The Center for Cartoon Studies

CCS boasts a superior faculty. The following instructors will be teaching and working with CCS students week in and week out throughout the course of the year.

Faculty

Stephen R. Bissette won many industry awards in his quarter-century in comics as a cartoonist, writer, editor and publisher. A pioneer graduate of the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon & Graphic Art, he is best-known for Saga of the Swamp Thing, Taboo, '1963,' Tyrant, co-creating John Constantine, and creating the world's second '24- Hour Comic,' invented by Scott McCloud as a challenge for Bissette. His comics efforts fueled many films, (CONSTANTINE, FROM HELL, TMNT II: SECRET OF THE OOZE, etc.) and he and his son Daniel created the comic that appears in the award-winning indy feature HEAD TRAUMA. He illustrates books and has authored fiction (including the Stoker Award-winning novella Aliens: Tribes) and non-fiction (co-authoring Comic Book Rebels, The Monster Book: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and solo articles/essays for film books, magazines and his own book series Green Mountain Cinema). His previous work in education includes lecturing at Yale, Dartmouth College, Duquesne University, Smith College, Marlboro College, etc., and Middlebury College's Breadloaf Young Writers Workshop. His papers reside in the Special Collections of HUIE Library at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

Robyn Chapman received her BFA in Sequential Art and has been independently producing, publishing and printing her own comics and zines ever since. In 2000 she received a Xeric Grant for her first comic, Theater of the Meek. Robyn's work has been featured in several anthologies and publications, including Scheherazade, Stuck in the Middle, and the NY Metro. In 2004 Robyn
was a featured cartoonist in The Comics Journal's young cartoonist issue. In
2005 Robyn became CCS's first fellow. In addition to CCS, Robyn has taught
cartooning in after-school programs, workshops, and at the New School in New
York City

Tom Devlin is the publisher and visionary behind the art-comics publishing house Highwater Books. Specializing in comics that don't fit into the publishing profiles of other companies, Highwater has carved out a niche in the comics publishing world as an idiosyncratic, art-first/artists first comics publisher. Devlin also draws an infrequent strip on the Highwater Web site. In the past, Devlin has guest-edited The Comics Journal, managed a Diamond Comics Distribution warehouse, designed covers and content for nearly all the other independent comics publishers as well Harvard University Press, sat on the Steering Commitee of the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland, lectured at Universities in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Montreal, had artwork displayed in galleries in Boston and Portugal, and managed a comic store.

Rachel Gross received her MFA in printmaking from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. She taught printmaking, drawing, and design at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. Rachel is currently an artist member of the Two Rivers Printmaking Studio in White River Junction, Vermont.

Jenny Hansen designs color for comics and animation. Recent projects include background painting and color styling for such clients as Disney and Warner Bros. She is the lead colorist on MTV's Annecy award winning animated series Happy Tree Friends which also appears in comic form for the German edition of Mad Magazine. She splits her time between New Hampshire and San Francisco where she earned both her Bachelor of Fine Art degree and Master of Fine Art degree from the Academy of Art University.

James Kochalka's comics have been published internationally by almost every alternative comics publisher; he's recorded several music CDs under the name James Kochalka Superstar (making him a favorite at college radio stations across the country); and he's developed animated cartoons for Nickelodeon. Best known for his graphic novel, Monkey vs Robot, and his critically acclaimed Sketchbook Diaries, Kochalka currently lives in Burlington, Vermont.

Jason Lutes is the cartoonist responsible for the critically acclaimed Jar of Fools, which was serialized in the weekly paper The Stranger. He is currently working on the ambitious historical graphic novel Berlin. His other works include The Fall with Ed Brubaker and Houdini the Handcuff King with Nick Bertozzi.

Peter Money is a former student of the late Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg. He has published in journals such as The American Poetry Review, The Sun, Provincetown Arts, Hawai'i Review, Solo, Art/Life, and many others. As well, Garrison Keillor read Peter Money's work on The Writer's Almanac radio program. Peter's books include These Are My Shoes (1991), Minor Roads (1993), A Big Yellow (1996), Between Ourselves (1997), Instruments (1998), Finding It: Selected Poems (2000), and To day --- Minutes only (2004). He received a Bachelor of Arts in English from Oberlin College, Master of Fine Arts from Brooklyn College (C.U.N.Y.), and Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State University. He is a past Writing and Literature Chair at Lebanon College and is currently the editor of Across Borders and Harbor Mountain Press.

Sarah Stewart Taylor was educated at Middlebury College and Trinity College, Dublin. She is the author of four mystery novels published by St. Martins Press, O' Artful Death (2003), Mansions of the Dead (2004), Judgment of the Grave (2005), and Still as Death (2006). Her work has been nominated for an Agatha Award and two of her novels have been chosen as Booksense Notable Books. She has taught writing at Lebanon College, Granite State College and the Bread Loaf Young Writers Conference, as well as the Center for Cartoon Studies. She lives in Hartland, Vermont.

Michelle Ollie is co-founder of The Center for Cartoon Studies. She taught marketing and design and was a Director at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She is faculty for New York Institute of Technology's graduate business program, and prior was the Development Manager for Banta, a technology and market leader in printing. She received her MBA from the University of St. Thomas and is the Associate Editor of Mechademia, a new academic journal on anime, manga, and design, published by the University of Minnesota Press.

