration with Design Within Reach and recent symposium about “Illustration in the Age of Anxiety.” There are also illustrations by Illustration faculty members George Bates, Nora Krug, and Ben Katchor.
Here’s a link to the entire issue in PDF format–RE:D Spring 2008 issue! Congratulations to all our featured students, faculty, and alumni. If you graduated from the department, make sure you keep us (as well as the Parsons Alumni Department) up to date on your accomplishments and professional progress.
Jillian Tamaki (Illustration Adjunct Faculty) has illustrated a new book called, Skim. Here’s the official synopsis:
Kimberly Keiko Cameron, a not-slim, would-be Wiccan goth who goes to a private girls’ school. When her classmate Katie Matthews is dumped by her boyfriend, who then kills himself because he was (maybe) gay, the entire school goes into mourning overdrive. It’s a weird time to fall in love, but that’s what happens to Skim when she starts meeting secretly with her neo-hippie English teacher, Ms. Archer. When Ms. Archer abruptly leaves the school, Skim has to cope with her confusion and isolation. Her best friend, Lisa, tries to pull her into “real” life by setting up a hilarious double-date for the school’s semi formal, and Skim finds an unexpected ally in Katie.
Skim, which was a collaboration between Jillian her cousin Mariko Tamaki, was written up in Publisher’s Weekly earlier this month. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
The Tamakis, although cousins, did not know each other well before beginning the project. However, the collaboration process proved to be remarkably smooth, especially considering neither had worked on a comic before. Jillian noted, “It was a cocreation, in the purest sense of the world.” Mariko, who is a performer as well as an essayist and novelist living in Toronto, sent to Jillian, in Brooklyn, scripts consisting of narration and dialogue, but little direction as to what should happen on the page. Jillian had a free hand to illustrate the story as she saw fit. “My job was to make this a visually beautiful object,” she said.
Both author and artist strove to create a high school story that moved beyond the stereotypes and melodrama that typically make up the genre. Mariko explained, “I tried to get the dialogue as close to what I remember teenagers sounding like,” adding that she trusted Jillian to create “teenage bodies that looked like teenage bodies.” The two have tried to create a work of literary depth that also offers hints about even minor characters’ lives beyond the central story line of Skim. Mariko stresses that ultimately the book is about “the instability of relationships in high school—the slow complicated way friendships break up and change.”
Read the rest of the article here, and learn more about Skim at Jillian’s website (click on “Books”).
Congratulations, Jillian!
Adjunct faculty member (and Illustration Alum) R. Sikoryak is a busy guy these days. In addition to working on his upcoming book, Bob is also taking part in the events below. Check ’em out!
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Fantagraphics Books & Rocketship Brooklyn are proud to present:
A HOTWIRE COMICS RELEASE PARTY & SIGNING!
WHO: Craig Yoe, Mark Newgarden, Glenn Head, Danny Hellman, Sam Henderson, R. Sikoryak, Jonathon Rosen, Mark Dean Veca, Chadwick Whitehead…
WHAT: HOTWIRE COMICS Vol. 2 Release Party & Signing
WHERE: ROCKETSHIP
208 Smith St. b/w Butler and Baltic in Brooklyn.
ph# 718-797-1348
WHEN: Friday, March 14, at 8PM
HOTWIRE COMICS Vol. 2 weighs in at 136 pages, 64 in full color, with an eye-popping fold-out and big 9×12 format. Edited by Glenn Head (Snake Eyes). Featuring all new work by these GREAT talents: Tim Lane, Jonathon Rosen, Mark Newgarden, R. Sikoryak, David Sandlin, Mary Fleener, Johnny Ryan, Matti Hagelberg, David Paleo, Sam Henderson, Danny Hellman, Glenn Head, Carol Swain, Mark dean Veca, Stephane Blanquet, Mack White, Onsmith, Lorna Miller, Chris Estey, David Lasky, Ivan Brunetti, Tobias Tak, Craig Yoe, and Christian Northeast….
HOTWIRE puts the kicks back in comics! Yes, the Eisner and Harvey award nominated comics’ anthology is back for another mindbending, madcap, mash-up of thrills, spills, and glorious cartoon mayhem!
