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It is a thrill to have my first retrospective at the Norman Rockwell Museum. The opening was July 10th and the show ran until September 27, 2020. You can see much of the exhibit on the Norman Rockwell site, as well as videos of me talking about my work. It is a wonderful museum dedicated to illustration and art for social justice. Rockwell was passionate that his paintings speak about important cultural and political issues, and I am honored to have my drawings beside his.
As part of the exhibit, I was invited to draw in Rockwell’s studio; I was the first artist to do so since his death in 1978. My reflections on Rockwell and the experience of working in his studio were published in The Washington Post: “In a sacred space: How New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly came to work in Norman Rockwell’s studio”
Below are three videos the museum made: one about my work in general, one is a capture of me painting a mural at the museum, and the other about my passion for live drawing on my iPad.
“Donnelly, a cartoonist and children’s book author, has been making wry, powerful cartoons for The New Yorker for more than 30 years. Don’t let the show’s name fool you: Charged with political awareness from feminism to Black Lives Matter, Donnelly’s career is a master class in using humor to heighten and amplify a dead-serious point of view.” -Murray Whyte, The Boston Globe.
Our country — and the world — is talking about race in deep ways that we never have before. I lived through the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s, and while the movement brought us far in understanding and change, it is nothing like what we are learning now. We have a very long way to go yet, politically and culturally. But on the state level and soon on the national level, we are passing legislation for change. Institutions are making positive decisions such as removing racist symbols, statues, flags and practices. As a people, we are talking. These are good steps. They need to continue, along with protests, for a long time before we are done.
These drawings were done in the last week as I thought about what has been going on. The murder of George Floyd is only the latest of many such horrible deaths at the hands of police; I drew about the pain of losing a brother, the children about whom we have to worry, the protests of blacks and whites. The drawing below is about the burden of racism that our country unfairly puts on black citizens, a burden that I, a white person, do not have to carry, but should.
Every day, I draw a different image live on Instagram and Twitter and talk about what I sense is going on, what the issues are, how I am impacted personally and dialogue with those who join me.
Drawings are about communication, emotion and the sharing of ideas.
Last night we witnessed a fairly civilized debate between the two remaining viable Democratic candidates in the race for president (Rep Tulsi Gabbard has not ended her candidacy, but only has two delegates and was not on the stage). Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders are seasoned politicians , and so the debate was heavy on policy, although it did get heated several times. Because of the corona virus pandemic currently sweeping the globe, the organizers decided that there would be no audience. No applause, and no one to pander to. There were few soundbites and the conversation at times seemed substantive — but mostly it was attack and defend.
I drew some highlights and picked up on comments that to me seemed to be indicative of the debate. Visually, it was rather boring and static. The two men were further apart from each other than usual — again, because of the corona virus — but that didn’t stop Bernie from grandly gesticulating as he is want to. Biden, a man who stands fairly still during debates (I’ve been watching him through every single debate), quietly used his body in expressing himself this time. While Bernie often took up space using both arms, Joe shifted back and forth, bending his elbows and sometimes demonstrably leaning back as he listened to and looked at Bernie’s statements. Cameras were held on both men most of the time, so when one was talking, I could watch the other’s facial expressions. Both men would smile (or grimace) from time to time at the (to them) outrageous statments coming from the other man. Bernie’s face betrayed more responsive reaction than Joe’s, in the end.
Bernie is down in the delegate count, so he entered this debate the underdog. Joe offered a few olive branches that Bernie really did not accept. Perhaps because he is the underdog, I heard attacks from Sanders, and very few from Biden who attacked mostly when on the defensive. In essence, they both want the same things: health care for all, equality for Americans, help for the poor, accountability for the rich. Biden showed that he knows how to work with others — and has done so for his entire career — to make it happen. Bernie is known as someone who does not work particularly well with others, and his “revolutionary” ideas are just that, ideas. They sound great, but they cannot be accomplished on his scale in our democracy.