James Sturm's comics and graphic novels have been translated into several languages and have won numerous awards including "Best Graphic Novel of 2001" by Time Magazine.

Michel Vrana is a Montreal-based graphic designer and former publisher of Black Eye Books. His studio is the exclusive outside design consultant for Drawn and Quarterly Books, one of the most influential and respected graphic novel publishers in the world.

Visiting Artists Fall 2008

Peter Burr and Christopher Doulgeris, both born in 1980, live and work in Portland, Oregon. They formed Hooliganship in 2002 stemming from a persistent desire to collaborate. Their performances, videos, music, and installations have been described as 'work that revels in a hypnotic abundance of digital information'. Over the past 2 years they have toured North America with CARTUNE XPREZ, an animation party that combines multimedia performances with video screenings. They are currently embarked on an autumn roadshow in conjunction with the publication of a DVD album, pop-up book, and musical record. http://www.hooliganship.com

Jon Chad attended college at the Savannah College of Art and Design and graduated from the Sequential Art program in May 2008. He has been producing handmade minicomics and zines since 2006. He has illustrated children's books published by Mascot Books. His comics Leo Geo Acquires Ancient Knowledge and Shortstack were both nominated for the Kukoc Award for Comics Inspiration in 2008. He now lives in White River Junction where he works at the Center for Cartoon Studies. Jon teaches screen printing and book making and offers weekly production lab intensives. http://www.jonchad.com

Diane Fine is Professor of Studio Art at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, where she teaches printmaking and the book arts. She received her MFA in Graphics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her BFA in Visual Communications from Syracuse University. Since 1985 she has published artist books and broadsides as the Moonkosh Press. She works both independently and collaboratively, exhibits her work regularly, and her books or prints are represented in a number of collections including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The New York Public Library, the Tate Gallery in London and the Yale University Art Gallery. http://dianefine.com/home.html

Kevin Huizenga was named “Minimalism Cartoonist of the Year” by The Comics Journal for his minicomic series Supermonster. Most recently Kevin has found acclaim for his comic series Or Else and a collection of works, Curses. Each was included on Time Magazine's list of the Top Ten comics of 2005 and 2006, respectively. http://kevinh.blogspot.com/

Rick Leonardi’s well-known works include various sporadic fill-in issues of The Uncanny X-Men and The New Mutants, as well as runs on Cloak and Dagger, Spider-Man 2099, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Green Lantern Versus Aliens.
He is credited, along with fellow illustrator Mike Zeck, of designing the black-and-white costume to which Spider-Man switched during the 1984 Secret Wars miniseries, a costume that led to the creation of the Spider-Man villain known as Venom. Most recently his work has appeared in Star Wars : General Grievous, Superman, Superman Returns Prequel, JLA: Classified and Witchblade.

Max de Radiguès spends his time between the comic bookshop where he's working and l'atelier de L'employé du Moi where he draws and publish comics with his friends. His first book, Antti Brysselissä, was released in April 2007. His second one, Jacques Delwitte, Little White Jack, was released in May 2008.
In between he contributes to a lot of different anthologies and web comic projects, such as GRANDPAPIER.ORG. His stories are fictions inspired by his life, his friend and everything he can observe. He loves to write about Brussels, love and music. http://grandpapier.org/_Max-de-Radigues

In 2001 Alex Robinson won an Eisner Award for “Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition” for his graphic novel Box Office Poison. Box Office Poison was originally a self-published mini comic series before being collected into a 608 page graphic novel by Top Shelf Productions. Alex's second graphic novel, Tricked, also published by Top Shelf, won a Harvey Award for Best Original Graphic Novel and an Ignatz Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel. His latest graphic novel, Too Cool to Be Forgotten, was published in 2008. http://www.comicbookalex.com/

Donald Saaf was trained in painting at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and exhibits his work at the nearby Clark Gallery. He has illustrated such popular children’s books as Pushkin Minds the Bundle, Flemenpeo, and Animal Music. His most recent book, Skinny Brown Dog by Kimberly Willis Holt, won the 2007 Oppenheim Gold Toy Award. He is also the illustrator for the Grammy award winning Dan Zanes’ CD Boardbooks. http://www.donaldsaaf.com/

Lauren Weinstein’s comics and illustrations have appeared in Glamour, McSweeney’s, The New York Times, LA Weekly, The Chicago Reader and Seattle’s The Stranger. Her comics have been featured in such anthologies as Kramer’s Ergot, The Ganzfeld, The Best American Comics 2007 and Yale University Press’s Anthology of Graphic Fiction. In 2006 Henry Holt released her full-color graphic novel, Girl Stories. Goddess of War, Lauren’s latest work from publisher PictureBox, is an oversized graphic novel and featuring both pen-and-ink drawings and etchings. http://www.laurenweinstein.com

