Last Monday I attended the Feeling Heard concert performance at the Ohio State University. A partnership between the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, and the OSU School of Music, this concert explored the overlaps between musical and comics storytelling through some “duets” where the musicians performed pieces in response to cartoon art, and art responded to music being played.
Here’s the latter, with art by Justin Schell:
And here is the improvisational duet, where musicians responded to Raina Telgemeier’s drawings as they emerged on the screen.
We can celebrate comics for what they can do better than other media. But we can also do that while simultaneously exploring the similarities it shares with other art forms. After the last decade or so, it seems to me like relating our interests to those of others is a healthy move, and I’m grateful to the team who demonstrated that through this performance.
I was also thrilled that two of the students I’m working with in my current residency got to play a part in the performance!
(oh and full disclosure, I was involved in the team, but only in drawing the cartoon host, Gene. Here I am on stage with everyone else)