Author: Sarah Lawson

Sarah has lived in Charlottesville since 2002 - long enough to consider herself a local. In addition to graduating from UVa and co-founding The Bridge Film Series, she has worn a variety of hats including book designer, documentary film curator, animal caretaker, and popcorn maker. The opinions here are completely her own and unassociated with her work at Piedmont Council for the Arts (PCA). Sarah's interests include public art, experimental films, travel, and design.

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Arts

‘From Jackson 5ive to Boondocks’ explores African- Americans in animation

Bruce Smith has worked as an animator for over 30 years and is best known for feature films such as Space Jam (above), The Princess and the Frog, and Tarzan. He is the keynote speaker at the Heritage Center’s symposium on African-Americans in animation.

The word “animation” conjures up the glorious childhood routine of plopping in front of the television on Saturday mornings for hours on end. However, that’s just a small glance at an incredibly varied and ever-evolving genre.

Early animation ranged from magic lanterns and zoetropes to flipbooks and silent films. Today, it’s a genre that holds everything from “The Simpsons” and “Adult Swim” to “The Proud Family” and Pixar shorts. Increasingly, there’s an appreciation for work like the latest Hayao Miyazaki feature-length narrative film, The Wind Rises (currently in theaters), and Waltz With Bashir, an animated documentary about the 1982 Lebanon War. However, despite its popularity and versatility, animation is rarely addressed from any perspective other than that of a viewer or consumer. It’s difficult to define and analyze production values or develop critical engagement with such an adaptable and varied genre. The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center seeks to change that with an upcoming symposium, titled “From Jackson 5ive to Boondocks: African Americans in Animation in the Post-Civil Rights Era.”

The symposium is the first in the biannual Heritage Center at the Edge series, which seeks to celebrate and explore the artistic and cultural productions of African-Americans. “From Jackson 5ive to Boondocks” provides a closer look at the animation genre and its role in defining and encouraging African-American participation in pop culture.

As people around the country celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, the Heritage Center identifies this landmark legislation as a transformative moment in the history of American animation. Historically a genre prone to perpetuating negative racial stereotypes, American animation was deeply affected by the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. In the 1960s, the genre began evolving in ways that would dramatically change the perception of African-Americans over the ensuing five decades. These changes not only led to an increase in positive depictions of people of color, but also an increased presence of African-Americans working as practitioners of the medium and innovating new methods of animation.

The change didn’t take place overnight though. In fact, immediately following the Civil Rights Act, there was actually a sharp decrease in African-American depictions in animation, which only began to steadily climb again in the early 1970s. Viewed widely on television, in movie theaters, and emerging from the pages of comic books, a greater diversity of depictions started to become available and African-Americans enjoyed more extensive character development within the genre.

Since then, the proliferation of handheld devices and personal viewing options has grown the impact of animation as an agent of social awareness and change. Heritage Center Executive Director Andrea Douglas wants to engage the conversation. “With the immediacy and increased availability of such images, it is important to understand what kinds of messages about African-American culture and people are being delivered,” she said. The symposium will bring scholars and practitioners to the table to explore these issues.

Animator, director, and producer Bruce Smith will deliver the keynote address on Friday. Perhaps best known for his animation work on Space Jam and “The Proud Family,” Smith has also worked on Disney features including The Princess and the Frog and Tarzan. Saturday’s guests include Richard Breaux, assistant professor of ethnic and racial studies and history at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse; Carmenita Higginbotham, associate professor of art history and American studies at UVA, and Christopher P. Lehman, author of the award-winning book The Colored Cartoon.

In addition to the engaging talks programmed during the symposium, the Heritage Center made sure to include more hands-on events for those who want to experience animation from the perspective of a practitioner. An animation workshop for teens and a workshop on stop-motion animation (open to all ages) reinforce the holistic and innovative view of the genre provided by the symposium.

“We are partnering with the graduate program at VCU’s kinetic imaging department because we want to be sure that we are including practices that are defining the advancement of the medium,” said Douglas. Animation is also currently taught at Monticello High School, Charlottesville High School, and Light House Studio, but the Heritage Center’s workshops provide a short-term and inexpensive way for youth (and adults) to test the waters.

Maybe this all sounds great, but you really just want to watch some cartoons. Well, you’re in luck! The Heritage Center is also hosting a Saturday morning cartoon screening as part of “From Jackson 5ive to Boondocks.” A variety of short, animated works will be shown, giving an entertaining yet historical overview of the work discussed by symposium speakers. Free for kids under 8, this is a great reminder that animated images carry meaning and foster childlike wonder at any age.

