Cartoon Networking

Roz Chast in her Ridgefield, CT, studio, March 2015.
Photo by Jeremy Clowe for Norman Rockwell Museum.
All rights reserved.

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting cartoonist Roz Chast, whose humorous works have been appearing over 35 years in the pages of The New Yorker. Along with Norman Rockwell Museum's chief curator, I traveled to the artist's home in Connecticut to film an interview to be featured in our upcoming exhibition, Roz Chast: Cartoon Memories. Although it was Friday the 13th, I think we all felt lucky: the weather was feeling more comfortable, and I looked forward to another opportunity to create an exhibition video for the Museum.

Chast was also in good spirits: her memoir, Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? had just won "Best Autobiography" the night before from the National Book Critics Circle. I was told that this was the first time that an illustrated book has won the prestigious NBCC Award, and this added to other honors that Chast's graphic novel has picked up over the past year.

Leading up to the interview, I did a bit of research on the artist, whose work I was not familiar with (we only recently were gifted a subscription to The New Yorker). A longtime fan of comic books and cartoons (and practitioner of the art form myself), I wasn't sure what to make of Chast's quirky illustrations at first; she draws in a rather hastily, scribbled style, with liberal doses of sarcastic humor. By the time I was pouring through the fourth collection of her cartoons, I unfortunately had come down with a pretty nasty cold but suddenly found myself appreciating the style, which I learned was inspired by Charles Addams... it was sort of a release, if that makes sense. I asked her during the interview if making cartoons dealing with frustrating themes was therapeutic, and she heartily agreed.

Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? is Roz Chast's tale of caring for her parents  in their declining years. We talked a bit about her work on this more personal work, as well as her long history with The New Yorker. It was actually quite inspiring to hear her identify her limitations as a draftsman, followed by the surprisingly confident statement that she did not really care, and if she wanted to create cartoons she was going to. I thought this was unique to hear from an artist; you would think any hint of criticism would deter those of a sensitive bent. As I have gotten older, I have found myself getting much more perfectionistic about my drawing, which has unfortunately taken away the ease and enjoyment that I used to have when I was a kid, churning out mass numbers of doodles and comic books. Maybe working on this video documentary will be useful for me in other ways I had not expected...

Birds of a feather: Roz and her pet parrot.
Photo by Jeremy Clowe for NRM.

Of course, the rest of my preparation for the interview was getting used to the Museum's new HD video camera, light kit, and accessories, recently made possible through some generous members of our National Council. I assembled a nice three-point lighting set up, and was pleased with how it all looked in my monitor. I'm never sure how the subjects will be in front of or behind the camera, but Chast was quite pleasant, and immediately offered to give us a tour of the house (including her two animated parrots), which I also filmed. We ended up in her studio, where I took some footage of her working on one of her latest cartoons.  All in all, it was a great day and all my preparation paid off considerably. I am now looking forward to the post-production, and have some ideas about incorporating some animation and other elements that could be fun.

Roz Chast: Cartoon Memories will be on view at Norman Rockwell Museum from June 6 through October 26, 2015. A special gala opening will be held on Saturday, June 6, with the chance to meet the artist. I found her to be a charming lady, so it should be fun working with her on this upcoming show.

Related Links:

Roz Chast's website

Roz Chast interview, November 1, 2014, Salon.com 

"Cartoonist Roz Chast Brings It Home," JC's NRM website blog, March 16, 2015

Roz Chast Draws-and Talks to-Alec Baldwin, March 17, 2015, WNYC

Talking Pictures

"Good evening Mr. and Mrs. America, and all the ships at seas"...
photo by Deborah Greene.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

This morning I spent some time back in front of a microphone, practicing my best "1940s radio voice" for some digital modules the Museum is working on. Basically, I was asked to record a letter from our archives, that had been written to Norman Rockwell back in 1948 by an executive involved with the production of his Lineman illustration for AT&T (the original painting is part of our permanent collection). The executive is asking Rockwell to make corrections to the work, in order to make it appear more accurate. Something about the formality of the letter reminded me of old audio you come across from those days, when public figures seemed to talk in an affected, clipped manner (why was that?). I think it was the right call.

Rockwell on the line... photo of NRM's George
Church with the original painting. 

The cordial yet firm reply from Rockwell was read by my dapper colleague George Church, who actually had a career in radio for many years (I always enjoy hearing George's stories of working in the Los Angeles market, interviewing Bobby Darin and the like). These digital modules, linked to paintings from the Museum's collection, will also include excerpts from video interviews I have conducted with Rockwell models over the years, and should be ready by the end of the year (most likely in the form of a mobile app).

Below is a further look at the Museum's archives and collections, courtesy of an interview I conducted with American Lifestyle TV last year. It's a little weird to see myself on the other side of the camera here, but my responses come across pretty solid (lucky me!).