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SPLAT! A Graphic Novel Symposium will take place on Saturday, March 15 at the New York Center of Independent Publishing (NYCIP) in Manhattan, with keynote speaker Scott McCloud . The NYCIP is a non-profit educational program (part of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen) dedicated to promoting and supporting independent publishers across the United States.
Graphic novels are becoming increasingly popular, creating a groundswell of excitement and interest. Addressing the graphic novel’s considerable impact on the public consciousness, the SPLAT! Symposium, organized by the NYCIP, will provide an intensive educational forum for the publishing community, educators, librarians, and people eager to find out more about the comics universe. It will also supply prospective creators with a unique opportunity to learn what it takes to be a graphic novelist.
The conference will feature a number of movers and shakers from the graphic novel world, including: Scott McCloud (one of the most influential and highly regarded cartoonists in the country, who will be the Symposium’s keynote speaker); Jim Killen (Barnes and Noble); David Saylor (Scholastic), Raina Telgemeier (The Baby-Sitters Club), CB Cebulski (Marvel Comics); Bob Mecoy (Bob Mecoy Literary Agency); R. Sikoryak (Drawn & Quarterly); Nick Bertozzi (The Salon); Charles Brownstein (CBLDF); and many more…
Illustration Adjunct Faculty Neil Swaab was recently interviewed for the Italian version of Rolling Stone magazine. Also, this past December, Neil released an Italian-translation collection of his comic, Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles. Congratulations on both publications, Neil. Viva Italia!
Illustration Associate Professor Ben Katchor got interviewed for New York Magazine recently. He talked about the development of his new opera with Mark Mulcahy, The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island. Here’s a snippet:
As a cartoonist working in theater, how would you compare the two?
Comics are an economical way to figure out stories. There are zero expenses. You just need a place to live. Whereas theater is the most luxurious art form that there is: You need live actors, and everyone has to show up at a certain time and do a lot of rehearsing. Are they going to catch a cold that day? Are they going to show up? You realize how fragile all of it is. But it’s a great thing. When you’re watching a great actor try to figure out his scene, it’s like watching a cartoonist making a drawing, but they’re doing it somehow with their body. It’s amazing.How would you sum up the play for someone who hasn’t seen it?
It’s an absurdist romance. It’s about the romance of poetry and humanitarianism.The show also seems to be making a statement about consumerism.
There is a trend in the world now toward the immaterial — with people digitizing books and making tiny portable electronic devices. But if you want to make table phones and toasters, they need to be augmented artificially. The weight needs to be augmented. There is nothing physically to them, they’re just little microchips and plastic casings. We’re at this strange point in time where a lot of life we’d like to have miniaturized so we can carry a library in our pocket. But on the other hand, we still have hands and physical bodies, and we need to deal with the physical world. It’s a dilemma of technology.
Catch the rest of Ben’s interview here and see here for more information about The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island.
Illustration Adjunct Faculty Frank Olinsky is a busy man! He recently created his third logo for media wizard Fred Seibert’s Next New Networks, a new kind of media company, creating micro-television networks over the internet for targeted communities, bringing together elements of TV programming and internet philosophy to allow viewers to contribute, share and distribute content. His latest logo is Goggleburn: Online TV You Gotta See. Previous, more illustrative logos were created for Bleacher Bloggers and Metal Chik: The first online network for jewelry making and trends.
Additionally, our friends over at the Spraygraphic Sprayblog interviewed Frank about his artistic process. Here’s a snippet:
SG: How did you get into being an artist/designer for record companies (CD Cover work) and companies like MTV?
FO: A few early album covers somehow came my way, and after designing the MTV logo, musicians, managers and record companies began contacting my former design studio, Manhattan Design.
SG: What kind of deadlines do you work with when producing this kind of work?
FO: That ranges from a few weeks to months. I’ve even had a CD package drag on for several years.
SG: Do the companies come back to you and say “change this” or “change that?”
FO: Always!
SG: How much are you willing to change? Is there some kind of negotiation process you go through?
FO: I try to be flexible and receptive. I know that I am not always the best judge of what is the best solution to a design problem. Negotiation? Let’s just say on more than one occasion told the client to take the job back and find someone else to do it.
Read the rest of the interview here and also make sure to check out the comments below the interview for some lovely appreciations of Frank’s fine work. Congrats, Frank!
[images by Frank Olinsky]
