Art of comics, cartoons featured at IU Kokomo Gallery
August 3, 2006
KOKOMO, Ind.—The stories and characters of cartoons and animated movies, the fun of sharing and collecting of our favorites comic books—these are things most of us remember fondly from growing up, says Gregory Steel, director of the Indiana University Kokomo Art Gallery.
Opening August 20 at the gallery, the “Off the Panel” Comic Show, an exhibition of original comic art, will both spark those memories and prove that, in some ways, comics have grown up, too. “Artists are now using the comic/animated cartoon media to discuss larger issues of sexuality, gender, social inequalities,” Steel said “Every facet of society is being examined, and new stories are being told, using this media.
“Off the Panel” works will share exhibition space with cartoon cels collected by IU Kokomo Lecturer in English Karla Farmer Stouse and her husband, Jeff Stouse. Originally made from celluloid—hence the name—cels are sheets of thin clear plastic on which characters are drawn for film animation. Stacking cels of several characters in front of opaque backgrounds proved quicker than the earlier process of drawing a sequence of scenes frame-by-frame.
The Stouses’ “very eclectic collection” includes original cels, which are used in the production of a cartoon, and limited edition cels, which are created from a cartoon scene for collectors. They also have animation drawings (sketches that are eventually transferred into cels), model sheets (a series of poses drawn as standards for animating a particular character), and comic book cover proofs.
“Jeff’s preference is for the characters of his youth . . . Jonny Quest, Spiderman, and Wile E. Coyote,” Karla Stouse said. Her favorite is a drawing of one of Donald Duck’s nephews playing a sousaphone. “It just plain makes me smile because it’s so silly, so authentic, so well done. It isn’t Monet, but that doesn’t matter to me.”
Admission to all IU Kokomo Art Gallery exhibitions and events is free. Located across from the IU Kokomo Library, the gallery is open Monday–Thursday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; Wednesdays, until 8 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, noon–4 p.m. Visit http://www.iuk.edu/gallery or call (765) 455-9523.
Funding for these exhibitions comes in part from the Kokomo Community Arts Commission, the Tippecanoe Arts Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Indiana Arts Commission/Indiana Endowment for the Arts.