Visiting Faculty Spring 2009

Calista Brill’s first job in publishing was at the Disney Book Group, where she edited many books and comics about Princesses, Fairies, and Pirates, to name a few fantastical demographics. She also acquired Kean Soo’s graphic novel Jellaby for Hyperion Books for Children. Since 2008, she has been working at First Second acquiring and editing graphic novels for people of all ages, tastes, and temperaments. http://www.firstsecondbooks.com/

Peggy Burns is the Associate Publisher of the world renowned, Montreal-based graphic novel and comics arts company Drawn & Quarterly. At D+Q, Burns works with the world’s best cartoonist including Lynda Barry, Adrian Tomine, Seth, Chris Ware and CCS co-founder James Sturm. Previously, Burns was the Publicity Manager at DC Comics where she spearheaded publicity campaigns for Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Kevin Smith and Stan Lee.
http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/

Since receiving her BFA in Sequential Art, Robyn Chapman has been independently producing, publishing and printing her own comics and zines. In 2000 she received a Xeric Grant for her first comic, Theater of the Meek. Robyn’s work has been featured in several anthologies and publications, including Scheherazade, Stuck in the Middle, and the NY Metro. In 2004 Robyn was a featured cartoonist in The Comics Journal’s young cartoonist issue. In 2005 Robyn became CCS’s first fellow, in 2008 they awarded her with an MFA. In addition to CCS, Robyn has taught cartooning in after-school programs, workshops, and at the New School in New York City.
http://www.un-pop.com/

Jeff Danziger an independent political cartoonist whose work appears in hundreds of newspapers around the world via the New York Times Syndicate. He draws from six to ten cartoons a week on a wide variety of subjects, from international folly to Hollywood hubris. Danziger started his career in 1975 at Vermont’s Rutland Herald and still contributes a weekly serial titled The Teeds: Tales of Agriculture for the Young and Old. Danziger contributed cartoons to The Christian Science Monitor between 1987 and 1997. His books include Wreckage Begins with “W”, Blood, Debt & Fears and Used Cartoons. He was awarded the 2006 Herblock Prize, the 2008 Thomas Nast Prize, and is a decorated Vietnam veteran. http://www.danzigercartoons.com/

Liza Donnelly is a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker and has appeared in many other national publications, including The New York Times, The Nation, and Glamour. Donnelly conceived of and edited three collections of cartoons for Ballantine Books called Mothers and Daughters, Fathers and Sons and Husbands and Wives (the last two with Michael Maslin). Ms. Donnelly wrote a history of the women cartoonists of the New Yorker, titled Funny Ladies: The New Yorker’s Greatest Women Cartoonists and Their Cartoons. She has also written and illustrated a children’s series of dinosaur books for Scholastic, Inc. Her latest book is Sex and sensibility: Ten Women Examine the Lunacy of Modern Love in 200 Cartoons. Donnelly is a participant in the Cartooning for Peace initiative, which has spoken at the United Nations and travels worldwide.
http://www.lizadonnelly.com/

Chris Duffy is the Senior Comics Editor at Nickelodeon Magazine, where he has been writing articles and editing comics for 12 years. The Nickelodeon Magazine comics section was nominated for a Harvey Award for best anthology three times. Before Nickelodeon Magazine, Chris was an associate editor at DC Comics and before that he was a copy editor for several kids book publishers. He has written comics, including large swaths of DC’s Bizarro Comics anthology and its sequel, Bizarro World. http://www.nick.com/shows/nick_mag/

Jules Feiffer’s internationally syndicated cartoon ran for 42 years in the Village Voice and won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for political cartoons. His cartoons have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, Esquire, Playboy, and The Nation. In his early years, Feiffer was an assistant to Will Eisner on his acclaimed comic strip, The Spirit. In 1965, Feiffer wrote what is arguably the first critical history of the comic book superheroes, The Great Comic Book Heroes. Feiffer is also the author of numerous plays (Little Murders, Knock Knock, Grown-Ups) screenplays (Carnal Knowledge, Popeye, I Want to Go Home) and children’s books (Henry, The Dog With No Tail, A Room With a Zoo, The Daddy Mountain among many others). Feiffer’s cartoons have been collected into 19 books including Sick, Sick, Sick, Passionella, and Tantrum. In addition to his Pulitzer Prize, Feiffer has won an OBIE Award, an Academy Award for Best Animation, and the National Cartoonist Society Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award.
http://www.julesfeiffer.com/

John Steven Gurney studied illustration at Pratt Institute and spent summers drawing caricatures on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. Since 1984 he has illustrated board games, advertisements, magazine stories and more. He is the illustrator of over 100 books for children, including Scholastic’s The Bailey School Kids series and Random House’s The A to Z Mysteries series.
Dinosaur Train, published by HarperCollins, is the first book he has written and illustrated, and it was inspired by his son's love of dinosaurs and trains.
http://www.johnstevengurney.com

Paul Karasik was the associate editor of Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly’s avant-garde international comics and graphics review, RAW. His graphic novel adaptation of Paul Auster’s City of Glass, done in collaboration with artist David Mazzucchelli, has been published in six languages and was named one of the best 100 comics of the century by The Comics Journal. Karasik edited the Fletcher Hanks collection I Shall Destroy All The Civilized Planets!, published by Fantagraphic in 2007. Another Fletcher Hanks volume, You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation! will be published in 2009.
http://www.fletcherhanks.com

