The New York Comics & Picture-story Symposium Presents: Angela Stempel

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Angela Stempel on Picturing Worlds: abstraction, rhythm and “reality” in animated spaces.

In this presentation, Angela will present her works of experimental animation that explore abstract shapes, the dissolution of the physical form and of photographic certainty in narrative and non-narrative pieces. She’ll discuss her influences, contemporary work and how she deals with the representation of time and energy.

Angela Stempel is an animator, illustrator and director from Caracas, Venezuela. She’s been living and working in the US since 2006, when she attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her personal work has screened at the Ottawa International Animation Festival (Canada), at the International Film Festival of Cartagena (Colombia), and in various other festivals around the world. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Experimental Animation at CalArts.

The 170th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at 7pm at Parsons School of Design, The New School, 2 West 13th Street, in the Bark Room (off the lobby).

Free and open to the public.

David Kunzle on Chesucristo: The fusion in word and image of Che Guevara and Jesus Christ – the poetry

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The New York Comics & Picture-story Symposium Presents:

David Kunzle on Chesucristo. The fusion in word and image of Che Guevara and Jesus Christ: the poetry.

 

Amid the manifold means by which this fusion was made, in narratives of the life of Ernesto Che Guevara, in word and in image, the poetry stands out, likening Che to Jesus in various moments of Jesus’ life and especially death. In the substance and words of various actions recorded in the Gospels parallels are drawn to Che’s sacrificiality; to his embodiment of the creative forces of a “divine”nature; to his omnipresence post-mortem, even his (spiritual) omnipotence. Extracts from the poetry are intoned simultaneously with projection of some of the infinite variations made of the famous, so often christified visage of Che.  Based on Kunzle’s recent book , Chesucristo, The Fusion in Word and Image of Che Guevara and Jesus Christ.

David Kunzle was born Birmingham England in 1936 and educated at universities of Cambridge and London (PhD 1964, in art history). British Universities Combined Events Olympic Gymnastics champion 1961 and 1962. This taught him to hang on, a life-lesson.  Member of British Universities Gymnastics team at first International Student Gymnastics championship, Moscow 1959.Official Lecturer National Gallery, London 1962-64. University of Toronto 1964-65,  University of California, Santa Barbara 1965-73 (fired). AFT-supported lawsuit  against UC Regents, alleging wrongful dismissal for protesting Viet Nam war, drags on 1973-77 until rehiring at UCLA 1977.
The Viet Nam war inspires beginning of poster collection from 1965.  Organized first exhibition of US posters of Protest in Italy 1968, in US 1971 (UCSB, then New School, New York), subsequently travelled UK, Italy and France and Cuba (1973). Sporadic vandalism and theft enhanced his motivation to give entire collection to the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles. Professed History of Art at UCLA from 1977 until retirement 2010 at rank of Distinguished Professor Emeritus.Kunzle has written about 135 articles and 12 books in realms (mostly) of popular, public and revolutionary (anti-imperialist) art, including several books on the History of Comic Strip, large and small; Fashion and Fetishism (Chinese ed. pending); From Criminal to Courtier, the Soldier in Netherlandish Art 1550-1672 Murals of Revolutionary Nicaragua 1979-90); Che Guevara, Icon Myth and Message (1997). Recent books are on the Father of the Comic Strip, Rodolphe Töpffer (1799-1846, two vols), Gustave Doré, Twelve Comic Strips, and the large well-illustrated Chesucristo: the Fusion in Word and Image of Che Guevara and Jesus Christ (De Gruyter 2016). A book on the graphic novelettes on Cham is with the publisher, and he is working on the Birth of Modern English Comic Strip 1847-1870.

The 166th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016 at 7pm at Parsons School of Design, University Center, 63 Fifth Ave., room L105 (lower level). Free and open to the public.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT IS HAPPENING ON A TUESDAY EVENING at 63 Fifth Ave!

David Sandlin: Hold Back the Rushing Waters, Make the Wind Lie Still.

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The New York Comics & Picture-story Symposium Presents:

David Sandlin: Hold Back the Rushing Waters, Make the Wind Lie Still.

Artist David Sandlin discusses the influences of country music on his paintings, prints, and comics.

David Sandlin was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1956. He currently lives in New York and teaches printmaking, book arts, and illustration at the School of Visual Arts. He has exhibited extensively in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia, and his comics and illustrations have appeared in The Best American Comics 2015, 2012 and 2009; The New Yorker; Raw; and other publications. He has received fellowships and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, the New York Foundation of the Arts, the Swann Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon, and other institutions.

The 167th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on WEDNESDAY, November 2, 2016 at 7pm at Parsons School of Design, University Center, 63 Fifth Ave., room L105 (lower lever). Free and open to the public

PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT IS HAPPENING ON A WEDNESDAY EVENING at 63 Fifth Ave!

David Kunzle on Töpffer and Cham: the amateur and the professional

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The New York Comics & Picture-story Symposium Presents:

David Kunzle on Töpffer and Cham: the amateur and the professional.

