[Comicsstudiessociety] The Future of American Political Cartoons: A Symposium in Honor of Pat Oliphant

[Mike Rhode]

 The Future of American Political Cartoons: A Symposium in Honor of Pat
Oliphant
Posted on October 7, 2020
<https://news.library.virginia.edu/2020/10/07/the-future-of-political-cartoons-a-symposium-in-honor-of-pat-oliphant/>
by
Jeff <https://news.library.virginia.edu/author/jph9e/>
https://news.library.virginia.edu/2020/10/07/the-future-of-political-cartoons-a-symposium-in-honor-of-pat-oliphant/#registration

[image: image showing headshots and caricatures of cartoonists]
<https://i1.wp.com/news.library.virginia.edu/files/2020/10/ThirdBFoCsym_600pw.jpg?ssl=1>

In 2018, the UVA Library acquired the archive of Pat Oliphant, a dazzling
resource for future study of our most influential living cartoonist. Now
retired, Oliphant is deeply concerned about the future of the genre he has
influenced so profoundly.  Thanks in part to a generous grant from the UVA
Arts Endowment, we are proud to host a three-day conversation inspired by
Oliphant’s passion for the topic.

With print news receding, online sources proliferating (and become more
partisan), and digital tools opening new aesthetic horizons, what is
happening to this form of visual commentary, once the shared experience of
every reader with a newspaper and a cup of coffee?  In this virtual
symposium, prominent artists representing different generations and regions
of the country will share their insights and projections as their creative
field, once a stable part of the newsprint infrastructure, experiences
upheaval and a tenuous future.

As the 2020 Presidential election nears, join the UVA Library, keynote
speaker Keith Knight, special guest Pat Oliphant, and some of the country’s
most influential political cartoonists for in-depth discussions of the
field today and tomorrow.


*This symposium is sponsored in part by a UVA Arts Endowment Grant. The UVA
Arts Endowment <http://arts.virginia.edu/resources/the-arts-endowment/>
Grant works to expand, support, and promote excellence in the arts at UVA. *

*Books by symposium panelists are available through the UVA Bookstores at
https://uvabookstores.com/books/specialcollectionssymposium
<https://uvabookstores.com/books/specialcollectionssymposium>.*

*Speakers and Panelists
<https://news.library.virginia.edu/2020/10/07/the-future-of-political-cartoons-a-symposium-in-honor-of-pat-oliphant/#speakers>
|  Symposium Schedule
<https://news.library.virginia.edu/2020/10/07/the-future-of-political-cartoons-a-symposium-in-honor-of-pat-oliphant/#schedule>
|  Registration Information
<https://news.library.virginia.edu/2020/10/07/the-future-of-political-cartoons-a-symposium-in-honor-of-pat-oliphant/#registration>*


*SPEAKERS AND PANELISTS* Keynote Speaker: *Keith Knight*

[image: photo of cartoonist Keith Knight wearing a trilby and holding a
sharpie]
<https://i0.wp.com/news.library.virginia.edu/files/2020/10/Knight.jpg?ssl=1>

Keith Knight is many things to many people–rapper, social activist, father
and educator among them. He’s also one of the funniest and most highly
regarded cartoonists in America, and the creator of three popular comic
strips: “the Knight Life,” “(th)ink,” and the “K Chronicles.” Keith Knight
is part of a generation of African American artists who were raised on
hip-hop, and infuse their work with urgency, edge, humor, satire, politics
and race. His art has appeared in various publications worldwide, including
the Washington Post, Daily KOS, San Francisco Chronicle, Medium.com, Ebony,
ESPN the Magazine, L.A. Weekly, MAD Magazine, and the Funny Times.

His comic musings on race have garnered accolades and stirred
controversies, prompting the NAACP to recognize him as a 2015 History
Maker, and CNN to tap him to grade America on its progress concerning
issues of race. Knight’s life and work are the subject of the recently
launched Hulu series “Woke.”
Special Guest: *Pat Oliphant*

[image: Caricature of cartoonist Pat Oliphant holding pencil, with head
resting on right hand]
<https://i1.wp.com/news.library.virginia.edu/files/2020/10/Oliphant.jpg?ssl=1>Pat
Oliphant began his career at eighteen working as a copy boy in Adelaide,
Australia. When he joined the Denver Post as a cartoonist in 1964 he
introduced a cartooning style with a linear fluency and wit, an expansive
literary imagination, and a conceptual reach previously unknown to American
newspaper audiences. Within a year his work was syndicated internationally.
His swift rise to prominence, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1967, was
followed by five decades of sustained, uncompromising work. Oliphant is
widely recognized as the most influential political cartoonist of the last
half century.