In my twenties, although I did not actually call myself one (no one asked ), I was a socialist democrat. When I was in college, I traveled with other classmates and professors to the Soviet Union (and of course drew my trip). I was curious. I had read Marx and wondered about how his ideals did or did not work. During my travels to the USSR and Eastern Europe, my eyes were opened bigtime, as I saw how ideals had been perverted by the dictatorship of the Soviet regime. Even after college, although I was not a fan of the USSR, I drew cartoons for the Guardian and The Nation, left wing newspapers in the US. I knew a few lefties, but generally did not like to hang out with them because of the dogma and self righteousness I would sometimes encounter. It felt too much like a religion, and I was not a joiner.
The first time I voted was for President, I registered as an Independent because I did not want to be a part of any party. Ever since then, I have voted Democratically in every election, but never joined the Democratic Party…until 2016 because I wanted to vote in the NY Primary vote for Hillary Clinton.
In 2017, I was invited to travel to Cuba as a member of a jury for a cartoon competition (and of course, drew it). It was fascinating, and the Cubans are incredibly welcoming people. But I saw for myself the decay and poverty that Castro’s failed “socialist” system had caused.
I understand Bernie’s ideas, and if I were twenty again, I would probably have been his supporter. But his ideas — on his scale — are not viable; after having watched politics for over 40 years, I know that now. What I saw on stage last night was a clear representation of that. We need a leader right now who will help us right now to defeat Donald Trump and set the country right again. Sanders is not that man, Biden is. Sanders has shown himself to be a devisive figure and does not work well with others; Biden is calm and collected, has been on the world stage, and he is a collaborator.
This difference was most clear to me when Sanders spoke in response to Biden’s claim that he would rejoin the US in the Paris Climate Accord on day one. Sanders replied, , “ Okay, rejoin the Paris Climate Accord. Fine. Who cares?” He went on to explain the gravity of climate change, all of which is true. It is beyond serious. But by dismissing the PCA in such a flippant way, I believe Sanders showed his true colors: don’t need to collaborate, I know what’s best, and no one else does. I believe this attitude does not get anything done.
Biden made news by promising to have a woman on his ticket as Vice President and to nominate the first black woman to the Supreme Court. Sanders appeared to be taken off guard and said he would “most likely” have a woman Vice President on his ticket, and then said there are some progressive women out there (paraphrased).
Both men tried to play gotcha on past voting records, and we know they both made unpopular decisions in the past due to either their constituents or their religious upbringing. But because of the current crisis around a pandemic, this debate in the end was about the NOW.
The last two drawings below to me show the essence of the debate. The first one shows a snippet from each man’s long answer to the last question of the night about the corona virus.
What I heard from each final speech sums it up: The pragmatist vs. the dreamer. Two men who seek to help, have the same beliefs, but who see the methodology differently.
This drawing below is my own interpretation of the entire debate. That’s not to say that Biden doesn’t have dreams for America, I know he does. And that’s not to say Sanders doesn’t seek to work on the now, I am sure he does.
But for me, what we need is help: leadership, collaboration, hope. Right now.
There has been a lot of discussion about — and action towards— removing statues of people who have racists histories; and I think it’s a good thing. Some don’t agree with it.
I thought of this drawing today with that in mind. This president is not a statue, however there is much discussion about removing him because of his beliefs and his behavior. And there is some action beeing taken towards removing him. Not by pulling him down, as the drawing implies, but by voting in November.
I venture to say that the groups most interested in his removal are Blacks, Feminists and LGBTQ communities.
These are some drawings I did in the last twenty four hours in response to the brutal killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, and the subsequent riots and protests around the country in major cities. This follows many other recent racist acts in our country.
Having lived through the 1960’s and 70’s, I remember how important, yet how frigentening and disturbing these events are. We need the protests to fully recognize and acknowledge how serious racisim is, how deeply engrained in our culture and poltical system it still is. We don’t need violence, we don’t need looting, we don’t need vandalism; but anger is clearly understandable and any violence during the protests I hope will be short lived. Protest is a form of speech for those who feel they are not being heard. Violence during protests only obscures the speech and is counterproductive.
A flag upside down is an international symbol of distress.
We have to be better as human beings towards our fellow human beings. I am not sure what it will take; we do not have a leader to help us through this. We have to be better, each and every one of us, on a one-to-one basis.
One thing I know: vote for change in America. Our current president is only inciting the violence.
I drew these live, on Instagram TV and Periscope. Videos to come.
