Inkstuds Radio

I have always really enjoyed Tillie Walden‘s comics. I read them as soon as I get them. Her work is really beautiful seamless cartooning. Her latest book, Charity and Sylvia is an historical narrative about their lives and love together. Charity and Sylvia were a queer couple in early to mid 19th century rural Vermont. Tillie brought their story to life utilizing a range of different historical records including their own letters. It’s a very personal and intimate book that honors their story in a way that shows a lovely respect for their lives and how they lived. But it’s also a comic, in the way that Tillie is able to showcase the unique ways that comics can evoke feelings and emotions that adds to the impact of the work. Charity and Sylvia is her first published work for Drawn and Quarterly. The book as a physical object itself, also serves to brightly showcase and create an object of permanence.

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Kim Deitch’s latest book, How I Make Comics, continues his tradition of great fantastic tales that he weaves his own history into a narrative that takes you to places you won’t expect. Kim has been professionally creative for 60 years now. in 1966, he pursued a career of art and hasn’t looked back. There is something about the imaginative wonders in Kim Deitch’s work that keeps pulling people in and engaging with his work. He’s also been interested in telling a good story. There is a lot to explore with Kim’s vast history of comics and the way his stories can interconnect, but it’s done in a way where you can read one book and get so much out of it without knowing other stories.

How I make Comics really dives into his process while also exiting in his own unique comic book reality. I first interviewed Kim probably more than 15 years, so it was nice to get caught up with him again and see how is process has changed and also coming into a period of reflection.

This podcast is produced with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

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Welcome to a new year of Inkstuds. This episode is the first of a year of episodes that are supported by funding by the Canada Council for the Arts. With this funding, I am able to pay every guest for taking the time to chat with me about their work. I have also brought on a couple of folks that are able to provide me with guidance in terms of curatorial choices. With their support, I hope to be exposed to newer cartoonists that are making exciting and forward thinking work. Every guest on the show is very specifically chosen. I will be focusing the podcasts over the year on direct conversations with artists. The show will also have a selection of specially selected guest hosts that will be paid for their participation.

I chose Anand as the first guest during this incarnation of Inkstuds because of how strongly I feel about his work. Zoo is one of my most favorite contemporary comics. His work is smart, funny and imaginative. For such a small body of work, Anand’s comics have landed squarely on my immediate read stack. There is a collection of the first 3 issues, as well as issues 4 and 5, which you from Bubbles and better comic stores.

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I was visiting Winnipeg in the fall last year to visit different Winnipeg based underground artists. Since I had a little bit of flexible time, I also did a couple of interviews in the off chance I got around to posting interviews again. This is the second of those interviews, the first being the previously posted Nick Burns interview. Robert Pasternak was a name that came up quite a lot in conversations with different artists in Winnipeg. His work is quite imaginative and exists in different facets of his lived experience. His home has 2 rooms on the floor that are dedicated to art making. One one side of the attic is his painting studio, a wide open room with a large canvas and some finished pieces a long the wall. When we go to the other side of his attic, we see his comics studio. This is a crammed space devoted to creating objects that are both fueled by novelty and being explored as ways do demonstrate his present. he creates these small meticulous formal/experimental comics that come rolled up like a candy cigarette in a pack of popeye style package. His work is focused and playful, showing a certain level of restlessness. He’s similar to Seth in that way that he needs to explore these other parts of himself and his memory to create work that infuses all these pieces. I am really glad I took the time to visit Robert and get to see his work and how he works. Winnipeg is a really unique spot for artists. There is still a lower cost of living, which means folks are able to spend more time on their work and less time hustling to find a living. Because of the extreme winter, folks are forced to stay indoors for half the year. There is no option but creation or madness. And sometimes the two dovetail quite nicely.

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