Alison Bechdel & Fun Home

Alison Bechdel is a different kind of author, a different kind of artist. Let this 5 minute vid be your introduction to her story and her voice:



In the video below, Alison explains how she works through the process of drawing and telling a story with images and words, using both digital and traditional tools.




Third, watch this where Bechdel addresses the question: "What comes first, the writing or the drawing?" This is SO INTERESTING if you are asking yourself this very question. We've dipped our feet in the pool of creating our own comic memoir...see how she does it. She also answers some other interesting questions here about her work ethic and process.



And, finally...this just in. The College Of Charlston (SC) has recently come under fire for assigning Bechdel's Fun Home to its incoming freshmen.

South Carolina State Rep Garry Smith says: "It goes beyond the pale of academic debate...It graphically shows lesbian acts.” He thinks the College of Charleston is “promoting the gay and lesbian lifestyle” and says students should have been supplied with an alternative to “Fun Home.”

Read more about this in today's Christian Science Monitor (we are so cutting edge here at RIC!):
http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2014/0228/Alison-Bechdel-s-memoir-Fun-Home-runs-into-trouble-with-the-South-Carolina-House-of-Representatives

Okay, folks. Enjoy these resources and post your thoughts here, preferably after you read some of the book, so you're speaking (writing) from a place of knowing. I look forward to reading your smart posts!

Stitching together memories, families, selves

As an artist who'd been illustrating children's book for years, David Small crafted his childhood memoir in comic form. This book trailer from the publisher sets an interesting tone for a book aimed at young readers.



Here, the author and artists talks about his response to Stitches' nomination for a National Book Award and to the categorization (what some said was a mis-categorization) of the book as YA Lit. The best part of this interview, I think, is when he describes the passion with which his young readers talk about the book and how deeply they are able to feel the isolation and loneliness depicted in the book. "There's a deep hypocrisy out there that they want to know about," he says.



And, lastly, a masterful analysis of a section of Stitches by two Canadian high school students.
Quite impressive.



It is interesting to have Lynda Barry's One Hundred Demons in mind as you read Stitches. Both artists suffered childhood traumas at the hands of their parent/s and/or other adults, yet it is quite telling to analyze the manner in which each of these writers goes about telling the story of this trauma. Equally telling are the lengths the authors go to try and understand the meaning of what happened to them and the motivations behind what happened to them.

After viewing these brief bits and reading some of Small's memoir, what are your thoughts and why?

I can't resist: More Lynda Barry!

This is the homemade homework assignment sheet Lynda Barry gave her class this week. 

Chewbacca is headlining. 

And, here is the syllabus for the same class that she taught last spring. 

Note that she doesn't grade for technical ability but for time and effort. 

Also, a great NYTimes article that describes in detail her creative writing workshops and how she provides the opportunity for regular folks to unlock images, smells, sounds that are attached to memories.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/magazine/cartoonist-lynda-barry-will-make-you-believe-in-yourself.html

Lynda Barry: Memory, image and imagination

This fantastic Lynda Barry presentation, from her appearance last year at the University of Michigan, is nearly an hour long, and I know you probably won't want to watch the entire thing, but I implore you: Watch the first 20 minutes at least, so you can get a sense of her voice, her personality, her early family life, and her sense of humor (and sense of serious) about her own life. And, if you have the time, watch the entire thing! You won't be sorry.

 

Lynda Barry makes us contemplate some simple yet complex questions that get at the heart of what we are doing in class together this semester.

• What is an image? 
• What images are alive, specific and spontaneous in your mind? 
• How does memory work? How is memory like play? 

Lynda Barry's Tumblr, where she posts assignments for her students (yes, she's a teacher!): http://thenearsightedmonkey.tumblr.com/

A GREAT interview with Barry on The Rumpus: 

http://therumpus.net/2012/04/the-rumpus-interview-with-lynda-barry/

A brief piece about who Lynda Barry is as a comics teacher: 

http://www.npr.org/2013/05/29/187079888/looking-ahead-to-the-future-of-cartoons-and-creativity

In this piece, she says: "I was especially interested in people who didn't draw or who didn't feel they could draw... I was blown away, especially by the people who had quit drawing around adolescence, what happened with their work when they started to draw again."

After becoming familiar with Lynda Barry's life and work, and, more importantly, with her approach to reconstructing the past and making sense of her memories, please write a 300-400 word response to her work. In your post, discuss her art style, page design, and her storytelling abilities in One Hundred Demons. I look forward to reading your writing. 

Julia Wertz

Here's a YouTube video of Julia Wertz talking about being an artist with Lupus and no health insurance. This is part of her life story; it's also a part of her memoir comic.

Wertz's website with lots of links: http://www.juliawertz.com/

A great article by Wertz on the pressure to be funny as a memoirist and cartoonist.
http://narrative.ly/so-funny-it-hurts/the-fart-party-really-stinks/

Her Tumblr: http://juliawertz.tumblr.com/

An interview with Wertz from The Comics Reporter: http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/cr_sunday_interview_julia_wertz/

As you read Drinking At the Movies, peruse these other resources (above) that provide insight into the life and experiences of Julia Wertz, and closely examine her art style for meaning. I expect you to develop a sense, as a reader, of how these memoir comics compare when held next to Jeffrey Brown's. It's exciting to now have two points of comparison, so please, tell us this week about your response to Drinking at the Movies. Please use the discourse of comics in your 300 word response, being sure to make connections, where relevant, to McCloud and Brown and even to concepts in Gabriel's essay.

I look forward to reading your writing this week.

Jeffrey Brown

Jeffrey Brown writes and draws a lot. He produces. He is everywhere. If you visit his webpage, he not only has several best selling books out right now (Vader's Little Princess, for example), but he also has at least six additional projects in the works. He has become a commercial success, something that is fairly rare for a guy who has devoted his life to drawing scraggly black and white comics.

I'm inviting you this week to take a look at various artifacts from Jeffrey Brown's portfolio (below). Also, I've asked you to begin reading Funny, Misshapen Body, up to page 64 for Thursday's class. Once you have read these texts, kindly leave a 200-word post (below, the "Comment" button/box) telling us HOW you consider his work.

In your explanation/description of how you respond to and think about his art style and storytelling, begin to use the discourse of comics, language you've learned from Scott McCloud.

*If you find yourself drawn to his art style and/or his stories, you may want to take a look at his other graphic memoir, and who knows, he may be an artist whose work you focus on for your seminar paper.  Pay attention to this question with each new author we read: "What about this work is interesting enough to form a burning question to write about for my seminar paper?"

A brief review (and good photos) of Jeffrey Brown's cover and insert art for the Bristol (UK) musician Mewgatz. http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/september/jeffrey-brown-mewgatz

An illuminating interview with Jeffrey Brown about Funny Misshapen Body and his later books (2009). http://www.newsarama.com/2731-jeffrey-brown-reflections-on-a-funny-misshapen-body.html

In the Book Notes series that follows, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published books. In his own words, here is Jeffrey Brown's Book Notes essay for his graphic novel, Funny Misshapen Body:

"Music probably gets less mention than usual in Funny Misshapen Body, at least as far as my books usually go. This book is about high school, college and art school, and the process of becoming an artist, finding that place where everything clicks. I guess my interest in music over the times being written about in the book paralleled that narrative - I didn't end up where I expected to, but I'm happy where I am now. Here's a few bands and songs that would be my soundtrack for those times."

http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/2009/04/book_notes_jeff_8.html