Two caricaturists dominate the emerging field of the French comic strip from the 1830s onward: the Genevan Rodolphe Töpffer and the Parisian  Cham (pseud. Count Amédée de Noé). The undisputed father of the modern comic strip or graphic novel, Töpffer always pretended to denigrate his “little follies,” as he called them, among other disparaging terms, and which he executed in spare corners of his life as director of a boys’ school and university professor. Cham, by contrast, inspired by and at one point collaborator with the Swiss, quickly became a dominant figure in the French premier magazine of graphic satire, Le Charivari. He engaged full-time  in all the major caricature formats then practiced, including close to 40 comic strips or graphic novelettes, published in albums and magazine instalments. They represent a fine contrast in their lives, graphic style and satirical reach.

David Kunzle was born Birmingham England in 1936 and educated at universities of Cambridge and London (PhD 1964, in art history). British Universities Combined Events Olympic Gymnastics champion 1961 and 1962. This taught him to hang on, a life-lesson.  Member of British Universities Gymnastics team at first International Student Gymnastics championship, Moscow 1959.

Official Lecturer National Gallery, London 1962-64. University of Toronto 1964-65,  University of California, Santa Barbara 1965-73 (fired). AFT-supported lawsuit  against UC Regents, alleging wrongful dismissal for protesting Viet Nam war, drags on 1973-77 until rehiring at UCLA 1977.
Viet Nam war inspires beginning of poster collection from 1965.  Organized first exhibition of US posters of Protest in Italy 1968, in US 1971 (UCSB, then New School, New York), subsequently travelled UK, Italy and France and Cuba (1973). Sporadic vandalism and theft enhanced his motivation to give entire collection to the Center for the Study of Political Graphics in Los Angeles. Professed History of Art at UCLA from 1977 until retirement 2010 at rank of Distinguished Professor Emeritus.

Kunzle has written about 135 articles and 12 books in realms (mostly) of popular, public and revolutionary (anti-imperialist) art, including several books on the History of Comic Strip, large and small; Fashion and Fetishism (Chinese ed. pending); From Criminal to Courtier, the Soldier in Netherlandish Art 1550-1672 Murals of Revolutionary Nicaragua 1979-90); Che Guevara, Icon Myth and Message (1997). Recent books are on the Father of the Comic Strip, Rodolphe Töpffer (1799-1846, two vols ), Gustave Doré, Twelve Comic Strips, and the large well-illustrated Chesucristo: the Fusion in Word and Image of Che Guevara and Jesus Christ (De Gruyter 2016). A book on the graphic novelettes on Cham is with the publisher, and he is working on the Birth of Modern English Comic Strip 1847-1870.

The 168th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on THURSDAY, November 3, 2016 at 7pm at Parsons School of Design, University Center, 63 Fifth Ave., room L105 (lower level). Free and open to the public. PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT IS HAPPENING ON A THURSDAY EVENING at 63 Fifth Ave!

RESCHEDULED: NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium Present: Colette Gaiter

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Colette Gatier on Emory Douglas:
50 years of Revolutionary Art

Colette Gaiter will talk about former Black Panther party artist, designer, and illustrator Emory Douglas’s work on The Black Panther newspaper in the 1960s and 70s. His subversive and proactive political cartoons and drawings visualized a movement and galvanized activism that persists into the twenty-first century.

Colette Gaiter is an Associate Professor teaching Visual Communication at the University of Delaware. After working in graphic design she became an educator, artist, and writer, exhibiting her work internationally and in galleries, museums, and public institutions in the United States. She wrote the introduction for the second edition of Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas, which also contains her essay on his work. Since 2004, she continues to write about Douglas’s work including his current international human rights activism.

The 161st meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium with Colette Gatier has been rescheduled to Tuesday, October 18th, 2016 at 7pm at Parsons School of Design, The New School, 2 West 13th Street, in the Bark Room (off the lobby).
Free and open to the public.

Illustration Faculty Lauren Redniss is Named a MacArthur Fellow!

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We are pleased to announce that Illustration faculty Lauren Redniss has been named a MacArthur Fellow. Recognizing 23 exceptionally creative individuals with a track record of achievement and the potential for significant contributions in the future, the Foundation named the 2016 MacArthur Fellows. Fellows will each receive a no-strings-attached stipend, allowing recipients maximum freedom to follow their own creative visions.

“While our communities, our nation, and our world face both historic and emerging challenges, these 23 extraordinary individuals give us ample reason for hope,” said MacArthur President Julia Stasch. “They are breaking new ground in areas of public concern, in the arts, and in the sciences, often in unexpected ways. Their creativity, dedication, and impact inspire us all.”

Pictoplasma Returns to Parsons!

