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Paul Hornschemeier Launches Graphic Novelist Residency at Thurber House
By Margaret Marten
Mar/Apr 2012 Issue

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Paul Hornschemeier (C) Photo/Charlie Deets

A Graphic Novelist Residency at the Thurber House – the first of its kind – has been awarded to Paul Hornschemeier, Ohio State University alumnus and author of books including Mother, Come Home and the New York Times bestselling Life With Mr. Dangerous. The three-week residency, supported by a grant from the Greater Columbus Arts Council and under the direction of the Thurber House and the Columbus Museum of Art (where workshops and talks will be held), is designed to provide a graphic artist/writer with an opportunity to develop a work-in-progress. The recipient receives a stipend and housing in a two-bedroom apartment in the boyhood home of author and New Yorker cartoonist James Thurber.

Hornschemeier, who lives in Evanston, Ill., with his wife, said this will be his first residency. Foremost on his mind during our phone conversation in February was the logistics of the trip, what to take and what to leave behind, but mostly whether he should bring his scanner. “If it’s like a weekend or a week, that’s one thing, but at a certain point I’d have to bring a lot of stuff with me,” he said.

As far as the work-in-progress he’s expected to develop during his residency, at least six books occupy his time these days. He could turn his attention to any one of them. “I’m sure there are some people who only work on one thing at once. I’m not one of those people,” he said, “at least my brain won’t let me be one of those people.”

Hornschemeier’s blog, where he posts a drawing every day, has got him working in a number of different aesthetics. Inspired by flash fiction, he came up with the idea of writing a short story about one drawing and then another story about the next drawing, “not worrying about it being this multi-paneled or multipage or hundreds-of-pages kind of sequence,” he explained, but rather “really hyper-short story stuff, snippets of the world, and then ‘boom’ you have to change to the next thing.”

His improvisational skills have not gone unnoticed. “One of the things that is really interesting to me about Paul’s work is that he can change the style of his artwork completely depending on the needs of the story,” said Jeff Sims, the musuem’s adult-programs educator. Sims’ lifelong interest in comics and graphic novels placed him at the forefront of the nomination process in gathering ideas and work samples for the administration of the two institutions to examine and choose their first resident. The committee also consulted with the Ohio State University faculty where the the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is located.

“We certainly didn’t pick just any comic artist,” said Sims. Published works and new works in progress are a basic requirement. The collaboration between the Thurber House and the Museum of Art is intended to establish a union of words and pictures, so the nominee should approach the literary and visual side of their work with equal expertise and interest. “Paul definitely meets that criterion,” said Sims. “He’s also got a terrific color sense. He’s done some professional work as a colorist, really successful coloring work for comics.” Lastly, as an Ohio native and OSU alumnus, Hornschemeier’s nomination highlights the importance of Ohio’s comic history. “There’s a huge list of terrific comic artists who have come out of Ohio, and out of Columbus. This will be a good chance for us to talk about that.”

Hornschemeier was raised in Georgetown, Ohio, and graduated from Ohio State University where he studied philosophy and worked for The Lantern as a graphics editor. That work included preparing the paste-up board for the comic page. “It was a great college job,” he said, “and a far cry better than my first college job, which was scraping off trays in the basement of a cafeteria and lugging around giant bags of chocolate milk to refill the aluminum machines.”

In addition to drawing and writing, Hornschemeier now teaches a class at the University of Chicago, “Writing the Graphic Novel.” “I’m basically forcing English majors to try to draw,” he said, “which is always interesting. Yet, I try to get across that drawing pretty pictures isn’t really the engine of comics. It really is storytelling and being able to write and tell a good story.”

Hornschemeier noted that the organizers were respectful in arranging his schedule so there would be plenty of time to work on his books. Not surprising considering his typical workday. He says he works most days from 7 in the morning to around 1 or 2 a.m. “I work pretty much around the clock all the time, much to my wife’s dismay, but I take days off here and there.”

Nannette Maciejunes, executive director of the Columbus Museum of Art, views this collaboration, residency, and the companion programs as an opportunity to continue the ongoing dialogue about the place comics hold in the art world. Two talks are scheduled at the museum during Hornschemeier’s visit to engage in that conversation. On Saturday, March 31 at 2 p.m., Otterbein professor of philosophy Andrew Mills will discuss Hornschemeier’s work in a philosophical context. He often addresses philosophical issues in his books, most notably in his 2007 work The Three Paradoxes. An artist’s talk and interview in collaboration with the OSU Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities will be held on Thursday, April 5 at 7 p.m., also at the museum. Hornschemeier will share thoughts about his creative process with interviewer, comics writer, and blogger Jared Gardner, a professor of English and Film Studies at OSU. A selection of Hornschemeier’s scripts, storyboards, and sketches highlighting his creative process will be on display.

“The Graphic Novel,” an adult writing workshop taught by Hornschemeier is scheduled at the Thurber House on Monday, March 26 from 6 to 8 p.m. A Young Writers’ Studio will be held on Wednesday, March 28 from 6 to 8 p.m., also led by Hornschemeier. Visit www.thurberhouse.org or www.columbusmuseum.org or more information.

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