The Heritage Center at the Edge symposium, screenings, and workshops take place in the Jefferson School African-American Heritage Center Auditorium on March 28-29. For more details visit jeffschoolheritagecenter.org.

What’s your favorite Saturday morning cartoon memory? Tell us about it in the comments section below.

Categories
Arts

Must-see panels at the Festival of the Book

Chip Kidd took time off from designing book covers for his own book, Go: A Kidd's Guide to Graphic Design.

Each March, visiting and local literati of all ages and reading preferences fill Charlottesville for the annual Virginia Festival of the Book. History buffs and romance readers mingle with self-published writers and award-winning authors including John Grisham, Lois Lowry, and John Lewis.

Attendees have lots of choices to make during the five-day festival (March 19-23). Elaborate transportation routes are planned to get from one venue to the next and it’s a struggle to find a window to eat between author panels. Inevitably, there are sessions that slip through the cracks or hold a conflicting time slot. There are also the can’t-miss moments.

Sometimes obvious, sometimes buried deep in the schedule, these are the hidden gems sought by festival goers. The 2014 panels offer two such opportunities with authors who are especially notable for being offbeat and off the beaten path.

You know Chip Kidd. Perhaps not by name, but if you’ve ever picked up a copy of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, David Sedaris’ Naked, or Haruki Murakami’s IQ84, then you’ve held his work in your hands. You can get to know Kidd a bit better through a special StoryFest presentation on his recent book, Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design.

As a graphic designer known for his book covers, Kidd is quirky and engaging. A focus on typography and visual puns imbues his designs with a distinct personality that is easily identifiable on coffee tables, bookstore displays, and library shelves around the world. Words can’t do justice to the designs, but a stunning amount of his work is collected in Chip Kidd: Book One: Work: 1986-2006. Go take a look; I’ll be holding your place here when you get back.

Infinitely versatile, Kidd is also a writer. Much like his book covers, Kidd’s two novels (The Cheese Monkeys and The Learners) are witty and colorful explorations of graphic design. Autobiographical in parts, with main characters who are practicing graphic designers, the novels are accessible and fun to read.

Taking a break from fiction, Kidd’s recent authorial stint led to the publication of a graphic design guide for children. Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design features easy -to-understand explanations of the design process, samples from some of the modern design masters, and hands-on projects to try. The book’s Tumblr (gothebook.tumblr.com) even has a way to submit designs (your own or your child’s; no one has to know) created during these projects. This book—and really all of Kidd’s work—is meant to draw attention to the art form of graphic design and bring awareness to the design that goes into every aspect of our daily lives. Whether it’s a book cover, a gum wrapper, or a printed festival schedule, you’ll never look at the world the same after an encounter with Chip Kidd.

“Chip Kidd and Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design” will be held on March 22 at 4pm in the Monroe Room at the Omni Hotel. The event is free and open to the public.

Off the beaten path

There are guidebooks to help you find the best jazz club in New Orleans or the most authentic pizza in Naples, and then there are books for travelers seeking the furthest corners of the world. Bradt travel guides are the latter, meant for adventurers—and armchair adventurers—but certainly not for your average ski bunny or beach bum planning an upcoming vacation. For example, new releases include guides to Borneo, Sudan, Jordan, and Zimbabwe.

In an ideal world, my bag would have been packed before I even finished writing that sentence, and I’d be on a plane to Harare by now. But that would mean missing Hilary Bradt’s Festival of the Book presentation, where she’ll share tales of her own travel adventures as well as her similarly daring efforts in forming Bradt Travel Guides Ltd.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the publishing company prints travel memoirs as well as adventure guides, including the founder’s breathtaking story of crossing Ireland on horseback. The theme that runs through all Bradt books is that of sustainable travel. For example, a popular series is on slow travel (similar to the slow food movement). All of the titles, though, are packed from cover to cover with helpful information, informed tips, and a uniquely engaging degree of the individual writer’s personality. The publisher also offers a Bradtpackers newsletter for readers interested in having these tantalizing travel tales delivered directly to their inbox.