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5th 

PICTOPLASMA NYC 2016

Conference on Contemporary Character Design and Art

November 4th, 2016

Parsons School of Design

The Auditorium, Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall

The New School

66 West 12th Street

New York, NY 10011

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***Please note there are a limited number of FREE seats for New School students, faculty and staff, but you must RSVP HERE. Once we’ve reached capacity the RSVP form will shut down. But you can find details on purchasing tickets at http://nyc.pictoplasma.com

Pictoplasma returns to New York City with a dense program of inspiring artist talks, state of the art animation screenings and lively panel discussions to celebrate the next generation of character design and art! Taking place November 4th at The Auditorium of renown Parsons School of Design, the conference invites artists, producers, animators, illustrators, character designers and all creatively curious, to network and exchange strategies for tomorrow’s visual culture. 

Speakers include graphic artist and illustration master-mind Jean Jullien (FR), whose iconic ’Peace for Paris’ symbol became an instant global meme; children’s book author and illustrator You Jung Byun (US), known for her detailed narrative and commissioned work inhabited by strange beasts and lost children; everyone’s favorite gif-wunderkind Julian Glander (US), creator of bubblegum-colored digital illustration, indie games and interactive artwork, all subsumed under the catchword ‘digital toys’; animator, writer, and producer Ben Bocquelet (FR), creator of the famed animation series ‘The Amazing World of Gumball‘; Martina Paukova (SK), illustrator with an incredibly fast-paced career, whose jam-packed images in a trademark palette and Memphis-inspired patterns mirror our mundane lives in the digital age; and Jaime Álvarez, renown for his 3D rendered Mr. Kat (PE) universe, fusing pre-Columbian with contemporary kawaii aesthetics.

The conference is co-hosted by Parsons School of Design and organized by Pictoplasma, the Berlin based annual Uber-Festival for Contemporary Character Design and Art. Prior to the conference’s 5th return to NYC, the Pictoplasma Academy will be hosting a week-long intense Character Design Development course in Mexico City. 

NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium Presents: Martha Rust

Wheel of the ten ages of man – Psalter of Robert de Lisle (c.1310), f.126v – BL Arundel MS 83

Martha Rust on
Circles, Lines, and Coils:
Picturing Life Stories in Medieval Manuscripts and Rolls.

The set of all points in a plane that are equidistant from a given point, a circle is also an image of totality and completeness. Any two points in the circumference of a circle define a line, making a line the figure of connection and also of boundaries. A version of a circle, a coil suggests cycles as well as wholeness. By way of a separate etymology, “coil” also denotes the busy tumult of life, the “mortal coil” made famous by Shakespeare. All three of these design elements feature in medieval images and diagrams depicting typical life stories and exemplary life practices that were meant to aid a viewer in successfully negotiating that busy tumult. Among these works, images of the Wheel of Fortune are primarily pictorial while Wheel of Sevens diagrams based on the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer are primarily textual. In between are diagrams that feature a smaller circular element, the roundel. A look at the use roundels in a range of contexts–in stained glass, in Books of Hours, in genealogies–demonstrates that unlike the all-encompassing circle, the roundel isolates specific items of information and lends them visual emphasis.The use of roundels in a diagram displaying the ten stages of human life renders each a subject of contemplation, even as the lines connecting all ten roundels to a central hub pictures an individual life as part of a larger cycle. By contrast, the use of roundels of the “Pater Noster Table” in the Vernon Manuscript creates a visual hierarchy of information, in which the content of the roundels not only have priority over the lines of text that connect them but also become subject to a viewer’s mental manipulation.

Martha Rust is an associate professor of English at New York University, specializing in late-medieval English literature and manuscript culture. Her first book, Imaginary Worlds in Medieval Books: Exploring the Manuscript Matrix (Palgrave, 2007) envisioned the confines of a medieval manuscript as the potential territory of a virtual world; her current book project, Item: Lists and the Poetics of Reckoning in Late-Medieval England theorizes the list as a device that enables thinking in a variety of modes. She has also written about comics and picture stories in an essay entitled “It’s a Magical World: The Page in Comics and Medieval Manuscripts.”

The 161st meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016 at 7pm at Parsons School of Design, The New School, 2 West 13th Street, in the Bark Room (off the lobby).
Free and open to the public.

NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium Presents: Seymour Chwast

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As part of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium Parsons is happy to welcome our upcoming guest Seymour Chwast!

“Many of my illustrations and work that I do for myself fall under these categories. The subjects are graphically important to me.”
– Seymour Chwast on GOD WAR SEX

Seymour Chwast is co-founder of Push Pin Studios and has been director of the Pushpin Group where he reintroduced graphic styles and transformed them into a contemporary vocabulary.  His designs and illustrations have been used in advertising, animated films, and editorial, corporate, and environmental graphics.  He has created over 100 posters and has designed and illustrated more than thirty children’s books.  His work has been the subject of three books including, Seymour Chwast: The Left Handed Designer (Abrams, 1985).  Many museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Library of Congress (Washington D.C.) have collected his posters.  He has lectured and exhibited worldwide and is in the Art Directors Hall of Fame. He is the recipient of the 1985 Medal from the American Institute of Graphic Arts.

 

The 160th meeting of the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016 at 7pm at Parsons School of Design, The New School, 2 West 13th Street, in the Bark Room (off the lobby).
Free and open to the public.