Pictures tell the Story: Political Cartooning in Portland

PNCA Design and Illustration are proud to host Portland Design History for Pictures tell the Story: Political Cartooning in Portland

For over a century, cartoonists in Portland have illustrated characters that drove the mythology of the Pacific Northwest, offered biting commentary to the powers that be and gave a framework for regional and national issues. This event will feature a talk by Portland Design History founder, Melissa Delzio who will cover work from the mainstream Oregonian cartoonists to the rise of the “alties” of independent media. A discussion to follow with prominent local comic artists and writers: Shay Mirk, Jonathan Hill and David Walker who carry the torch of this work. Brought to you by Portland Design History, PNCA Design and AIGA Portland. Thank you to Adobe for Sponsoring!

Political Comic Fair

6pm in Lemelson Studio with DJ Slouch

Meet local heroes, mingle with other comic artists, and browse/buy some of the work by panelists, and other local artists and publishers. View contemporary work from Floating World Comics, Always Here Books, Shay Mirk, David Walker, Jonathan Hill, Barry Deutsch & Becky Hawkins, Rupert Kinnard, David Celsi and NWMOCA (Portland's new museum of cartooning). View historic works by Art Bimrose, Murray Wade, and browse many other curated artifacts gathered for research.

Panel Discussion + Talk

7pm on the first floor Mediatheque

Free & open to the public, livestreamed on PNCA's Youtube

Panelists

Shay Mirk is a graphic journalist, editor, and teacher. Shay began their career as a reporter for The Stranger and Portland Mercury, then became the online editor at feminist nonprofit Bitch Media, before moving on to become contributing editor at graphic journalism website, The Nib, where they wrote and edited nonfiction comics about history, politics, and identity.

Shay is the author of Guantanamo Voices, an illustrated oral history of Guantanamo Bay prison. They are also a volunteer editor of the collective Cartoonists for Palestine and the author of the upcoming book Making Nonfiction Comics: A Guide for Graphic Narrative, which debuts in November. Shay is a co-founder of the nonfiction comics press Crucial Comix, where they teach classes in memoir comics.

Jonathan Hill is an award-winning cartoonist, author, and educator. Since 2007, he has been the staff illustrator for The Asian Reporter, a small local newspaper in Portland that focuses on the Northwest and world news with an Asian focus. Some of his other clients include the Viet Nam Literature Project, the Inlander, Fantagraphics Books, Dark Horse Comics, The Believer Magazine, Literary Arts, and Powell's City of Books. Jonathan has six published graphic novels which deal with topics from the fantastical, the political or dystopian climate apocalypses. His books have been published by First Second, Oni Press, Candlewick, and he's currently work on his next graphic novel for Kokila. Jonathan also teaches comics and visual narrative. He currently serves as vice-chair on the Board of Directors of Literary Arts.

David Walker is an artist, filmmaker and an Eisner Award-winning writer of The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History, and co-creator of the series Bitter Root, writer of Big Jim and the White Boy, and author of the critically acclaimed YA novel, The Second Chance of Darius Logan.

David work in film includes the short cult film Black Santa's Revenge, and the blaxploitation documentary Macked, Hammered, Slaughtered, & Shafted.

David’s writing goes way back to BadAzz MoFo, a pop culture 'zine that he published in 1996. His vast knowledge of blaxploitation films has established him as a leading expert in black cinema of the 1970s, leading to appearances on E!, AMC, and VH1. He is the co-author of the book Reflections on Blaxploitation. He has also worked as a film critic, and he was creative director for the Longbaugh Film Festival. David has worked for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Dynamite, Boom, and others, and teaches a comics writing class at Portland State University.