Dave Kiersh’s books include Greatest Hits(2004), Last Cry For Help(2006) and Neverland (2008) published by Bodega. His forthcoming full color collection of short stories, Dirtbags, Mallchicks and Motorbikes, was awarded a 2008 Xeric Grant. Additional work by him has also appeared in the anthologies, NON, Syncopated, Meathaus and The Anthology of Graphic Fiction Volume 2. Outside of cartooning, Dave has worked as a teacher, teenage librarian, illustrator and graphic designer.
http://www.teenagepulp.com

Michael Maslin was born and raised in New Jersey. In 1976 he graduated from The University of Connecticut with a major in Printmaking. He has been contributing to The New Yorker since 1977. Simon & Schuster published four collections of his work, and he has collaborated with fellow New Yorker cartoonist (and wife), Liza Donnelly, on a number of collections, the most recent being Cartoon Marriage, published by Random House in 2009. He continues to work on a biography of the late New Yorker artist, Peter Arno -- a project begun in 1999.
www.michaelmaslin.com/

Kevin Pyle has done illustrations for the New York Times, The New Yorker, The Progressive, The Village Voice, The Wall Street Journal as well as numerous other publications. His illustrations appear regularly in the National Law Journal. He is a longtime contributor/co-editor of World War 3 Illustrated, America's longest-running radical comic book. His docucomic, Lab U.S.A. - illuminated documents, received a silver medal from the Society of Illustrators. Lab U.S.A. is a history, in comic book form, of medicine and science in the service of racist and political imperatives. Pyle’s latest graphic novel, Blindspot, was published by Henry Holt in 2007. http://www.kevinpyleillustration.com

Puppeteer, mask maker and performance artist Gabriel Q has baffled audiences since the 5th grade when he discovered the power of drag and improv during show and tell. Whether turning himself into a drooling baby in a stilt walking high chair or launching 6 enormous butterfly puppets in a Mardi Gras parade, this Vermont resident delights in parading his cabin fever for the entertainment of others. http://www.gabrielq.com/

Jim Rugg grew up in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, in a small town, south of Pittsburgh. He earned a BFA at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He is the co-creator of Street Angel, The PLAIN Janes, and the Afrodisiac. His comics have appeared in New York Magazine, LA Weekly, Vh1, Meathaus, the SPX annual, Pornhounds, True Porn, Project: Superior, Project: Romantic, Popgun, 24/seven, Cinema Sewer, and the Society of Illustrators Annuals. They have been published in Spain, France, Italy, and Serbia. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife and three cats. http://www.jimrugg.com/

In his previous life, Brett Warnock was a swim instructor, lifeguard, and bartender. In 1995 he started publishing under the moniker Primal Groove Press, with the Top Shelf anthology as the flagship title. (Coincidentally, the first book he published, was the last one he actual drew himself. His dream of inking X-Men shattered.) In 1997 he changed the company name to Top Shelf Productions, and that fall Chris Staros came on board as a partner, and together they have survived and thrived as publishers of fine comics and graphic novels.
http://www.topshelfcomix.com/

Visiting Artist Fall 2007

t edward bak is a North American artist and cartoonist whose work has appeared in various anthologies and his own self-published comics. In 2002, he produced his first handmade experimental narrative comix-loteria project, The Firefly Waltz, and founded the small press comics and music showcase, Fluke, in Athens, Georgia. His comic strip, Service Industry, appeared in Athens' alternative arts newsweekly, Flagpole Magazine, from 2002-2005. His work has also appeared in the anthologies Studygroup12, Project:Romantic, Orchid and the upcoming Drawn & Quarterly Showcase. He is the recipient of the 2007-2008 Fellowship at The Center for Cartoon Studies and is currently at work on his first graphic novel.

Lynda Barry is an artist, novelist, and playwright whose work appears, as she says, "all over tarnation." Her syndicated alternative comic strip Ernie Pook's Comeek is nationally known. She has published several illustrated novels, including The Good Times Are Killing Me, which won the Washington State Governor's Award. Her critically acclaimed second novel, Cruddy, was described by The New York Times as "a work of terrible beauty."

Eleanor Davis was introduced to minicomics when she was fourteen years old and has made thirty-three minis since then, depending on your definition. She went to Savannah College of Art and Design, majoring in Sequential Art, and graduated in 2006. She has appeared in several anthologies and currently contributes to Mome. She is also working on a graphic novel for kids called The Secret Science Alliance.

David Macaulay's books include Cathedral, Mosque, and The Way Things Work. His books have sold more than two million copies in the United States alone, and his work has been translated into a dozen languages. Macaulay has garnered a number of the most prestigious awards. Amongst these are the MacArthur Fellows Program award (The "Genius Award"), the Caldecott Medal, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Christopher Award, and an American Institute of Architects Medal. In June 2007 he was the subject of the exhibition "David Macaulay, the Art of Drawing Architecture" which opened for a limited run through January of 2008 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.

