The Center for Cartoon Studies was invited to present an evening of comics and applied cartooning for the Farmer’s Night series at the Vermont Statehouse. This is a weekly tradition that goes back over 100 years, bringing mid-week entertainment to lawmakers during the legislative session.
Michelle Ollie, cofounder and president of CCS, and cartoonist Dan Nott presented in the newly renovated Supreme Court building due to an extended session on the House floor. Despite the snowy weather, we had an audience that included lawmakers and members of the public of all ages.
Dan explored some of the key moments in comics history, and the diverse way the form has been used throughout the last century, from the beautiful broadsheet pages of Winsor McCay to the 1957 Civil Rights comic Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story.
Dan covered his approach of using comics to untangle complex topics and look at them piece by piece, including exploring systems we take for granted every day in his debut nonfiction graphic novel Hidden Systems, and the Applied Cartooning comic books, This is What Democracy Looks Like and Freedom and Unity.
Michelle reflected on the importance of comics in her development as a reader, an experience she drew upon for her 2017 comic “From the Desk of the President.” She discussed the different ways comics can be beneficial for literacy, the ACL’s graphic guide “How We Read,” and some of the work she’s done with CCS to advocate for young readers in the community.