In 2018, the UVA Library acquired Oliphant’s extensive professional
archive, including almost 7,000 drawings; further artwork including
watercolors, prints, sculptures, and sketchbooks; and archival material
including correspondence, photographs, professional papers, scrapbooks, and
audio and video recordings.


*[image: Circular headshot of cartoonist Nate Beeler, smiling with glasses,
tie, and goatee]
<https://i2.wp.com/news.library.virginia.edu/files/2020/10/Beeler.jpg?ssl=1>Nate
Beeler (Panelist) *Nate Beeler is an award-winning editorial cartoonist for
Counterpoint. Previously, he was the editorial cartoonist for The Columbus
Dispatch and The Washington Examiner. He is one of the most widely
syndicated cartoonists, with his work distributed internationally to nearly
a thousand publications by Cagle Cartoons. His cartoons have appeared in
such publications as USA Today, The New York Times, Newsweek, and Time,
among others, and have been featured on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News, where
viewers of “The O’Reilly Factor” officially voted him a “Pinhead.”

[image: Colorful caricature of cartoonist Matt Bors with pen behind ear,
smiling and giving a thumbs up sign]
<https://i0.wp.com/news.library.virginia.edu/files/2020/10/Bors.jpg?ssl=1>
*Matt Bors (Panelist and Student Roundtable participant) *Matt Bors is a
political cartoonist and founder and editor of The Nib, a daily digital
publication and website devoted to publishing and promoting political and
non-fiction comics. His work has appeared in The Nation, The Guardian, and
The Village Voice, and was recently collected in the book “We Should
Improve Society Somewhat.” He is a two-time Pulitzer Prize Finalist for his
political cartoons.

[image: Caricature of cartoonist Warren Craghead, black and white drawing
of man with dark spiky hair]
<https://i0.wp.com/news.library.virginia.edu/files/2020/10/Craghead.jpg?ssl=1>


*Warren Craghead (Student Roundtable Moderator) *Warren Craghead III lives
in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his wife and two daughters. He likes to
make pictures and has exhibited his work internationally. He has also
published many works including the Xeric Grant-winning “Speedy” and his
“Trump Trump “daily drawing project has been collected into two volumes. He
received an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, and a BFA from
Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, and attended the
Skowhegan School.

[image: line drawing caricature of cartoonist Tom Gibson]
<https://i2.wp.com/news.library.virginia.edu/files/2020/10/Gibson.jpg?ssl=1>
*Tom Gibson (Panelist) *Tom Gibson, founder of Advocacy Animation and New
Generation Foundation, is a cartoonist, writer, and public affairs
consultant. He began work in Washington as a free-lance cartoonist for the
Washington Post, then was an editor and cartoonist for USA Today at the
newspaper’s founding. From USA Today, he moved from frying pan to fire as
Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan and Director of White House
Public Affairs. Subsequently, Mr. Gibson returned to cartoon art through
web-based animation, while also working in public affairs and technology.
He received a BA from Princeton and holds an MPA from Harvard..

[image: Photo of cartoonist Kal Kallaugher, smiling bearded man wearing
colorful shirt and solid tie]
<https://i2.wp.com/news.library.virginia.edu/files/2020/10/Kallagher.jpg?ssl=1>
*Kevin Kallaugher (Panelist) *Kevin Kallaugher (KAL) is the international
award-winning editorial cartoonist for The Economist magazine of London and
The Baltimore Sun. In a distinguished career that spans 42 years, Kal has
created over 10,000 cartoons and 150 magazine covers. His resumé includes
six collections of his published work, exhibitions in a dozen countries,
and awards and honors in seven. These awards include Feature Cartoonist of
the Year (UK), The Thomas Nast Prize (Germany), Cartoon of the Year
(Europe), The Berryman Award (US), Herblock Prize (US), and two-time
finalist for the Pulitzer Prize (US).