Though Bradt’s wanderlust was born out of a deep love for Laurence Olivier and a theater mishap, her first travel guide was written while floating down the Amazon River. She seemingly hasn’t stopped adventuring, writing, leading tours, and publishing since. Thus far, she’s written 14 books and helped create an international community of adventurers who share her curiosity. Bradt will be sharing in person at “Wild Adventures and Extreme Publishing with Hilary Bradt,” moderated by Jeanne Siler on March 21 at 10am at a free panel in the City Council Chambers.

Share your favorite authors with us in the comments section below.

Categories
Arts

Must-see panels at the Virginia Festival of the Book

Chip Kidd took time off from designing book covers to write and design his own book, Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design.

Each March, visiting and local literati of all ages and reading preferences fill Charlottesville for the annual Virginia Festival of the Book. History buffs and romance readers mingle with self-published writers and award-winning authors including John Grisham, Lois Lowry, and John Lewis.

Attendees have lots of choices to make during the five-day festival (March 19-23). Elaborate transportation routes are planned to get from one venue to the next and it’s a struggle to find a window to eat between author panels. Inevitably, there are sessions that slip through the cracks or hold a conflicting time slot. There are also the can’t-miss moments.

Sometimes obvious, sometimes buried deep in the schedule, these are the hidden gems sought by festival goers. The 2014 panels offer two such opportunities with authors who are especially notable for being offbeat and off the beaten path.

You know Chip Kidd. Perhaps not by name, but if you’ve ever picked up a copy of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, David Sedaris’ Naked, or Haruki Murakami’s IQ84, then you’ve held his work in your hands. You can get to know Kidd a bit better through a special StoryFest presentation on his recent book, Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design.

As a graphic designer known for his book covers, Kidd is quirky and engaging. A focus on typography and visual puns imbues his designs with a distinct personality that is easily identifiable on coffee tables, bookstore displays, and library shelves around the world. Words can’t do justice to the designs, but a stunning amount of his work is collected in Chip Kidd: Book One: Work: 1986-2006. Go take a look; I’ll be holding your place here when you get back.

Infinitely versatile, Kidd is also a writer. Much like his book covers, Kidd’s two novels (The Cheese Monkeys and The Learners) are witty and colorful explorations of graphic design. Autobiographical in parts, with main characters who are practicing graphic designers, the novels are accessible and fun to read.

Taking a break from fiction, Kidd’s recent authorial stint led to the publication of a graphic design guide for children. Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design features easy -to-understand explanations of the design process, samples from some of the modern design masters, and hands-on projects to try. The book’s Tumblr (gothebook.tumblr.com) even has a way to submit designs (your own or your child’s; no one has to know) created during these projects. This book—and really all of Kidd’s work—is meant to draw attention to the art form of graphic design and bring awareness to the design that goes into every aspect of our daily lives. Whether it’s a book cover, a gum wrapper, or a printed festival schedule, you’ll never look at the world the same after an encounter with Chip Kidd.

“Chip Kidd and Go: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design” will be held on March 22 at 4pm in the Monroe Room at the Omni Hotel. The event is free and open to the public.

Off the beaten path

There are guidebooks to help you find the best jazz club in New Orleans or the most authentic pizza in Naples, and then there are books for travelers seeking the furthest corners of the world. Bradt travel guides are the latter, meant for adventurers—and armchair adventurers—but certainly not for your average ski bunny or beach bum planning an upcoming vacation. For example, new releases include guides to Borneo, Sudan, Jordan, and Zimbabwe.

In an ideal world, my bag would have been packed before I even finished writing that sentence, and I’d be on a plane to Harare by now. But that would mean missing Hilary Bradt’s Festival of the Book presentation, where she’ll share tales of her own travel adventures as well as her similarly daring efforts in forming Bradt Travel Guides Ltd.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the publishing company prints travel memoirs as well as adventure guides, including the founder’s breathtaking story of crossing Ireland on horseback. The theme that runs through all Bradt books is that of sustainable travel. For example, a popular series is on slow travel (similar to the slow food movement). All of the titles, though, are packed from cover to cover with helpful information, informed tips, and a uniquely engaging degree of the individual writer’s personality. The publisher also offers a Bradtpackers newsletter for readers interested in having these tantalizing travel tales delivered directly to their inbox.

