I wrote an article for the Washington Post, interviewing 7 cartoonists for The New Yorker about their thoughts on gender and their work drawing humor and drawing bodies…including their own!
I found what they said fasicnating, and I even drew small comics to highlight some of the artist’s ideas. Here are two samples:
Scholastic, in partnership with the Herblock Foundation, invited me to speak on zoom to 600 high school students about the different formats available for budding cartoonists. At the end, I drew for them! It is part of a series of courses they offered recently. I loved doing it, sharing what I know, and hope the students did too.
I love live-drawing journalism, and have been doing it for 7 years. The pandemic put a pause on my being able to do it on location, traveling to places. During covid, I did a lot of live-drawing in my studio (daily, as a matter of fact), talking with my viewers and drawing. But I yearn to be sent places and to cover events with live drawings and commentary. Please contact me (liza.donnelly@gmail.com) if interested in my work in this regard. (I even do weddings!)
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here is a video I did for the Norman Rockwell Museum about my work in this type of visual journalism.
The other night, I had the joy of speaking with humorist, author, academic Gina Barreca at a book event for my book Very Funny Ladies. We really got into it, discussing humor and feminism and women, and we had a lot of laughs. This event was hosted by the bookstore RJ Julia Booksellers, and I am grateful to them for putting it on! Below is the video of our conversation.
I was honored to be the featured profile in an article in the Washington Post about cartoonists’ responses to the ruling against Roe V Wade, along with my drawing. Below is an expert, click here for entire article.
Donnelly, who contributes cartoons to the New Yorker, was absorbing how a Supreme Court decision Friday on Mississippi’s restrictive abortion law, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, led to the court’s overturning Roe v. Wade, leaving states free to outlaw abortion.
As she decided how to put those feelings into art, Donnelly considered that she could skewer antiabortion activists or conservative justices or supporters of Donald Trump — or could draw women “yelling at the top of their lungs demanding freedom.” Instead, she chose to render what was at the forefront of her mind: “fear for our democracy.” She drew a staggered Lady Liberty.
“Like me, I imagined she felt punched in the gut, taken off balance, in pain, insulted and crestfallen,” she says. “However, like many other women, Lady Liberty will again stand strong for the principles on which our country was founded.”
I just got back from Oslo, where I live drew the Oslo Freedom Forum, as I have done for 7 years now. It is an amazing conference, with speakers from around the world, many of whom are dissidents and activists for global and local causes. It is run by the Human Rights Foundation, and to learn about the event in Oslo and NRF, I suggest you go to their websites. You can see some, if not all, of the proceedings and make a donation.
I am honored to be invited to draw the events, it is an incredibly inspiring few days and I meet so many passionate, committed, friendly, outstanding people. The fact there are so many dissidents having to battle so much violence, hate and oppression hurts my heart — the numbers are staggering. But it is inspiring they are amongst us, and I am grateful that they get the open and loud support of the HRF, this helps keep them safe.
In the meantime, go to my Medium page to see all of my drawings. I also tweet them in real time, so they can be seen on my twitter and Instagram.
I have to pinch myself sometimes.