[image: Photo of cartoonist Rob Rogers, smiling man wearing glasses in
front of drawings pinned to a wall]
<https://i0.wp.com/news.library.virginia.edu/files/2020/10/Rogers.jpg?ssl=1>
*Rob Rogers (Panelist) *Rob Rogers is a nationally syndicated editorial
cartoonist working in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a two-time Pulitzer
finalist. In June of 2018, after 25 years on staff at the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, Rogers was fired for drawing cartoons critical of President
Trump. In his most recent book, Enemy of the People: A Cartoonist’s
Journey, Rogers talks about the importance of satire in today’s political
climate. Rogers continues to draw for syndication and was named a 2019
Emerson Fellow by the Emerson Collective.

[image: Photo of Jen Sorenson, smiling woman in front of brick wall]
<https://i1.wp.com/news.library.virginia.edu/files/2020/10/Sorenson.jpg?ssl=1>
*Jen Sorensen (Panelist and Student Roundtable participant) *Jen Sorensen’s
cartoons appear in The Nib, Daily Kos, The Nation, Politico, and
alternative newsweeklies around the US, including the C-VILLE Weekly in
Charlottesville. A UVA grad, she was the winner of the 2014 Herblock Prize
and a 2017 Pulitzer Finalist. In 2021, Jen will serve as President of the
Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.



[image: Line drawing caricature of cartoonist Ann Telnaes]
<https://i1.wp.com/news.library.virginia.edu/files/2020/10/Telnaes.jpg?ssl=1>
*Ann Telnaes (Panelist) *Ann Telnaes creates editorial cartoons in various
mediums—animation, visual essays, live sketches, and traditional print—for
the Washington Post. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for her print
cartoons and the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben for Outstanding
Cartoonist of the Year in 2017.



[image: Colorful caricature of cartoonist Signe Wilkinson]
<https://i1.wp.com/news.library.virginia.edu/files/2020/10/Wilkinson.jpg?ssl=1>
*Signe Wilkinson (Panelist) *Signe Wilkinson has drawn political cartoons
for four newspapers, six editors, a confusing array of publishers and for
people who love opinions concentrated in one potent image. She has been in
awe of Pat Oliphant that entire time.



[image: Photograph of cartoonist Adam Zyglis wearing a beard, glasses,
shirt and tie]
<https://i0.wp.com/news.library.virginia.edu/files/2020/10/Zyglis.jpg?ssl=1>
*Adam Zyglis (Panelist and Student Roundtable participant) *Adam Zyglis is
the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for The Buffalo News, his hometown
newspaper. He began drawing weekly editorial cartoons for The Griffin at
Canisius College. His cartoons appear in publications such as The
Washington Post, USA Today, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Los Angeles
Times, and MAD magazine. Recognition for his work includes the National
Press Foundation’s Berryman Award (2013), the National Headliner Award for
Editorial Cartoons in (2007, 2011 and 2015), the Grambs Aronson Cartooning
with a Conscience award (2015) and the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial
Cartoons (2015). Also in 2015 he was awarded a Distinguished Alumni Award
from Canisius College. In 2016 he was awarded the Sigma Delta Chi award by
the Society of Professional Journalists.


SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE Thursday, October 22

*Student Roundtable for current UVA students*
4 to 5 p.m. ET
Moderator: Warren Craghead
Speakers: Matt Bors, Keith Knight, Jen Sorensen, Adam Zyglis


Friday, October 23

*Keynote address: Red, white, black, and blue: Highlighting America’s
Racial Illiteracy*
7 to 8:15 p.m. ET
Keith Knight


Saturday, October 24

*Panel 1: Challenges to Freedom of Expression in Political Cartooning Today*
Noon to 1:15 p.m. ET
Panelists: Rob Rogers, Jen Sorensen, Adam Zyglis

*Panel 2: Drawing for a Polarized Public*
2 to 3:15 p.m. ET
Panelists: Nate Beeler, Matt Bors, Signe Wilkinson

*Panel 3: Extinction or Evolution?: Imagining the Future of Political
Cartoons*
4 to 5:15 p.m. ET
Panelists: Tom Gibson, Kevin Kallaugher (KAL), Ann Telnaes


REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Visit the event page to register
<https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-future-of-american-political-cartoons-registration-123236502697>.
Registration is free, and guests will have the choice to register for any
session(s) they would like to attend. Please note that Thursday’s Student
Roundtable is limited to current UVA students only.
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