White River Junction, Vermont –The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS) has named Beatrix Urkowitz and Agnes Lee for its fifth annual Cornish-CCS Residency Fellowship for Fall 2021 and Spring 2022. Due to the pandemic, CCS was unable to welcome a Cornish-CCS Fellow during Fall 2020 so have offered two fellowships this academic year. These month-long fellowships provide a $3000 stipend and housing and studio space on 12 secluded acres in Cornish, NH as well as full access to all The Center for Cartoon Studies resources including The Schulz Library, production lab, and a downtown White River Junction studio space. The fellows were selected from a pool of sixty applicants.

Fall Fellow, Agnes Lee, is an illustrator originally from California who now lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her partner and cat. She illustrates the weekly Metropolitan Diary column in The New York Times and when not drawing, she can be found playing a lot of ultimate frisbee or working on her debut graphic novel 49 Days. The graphic novel is based on the Buddhist belief about life and death, and follows a Korean American girl on her journey in the afterlife. Lee described this project as “a deep personal attachment,” exploring “the idea of how to reconcile the unexpected loss of a life cut short.” Lee was described as “a proficient and organized illustrator and designer—direct, hard working with a sharp eye for composition, color and style,” by New York Times art director for brand identity, Jason Fujikuni. 

Spring Fellow, Beatrix Urkowitz, makes comics in Providence, Rhode Island. Her works include, She’s Done it All!, and The Beauty Theorem for Penguin Random House, as well as The Lover of Everyone in the World for Popula. The latter was recently expanded into a book of the same name for Parsifal Press. She’s currently developing Penelope’s Property, her first graphic novel. Urkowitz will be working on her graphic novel debut, Penelope’s Property, about a woman, Penelope, who lives alone on an enormous estate. Urkowitz described the project as “a deliberately opaque portrait of an incredibly wealthy, isolated trans woman that explores the intersection of queerness and power through an anticapitalist lens. It is a weird, dreamy fairy tale of a sort about the cost of safety.” Cartoonist John Porcellino said “her work is among the most unique and idiosyncratic I’ve seen — while also maintaining a high quality of both cutting-edge visual and storytelling technique.”

Harry Bliss, founder of the Cornish CCS Residency, had this to say about the fellow selections, “Agnes and Beatrix both struck me as exemplary visual storytellers. I was impressed with their respective repertoire along with their individual projects, both unique with their own philosophic and otherworldly explorations. I get the sense that they will appreciate the peace and quiet of Cornish to take a deep dive into these narratives.”

For more about the Cornish-CCS Residency visit: cartoonstudies.org/cornishfellowship
For more about The Center for Cartoon Studies visit: cartoonstudies.org

Tags: 49 Days, Agnes Lee, Beatrix Urkowitz, CCS Cornish Fellowship Residency, Cornish, Cornish CCS Residency, Fellowship, Harry Bliss, NH