Garry Trudeau is the creator of Doonesbury. Today Doonesbury is syndicated to almost 1,400 newspapers worldwide. In 1975, he became the first comic strip artist to win a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. He was also a finalist for the Pulitzer in 1990. He was also nominated for an Oscar in 1977 in the category of Animated Short Film for The Doonesbury Special, in collaboration with John and Faith Hubley. The Doonesbury Special eventually won the Jury Special Prize of Cannes Film Festival in 1978. Other awards include the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Comic Strip Award in 1994 and the Reuben Award in 1995. In addition to his work on Doonesbury, Trudeau has written plays (such as Rap Master Ronnie and Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy) and the 1988 HBO miniseries Tanner '88, directed by Robert Altman and the miniseries sequel Tanner on Tanner in 2004.

R. Sikoryak is best known for his collection Masterpiece Comics. He was formerly an associate editor and contributor to RAW, the groundbreaking 1980s comic anthology. He's drawn for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Onion, Nickelodeon, The New Yorker, and other media titans.

Drew Weing, since graduating from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2001, has done a variety of web- and mini-comics, including The Journal Comic, and Pup for Serializer.net. He's done illustrations and comics for children's publications, such as Nickelodeon Magazine, and is currently doing a monthly series for Disney Adventures Magazine called Wulf and Merl. His other current project is a nautical adventure comic, Set to Sea, currently being serialized panel by panel at www.drewweing.com

Kriota Willberg teaches anatomy in the dance department of Marymount Manhattan College, pathology and massage at the Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences, has taught at Bard College and NYU, and teaches anatomy and injury prevention classes in New York and internationally. She has studied personal training and exercise, and is a licensed massage therapist. With encouragement from her husband, cartoonist R. Sikoryak, she has also become an anatomical illustration hobbyist.

Visiting Artists Spring 2007

Christian Trimmer is an assistant editor at Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group, where he works primarily on young adult fiction and graphic novels. Current projects include: The Market, the story of a young woman's efforts to achieve "blue chip" status in her senior class; Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, a sweeping narrative of the famed Negro Leagues pitcher; and El Cazador, a bind up of the Eisner-nominated CrossGen comic series.

Skip Morrow achieved international acclaim for his best selling I HATE CATS series first published in 1980. In addition to selling millions of greeting cards throughout North America and Australia, Skip has published over a dozen books, most recently The Joy of Smoking (The Ink Group, 2000). Skip and his wife Laraine are partners in running The Art of Humor Gallery, located at their studio/home compound in Wilmington, VT.

Greg Cook has comics in numerous publications, such as Nickelodeon Magazine, Pulse Magazine, True Believer, New Art Examiner, Arthur, Non, and L'Association's Comix 2000. His work was featured in the exhibit "Comic Release: Negotiating Identity for a New Generation," which toured the US in 2003 and 2004. The success of his book, Catch As Catch Can (Highwater Books, 2001), helped him to win the "Promising New Talent" award at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, MD, in 2002.

Tom Hart is the creator of the Hutch Owen graphic novels and strips critically acclaimed by The Comics Journal, Time.com, Publishers Weekly, and the Library Journal. He has produced art and Flash animation for prominent companies such as Old Navy and the US Treasury Department. Tom teaches classes all over the New York City area, where he lives with his wife and fellow cartoonist Leela Corman.

Leela Corman has produced illustrations for numerous clients and publications, including Simon & Schuster, The New York Times, WNET/Thirteen, The Boston Phoenix, BUST Magazine, and more. Her comics have been featured in several anthologies, and her graphic novel, Queen's Day, was a Xeric Award winner in 2000.

Harry Bliss is a staff artist at The New Yorker. A regular contributor to Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly's series "Little Lit," Bliss has illustrated many children's books, including A Fine, Fine School by Sharon, The Cat Who Came for Christmas by Cleveland Amory, and two New York Times best-sellers, Diary of a Worm and Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin.

Judy Hansen is the founder of the Hansen Literary Agency, representing the unique vision of artists and writers around the world. Her clients include comics legends R. Crumb and Will Eisner, as well as James O'Barr, Chuck Dixon, Mark Schultz, and CCS' own James Sturm.

Paul Karasik was the associate editor of Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly's avant-garde international comics and graphics review, RAW. His graphic novel adaptation of Paul Auster's City of Glass, done in collaboration with artist David Mazzucchelli, has been published in six languages and was named one of the best 100 comics of the century by The Comics Journal.

Kelly Link's debut collection of short stories, Stranger Things Happen, was described by Salon as "?an alchemical mixture of Borges, Raymond Chandler, and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Her second collection was selected for best of 2006 lists by Time Magazine, Salon, Boldtype, The Village Voice, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Capitol Times. Kelly has taught and visited at numerous schools and workshops, including Bard College, Lenoir-Rhyne College, The Imagination Workshop at Cleveland State University, and New England Institute of Art and Communications. She now lives in Northampton, MA.

Brian Belott is an artist and collector of found art, renowned for his intricate, hand-made collage books and striking use of color. His work in collage and glass has appeared in galleries worldwide, including the Atelier Cardenas Bellanger in Paris, CANADA in New York City, Galleri Christine Wilson in Copenhagen, and Galleri Loyal in Stockholm.