Though Bradt’s wanderlust was born out of a deep love for Laurence Olivier and a theater mishap, her first travel guide was written while floating down the Amazon River. She seemingly hasn’t stopped adventuring, writing, leading tours, and publishing since. Thus far, she’s written 14 books and helped create an international community of adventurers who share her curiosity. Bradt will be sharing in person at “Wild Adventures and Extreme Publishing with Hilary Bradt,” moderated by Jeanne Siler on March 21 at 10am at a free panel in the City Council Chambers.

Share your favorite authors with us in the comments section below.

Categories
Arts

Telegraph Gallery serves up community alongside graphic art and comic books

Michael DeForge’s Ant Colony will be featured at the March 6 gathering of the Comic Book Club at Telegraph Gallery.

Tucked away on Fourth Street NE just off the Downtown Mall, Telegraph Gallery still feels a bit like a secret portal to a different world. The hand-painted letters on the storefront windows tug at passersby with the promise of things both unknown and exciting. At once a gallery, bookstore, workspace, and shop, Telegraph showcases the unique strengths and aesthetics of husband-and-wife co-owners David Murray and Kate deNeveu.

Since the store opened in March 2013, its First Fridays receptions have attracted crowds to explore new, limited-edition artist prints, priced so that even the leanest budget can afford to start an art collection. The gallery also hosts free, hands-on Comic Craft Days, as well as author panels and readings. In a town with a strong traditional literary scene, Murray and deNeveu have successfully formed a community hub that works to expand our definition and appreciation of alternative forms of storytelling through comics. For the past few months, they’ve been experimenting with another way to share their passions: Comic Book Club.

Focused on encouraging new readers and informing a community discussion of alternative comics, Comic Book Club is open to all. The books discussed so far have included True Swamp: Choose Your Poison by Jon Lewis and Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware. The club gatherings have brought out a diverse group of people excited to discuss every detail, from narrative arc and panel layout to general impressions and questions. First-time readers will feel welcome alongside dedicated fans of specific authors.

“So far the response has been great: we’ve made new friends, dug into some good books, and eaten our fair share of cheese,” said Murray. “Getting more interesting books in readers’ hands is one of our favorite parts of this job.”

Intrigued? The third installment of the Comic Book Club will feature Ant Colony by Michael DeForge.

Released in January, Ant Colony is fresh off the press from Montreal-based publisher Drawn and Quarterly. The narrative provides a striking analysis of human nature through an intimate (at times very intimate) look at the inhabitants and interactions of the titular ant colony. DeForge’s aesthetic is one-of-a-kind and his touch is immediately recognizable in each panel. For those unfamiliar with his work, DeForge’s series of small format comics, entitled Lose (Koyama Press), makes a great entry point.

Animal and insect forms feature prominently in much of Deforge’s work and this book is no different. However, bright colors and a goofy drawing style belie the fact that this isn’t a comic book for kids. Originally a series of short-form comic strips called Ant Comics, the long-form book compiles the story in a beautifully designed tome that breathes anew with each turned page. DeForge is skilled at leaving room to inhabit his worlds and this story will certainly stick with the reader long after the last page.

Ant Colony has a dark humor and existential tone that will appeal to many, but certainly not all. In the end, it’s a well-crafted comic narrative for readers who are interested in exploring the depths of humanity in the company of dog-headed spiders and warring ants.

Spin-offs and follow-up stories from the Ant Colony universe seem highly likely, given the artist’s prolific work. This month finds him fresh off a book tour for Ant Colony, as well as an appearance at the Los Angeles Art Book Fair, where he debuted a new comic book with co-author Patrick Kyle.

For now, readers can enjoy DeForge’s invigorating new work with the help of Murray, deNeveu, and new friends with a shared obsession. The next meeting of the Comic Book Club takes place at the gallery on March 6.

Speaking of volumes

In other efforts to re-imagine books and what we do with them, the Virginia Arts of the Book Center (VABC) is hosting an exhibit of limited edition, handmade books this month in Staunton. Created during the 2013 collaborative project, “A Bookmaker’s Dozen,” 27 local artists teamed up to create this series of miniature books. This exhibit features 15 2″x3″ books showcasing a variety of printing styles including letterpress, lithography, etching, and giclée, as well as a variety of hand binding styles ranging from coptic to accordion. The opening reception will be held on February 28 from 5-7pm at Barrister Books in Staunton.

Want to take a bookmaking class of your own? The VABC operates a working studio and print shop in the Ivy Shopping Center that’s open to the public for classes, and past bookmaking projects are also available to view upon request.

Where do you go for your reading pleasure? Tell us in the comments section below.