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International cartoonist to lead Museum workshops
Instructor: Jesse van Muijlwijk
A Courtenay-based cartoonist with an international following is to lead local workshops to help people tell stories in comic strip style. Jesse van Muijlwijk's daily cartoon strips are published in 14 daily newspapers in the Netherlands and his work is so popular in Europe that more than a dozen books have already been published solely featuring his work. He often has to distill a big and complex story down to a few short words and illustrations to make a telling and often amusing point. It's a skill he has mastered over the past 25 years and one that he now plans to share with local children at a workshop being hosted by Courtenay and District Museum during August. "Dinosaurs are very appealing to children," he says. "The kids can make up their own stories, such as what dinosaurs might be thinking when they meet each other. "It's always fun to give human thoughts to animals, and doing it through speech and thought bubbles in cartoon strips is a great way to tell a story." Family history workshops for adults will be announced in September "We all have wonderful stories to tell, and the cartoon format can be a very effective way of attracting attention, creating interest and making points," says Jesse. "It is possible to summarize important events from someone's life in a very small space with a little thought and creativity." In the upcoming workshops, he wants to show people how to put family history into graphic form. "I would like people to come to the workshop with a piece of oral history – perhaps an account told to them by a parent or grandparent – which we can turn to artistic form for them to keep." He will work with each participant to develop a storyboard of pictures and help them edit essential words down to the minimum while retaining the clarity of the message. For more information about any of the workshops, contact the museum at 250-334-0686 |
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