Phil Grauer is an artist affiliated with the CANADA gallery in New York City. His work in sculpture and photography has appeared in exhibitions across the US and Canada, as well as in Europe. Philip recently participated in a group showing entitled The Armory Shows, NYC, with fellow CANADA artists Brian Belott and Sarah Braman.

Sarah Braman is an abstract sculptor known for her strong geometric designs and use of low-status materials like plexi-glass and painted cardboard. Her work has been exhibited in galleries all over the world, including the Dicksmith Gallery in London, Galeria Comercial in San Juan, Galleri Christina Wilson in Copenhagen, and CANADA in New York City. Sarah also has permanent installations in Barcelona, Baltimore, Providence, and North Adams, MA.

Jay Hosler is an assistant professor at Juniata College in Huntington, PA. In addition to contributing several articles to scientific publications such as Behavioral Neuroscience and The Journal of Experimental Biology, Jay has published numerous comics and two graphic novels with biological themes. Clan Apis, a Xeric Award winner for 2000, and The Sandwalk Adventures (2003) present detailed educational material within the framework of a narrative. A project funded by the National Science Foundation to develop a chapter of a Biology textbook in comic form is currently in progress.

Denis Kitchen has been an active cartoonist, writer, editor, publisher, and entrepreneur since 1968. In its 30-year run, Kitchen Sink Press published some of the best underground and alternative comics and graphic novels available, from artists such as R. Crumb, Will Eisner, Dave McKean, Scott McCloud, and Alan Moore. Although KSP closed its doors in 1999, The Kitchen empire of publishing, art sales, and merchandise continues through Denis Kitchen Publishing, The Kitchen & Hansen Agency, and Steve Krupp's Gallery and Curio Shoppe. Denis also continues to serve as president of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which he founded in 1986.

Mark Siegel is the Editorial Director at First Second Books, a publishing company that aims for "high quality, literate graphic novels for a wide age range." A former designer at Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, Mark is the illustrator of several picture books and graphic novels, including the upcoming To Dance: A Ballerina's Story.

Brendan Burford, in addition to his duties as puzzle editor for King Features Syndicate, is the creator of "Despondent Duck" and numerous minicomics, several of which have been collected into a volume entitled "Brendan Comics." Brendan is the creator/editor of the comics anthology Syncopated Comics, now celebrating the release of its third volume. Brendan lives in Sunnyside, NY with his wife and fellow cartoonist Rina Piccolo.

Esmond Harmsworth is a founding partner of the Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary Agency. He represents both fiction and nonfiction in a plethora of genres including literary fiction, mystery, young adult and middle-grade fiction, biography, business, popular science, religion, memoir, international affairs, and psychology. Esmond has represented the work of authors such as James C. Mitchell, Sabina Murray, Anna MacLean, Todd Balf, David J. Rothkopf and many more.

Chris Duffy has been the comics editor at Nickelodeon Magazine since 1997. Chris was co-editor and one of the central contributors to Bizarro Comics (DC Comics, 2001), an irreverent compilation of indie-comics veterans' unique take on the classic characters of the superhero genre.

Visiting Artists & Writers 2006-07

The following is a partial list of CCS's Visiting Faculty. These cartoonists and comic industry professionals will be coming to White River Junction for extended lectures, workshops, and week-long seminars.

David Berona author of Wordless Books: The Original Graphic Novels, has written and published many articles and reviews concerning the history of woodcut novels and wordless stories. Berona's articles have appeared in The Comics Journal and The International Journal of Comic Art, and the book The Language of Comics: Word and Image.

Alison Bechdel, author of the self-syndicated comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For, has become a countercultural institution. Ten book-length collections of the strip have been published. Bechdel has contributed work for many publications including Ms., Slate, The Stranger, Out, and The Advocate. Her work is widely anthologized and her books have been translated into French, Spanish, German, and, strangely, Finnish.

Harry Bliss is a staff artist at The New Yorker. A regular contributor to Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly's series "Little Lit," Bliss has illustrated many children's books, including A Fine, Fine School by Sharon, The Cat Who Came for Christmas by Cleveland Amory, and two New York Times best-sellers, Diary of a Worm and Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin.

Ariel Bordeaux collaborates with her husband Rick Altergott on the comic book series Raisin Pie, which received a Harvey nomination in the 'best new series' category in 2003. She is the author of the acclaimed minicomic Deep Girl and the novella No Love Lost, and has done comics and illustration work for several publications, including Bust Magazine, Bizarro Comics, Hate, Nickelodeon Magazine, The New York Press, and The Stranger.

Ivan Brunetti has written and drawn three issues of his comic book series Schizo, as well as a collection of gag cartoons HAW!, for Fantagraphics Books. He has also drawn comics and illustrations for The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, TIME Digital, Spin, Mother Jones, Fast Company, New City, The Stranger, The New York Press, The Baffler, The Comics Journal, Green, Verbatim, In These Times, Scooby-Doo, The Jetsons, and Cartoon Network Presents. Brunetti's comics have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Czech, and Swedish.

L. Perry Curtis Jr. is a retired professor of history at Brown University. His works include Apes and Angels: The Irishman in Victorian Caricature, an exploration of turn-of- the-century political cartoons and how they reinforced Irish cultural stereotypes.

