Tom Hart
Founder and Executive Director
Tom Hart is the creator of the Hutch Owen series of graphic novels and books, and has been a core instructor at New York City’s School of Visual Arts for 10 years, teaching cartooning to undergraduates,working adults and teens alike. Among his students were Dash Shaw, Sarah Glidden Box Brown and other published cartoonists like Leslie Stein, Jessica Fink, Nicole Virella, Tintin Pantoja, Yali Lin, Josh Bayer, Brendan Leach and many others. His own work has been nominated for all the major industry awards; his The Collected Hutch Owen was nominated for best graphic novel in 2000. He was an early recipient of a Xeric Grant for self-publishing cartoonists, and has been on many best-of lists in the Comics Journal and other comix publications. He has been called “One of the great underrated cartoonists of our time” by Eddie Campbell and “One of my favorite cartoonists of the decade” by Scott McCloud. His daily Hutch Owen comic strip ran for 2 years in newspapers in New York and Boston, and his “Ali’s House”, co-created with Margo Dabaie was picked up by King Features Syndicate. He has taught comix and sequential art at schools and institutions all around New York City for 10 years, and has conducted week-long workshops from Maine to Hawaii. In addition to constant comix practice and work, he has studied drama, acting and improvisation in New York and sees creating the Sequential Artists Workshop as the next step of his teaching and learning career. His next book will be Daddy Lightning, in March 2012 from Retrofit, and Let’s Get Furious, a 380-page new Hutch Owen collection, also in March 2012, from Top Shelf.
Tom Hart’s website
Mid-career critical analysis in The Comics Journal
Student Testimonials
photo by Seth Kushner
Justine Mara Andersen
Justine Mara Andersen was mentored by and learned from top names in the industry, including such luminaries as P. Craig Russell (Elric, Sandman), Val Mayerik (Punisher, Conan), Frank Thorne (Red Sonja), John Workman, Jim Steranko and Jeffrey Catherine Jones, but struck out on her own to create her long-running series Mara, Celtic Shamaness for Fantagraphics as well as working as an inker and illustrator for DC Comics, Image Comics, Wizards of the Coast (D&D, etc.), Lucasfilms and other clients.
See more of her work here: http://www.barefootjustine.com
Leela Corman
Leela Corman studied painting, printmaking and illustration at Massachuesettes College of Art and is the author of three graphic novels. Her newest book t Unterzakhn, published by Schocken/Pantheon, has garnerd rave reviews in The New York Times, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and other places. Her first, Queen’s Day earned her a Xeric Award in 1999 and was called “Music to my eyes” by Scott McCloud. In her successful illustration career, she has illustrated books for major publishers on crafts, fashion, gardening, dating and other topics. She is also an accomplished bellydancer and bellydance instructor. Her website is
www.leelacorman.com
Carrie Guss
Writing teacher Carrie Guss currently teaches undergraduate creative writing at the University of Florida, and is finishing up her MFA in Fiction. She has a degree in Politics and Media Studies from Pomona College, where she studied creative nonfiction under David Foster Wallace. She is working on a collection of short stories.
She also has an IMDB page for her role as “Zombie Queen” in 2009′s The Hell Patrol.
Dan Stepp
Daniel Stepp received his M.F.A. in painting from the New York Academy of Art.
He has exhibited in Florida, New York, Canada, and around the U.S. His paintings have been described as American genre. Subjects that his paintings explore are: tools and technology, gender roles in labor, corporate branding, and the transference of myth and archetype onto genre activities.
His comic-book series, Humungous Man, humorously playing with myth and archetype, was published by Alternative Comics from 1995-1997.
Interview with Dan Stepp
Dan Stepp’s website
Supporting and visiting faculty to be announced.
Was wondering what art you did for dc and image? Was thinking about attending your school SAW
You can see more of Justine’s work at http://barefootjustine.com/galleries/illustration/ and http://barefootjustine.com/galleries/comics/