Bill Griffith is best known for being creator of the comic strip Zippy the Pinhead, which appears today in over 200 newspapers worldwide. Griffith was an active and influential part of the underground comix movement throughout the 70s and 80s. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, the cartoonist Diane Noomin.

Sammy Harkham started making his own comics and a zine, Kramers Ergot which has evolved into one of the most highly influential comics anthologies being published today. His comic strip Poor Sailor, originally published in Kramers Ergot 4, was subsequently included in The Best American Nonrequired Reading of 2004 and has been published in French, Korean, and Italian. He studied experimental animation and filmmaking at Calarts and was nominated in 2002 for an Ignatz Award for 'Promisng New talent', and Kramers Ergot has been favorably reviewed and placed on numerous best of the year list's including the LA Weekly, Time.com, Dazed And Confused, The Comics Journal, and Publisher's Weekly. Harkham currently lives in Los Angeles working on his comic series Crickets and the next volume of Kramers Ergot.

Kevin Huizenga was named "Minimalism Cartoonist of the Year" by The Comics Journal for his critically acclaimed minicomic series Supermonster. His current comic book series Or Else is published by Drawn and Quarterly books.

D. B. Johnson, a freelance illustrator for more than twenty years, has created editorial cartoons, comic strips, and conceptual illustrations for magazines and newspapers around the country. Mr. Johnson's first picture book, Henry Hikes to Fitchburg, was a New York Times Bestseller, a Publishers Weekly Bestseller as well as an American Bookseller "Pick of the Lists." Henry Hikes to Fitchburg also won numerous awards and accolades including the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Picture Books, the Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award, the Massachusetts Book Award for Best Children's Picture Book, a Booklist Editors' Choice, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and a Publishers Weekly Flying Start.

Ed Koren has published over 900 cartoons in ,The New Yorker. His work, which has appeared in dozens of other publications, is included in the collections of the Fogg Museum and is regularly displayed in art exhibitions around the world. Koren has illustrated many children's books and also has written and illustrated some of his own, including Very Hairy Harry and Behind the Wheel. He has taught at Brown University, and received a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Jason Little's cartoons have been published in various anthologies, and his book Jack's Luck Runs Out, brilliantly based on a deck of cards, won a 1997 Xeric Award. His latest work includes Shutterbug Follies, published by Doubleday in 2002, and Bee, which appears in many alternative news weeklies. Little currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife, writer Myla Goldberg.

Alec Longstreth has been self-publishing his subscription-based comic book PHASE 7 since 2002. He is also the mastermind behind The Dvorak Zine, an educational comic promoting the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard Layout. The web comic version of the zine became an internet phenomenon, garnering over 30,000 hits in its first two months. Alec lives and draws in New York City where he is currently working on his first graphic novel Basewood.

Ana Merino is assistant professor of Latin American and Spanish literature and culture at Dartmouth College. She has published a scholarly work on comics titled El Comic Hispanico (C?tedra, 2003) and four books of poetry, and was a recipient of the Adonais and Fray Luis de Leon awards for poetry. She is a member of the executive committee for the International Comics Art Festival and member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Comic Art. Merino's articles on comics have appeared in Leer, DDLV, The Comics Journal, International Journal of Comic Art, and Hispanic Issues. She has served as curator for two comics exhibitions, one in the US titled Comics Release, and another in Spain dedicated to Fantagraphics for La Semana Negra. She is also the author of the bilingual catalogue Fantagraphics creadores del canon. Ana Merino has also published five books of poetry: Preparativos para un viaje (1995), Los días gemelos (1997), La voz de los relojes (2000), Juegos de niños (2003), and Compañera de Celda (2006). Cell Mate (translated by Elizabeth Polli), Harbor Mountain Press, 2007.

Anders Nilsen is the author of a number of graphic novels including The Ballad of the Two Headed Boy, Big Questions, and Dogs and Water. He is a member of The Holy Consumption, the Chicago based art collective formed with Jeffrey Brown, John Hankiewicz and Paul Hornschemeier. He received two Ignatz Award nominations for Big Questions #4 in 2002 for Promising New Talent and Outstanding Comic. In 2004 he received a further Ignatz nomination for Big Questions #6 for Outstanding Mini Comic.

Joseph Olshan is the award-winning author of seven novels, including Clara's Heart, which was made into a film by Warner Brothers in 1988 starring Whoopi Goldberg, and the internationally acclaimed and best-selling Nightswimmer. A former professor of creative writing at New York University, he was editorial director at Delphinium Books/HarperCollins.

James A. Owen is the creator of the critically acclaimed Starchild graphic novel series; the designer and editorial director of the award-winning publications International Studio and Argosy Quarterly; and the author of the Mythworld series of novels. He works at the Coppervale Studio in Silvertown, Arizona, where he lives with his family.

Aaron Renier is a cartoonist who's work has appeared in Nickelodeon Magazine, the Portland Mercury and Young Dancer Magazine, as well as numerous anthologies, and a handfull of self published minis. His debut graphic novel, Spiral-Bound, was recently released by Top Shelf Productions to critical acclaim. He is currently negotiating a proposal for a full-color graphic novel series with a major children's book publisher. He lives with his dog Beluga in beautiful Brooklyn, New York.

Joe Schenkman was an active underground cartoonist in the late '60s and early '70s working alongside such cartoonists as S. Clay Wilson and Art Spiegelman. Schenkman is currently head of Schenkman Books, a company known for its academic titles concerning sociology and social welfare.

Seth, author of It's a Good Life If You Don't Weaken, has been translated into many languages and was selected one of the 100 best comics of the 20th century by the editors of The Comics Journal. He is also the designer of the best-selling Complete Peanuts by Charles Schulz. His work is regularly featured in the pages and cover of The New Yorker and has been profiled in the Magazine section of The New York Times Magazine.

Barron Storey has freelanced for Time, National Geographic, NASA, The American museum of Natural History, and the Franklin Library. He has taught at several colleges including Pratt, School of Visual Arts, Syracuse University, California College of Arts and Crafts, and San Jose State. His students have included such comic artists as George Pratt, Dan Clowes, and Scott McCloud. Storey was winner of the NY Society of Illustrators Gold Medal in 1976 and its Educator of the Year Award in 2001.

Ben Towle is a cartoonist and freelance artist living in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His debut full-length work, Farewell, Georgia, was published by Slave Labor Graphics in 2003. He received an Eisner nomination that year in the category of "Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition." His work has also appeared in 24-Hour Comics: Highlights 2004, SPX 2004, and Strange Eggs. He holds an MFA in sequential art from The Savannah College of Art and Design and a B.A. in philosophy from Davidson College. He has taught at the North Carolina Governor's School, and the Sawtooth Center for Visual Art.

Rick Veitch graduated from the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art in Dover, N.J., in 1978, its first graduating class. Rick was a regular contributor to Heavy Metal and Marvel's Epic Magazine. His graphic novels include Abraxax and the Earthman and Heartburst, Brat Pack, The Maximortal, and three collections of his dream comics Rare Bit Fiends. His comic books include the six-issue miniseries The One and work on Alan Moore's Swamp Thing for DC Comics. His collaboration with Alan Moore continued on the first retro comics series, "1963," and "America's Best Comics" line. He is currently writing The Question for DC Comics. In 1998, Veitch and Steve Conley launched comiccon.com, now one of the biggest comics sites on the Internet. Veitch's original 350-page graphic novel Can't Get No will be released in 2005 by Vertigo.

Brian Walker is a cartoonist and a founder of the International Museum of Cartoon Art, has written and edited more than a dozen books, including Abrams' The Comics Since 1945. Since 1984 he has been part of the creative team that produces the strips Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois. He lives in Wilton, Connecticut. He co-curated Masters of American Comics a national exhibition featiromg fifteen of the most influential artists working in the medium throughout the 20th century.

Rob Walton has worked as writer, director, actor, cartoonist, publisher, and storyboard artist, hailing from East Toronto. He has worked in the animation industry since 1991 when he joined Nelvana's design department for the TV cartoon show Beetlejuice. He began storyboarding full-time in 1994, subsequently working as an Assistant Director on many projects and as Supervising Director on COMMITTED (2000) starring Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara. He has written and drawn several comic book series, including Grendel: The Devil's Hammer (1993) and his self-published satire Ragmop (1995-1997), for which he earned two Eisner Award Nominations. Rob self-published the fully revised and updated graphic novel edition of Ragmop to critical acclaim in 2006.

Chris Ware is the author of the graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan - the Smartest Kid on Earth (Pantheon Books, 2000), which received the Guardian First Book Award in 2001, the American Book Award in 2000, and the prestigious French comics award L'Alph Art in 2003. He is one of America's most respected popular artists, and his work has appeared in many national and international art exhibits, including the Whitney Art Museum of New York in 2002. In his spare time, Ware publishes The Rag Time Ephemeralist, an exquisitely designed and informative journal devoted to the exploration, preservation, and celebration of early 20th century American popular music.

Lauren Weinstein Her comics and illustrations have appeared in Glamour, McSweeney's, The New York Times, LA Weekly, The Chicago Reader, and Seattle's The Stranger. She has also contributed to such anthologies as Kramer's Ergot, Hotwire, Legal Action Comics, Scheherazade, and The Ganzfeld. This fall, her work will appear in Yale University Press's Anthology of Graphic Fiction, edited by Ivan Brunetti.

Thesis Advisors

2006-2008

Lynda Barry
Alison Bechdel
Nick Bertozzi
Chester Brown
Reilly Brown
Ivan Brunetti
Eddie Campbell
Jordan Crane
Kim Deitch
Tom Devlin
Chris Duffy
Cat Garza
Tom Hart
Kevin Huizenga
Paul Karasik
Kazu Kibuishi
Chip Kidd
Ed Koren
Frenchy Lunning
Jason Lutes
James Owen
John Porcellino
Ron Rege Jr.
Alex Robinson
Stan Sakai
Bob Sikoryak
Craig Thompson
Chris Staros
Rick Veitch
Lauren Wienstein
Dylan Williams
Chris Wright

The Center for Cartoon Studies presents Thoreau