24 Comments
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Nancy Detra's avatar

The elephant and the donkey and the beautiful bouquet is a wish we all can make!

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Liza Donnelly's avatar

Thank you. Right?

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Patris's avatar

Your premise is such a powerful one. I can imagine the impact you had as you walked to the stage and started drawing your wonderful images! I wish I could have been there. This is so freaking timely. (As it is with horrible regularity in history)

I love the three friends - it’s so apparent that they are - but my favorite is the running/dancing solitary figure - she should be an icon, I think, that represents freedom of mind and body, joyfully.

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Liza Donnelly's avatar

Thank you, Patris. That last solitary drawing is one I draw all the time. I think its freedom and joy.

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Patris's avatar

Yes - I recognized it, it speaks to me every time. Wonderful

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Sandy Driscoll's avatar

So so much here! I laughed out loud at the joyful running woman! I will be thinking of that all day long!

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Liza Donnelly's avatar

Thank you, Sandy! That makes me happy.

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bob buchanan's avatar

Lovely comments that animate and inspire the inspiring drawings. You are a superb thinker/teacher/artist.

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Liza Donnelly's avatar

Thank you, bob. I don't think of myself as a teacher in the classic sense, but maybe I am in my drawing sometimes.

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KittyLiterate's avatar

I'm back, but still in a fog. Love the cartoons. The freedom of the second woman gives me hope.

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Liza Donnelly's avatar

I'm glad your back, but so sorry, Allia. Take care of yourself.

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Wendy Wolf's avatar

Loved the top 2 drawings. So joyful. Safe travels back home, Liza!

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Liza Donnelly's avatar

Thanks!

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Patrick Houston's avatar

Donnelly, congrats on presenting to such a prestigious audience! Love your drawings — even if the New Yorker didn’t. I mean, they have no taste anyways. 😁

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Liza Donnelly's avatar

hahahahah. Thanks, Patrick!

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steve rensch's avatar

I love the "political" cartoons.

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Liza Donnelly's avatar

Thanks!

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Terry Mc Kenna's avatar

The issue of how men draw wornen compared to how women do is too large for just a comment. But one thing that seems worth noting is the for men, women are the desired object. Women react to being objectified. Men (even if of good will) still react viscerally to a woman's body almost without reflection.

No amount of talk about equity or rights or even logic can change this (and I suggest it is deeper than acculturation - that it goes across all cultures).

I only did figure painting while in art school - but artist who I knew who did paint the figure ofter were known for chasing the model around their studio. This artist was one of my teachers and a model at Cooper Union commented about how Jack Stewart would chase her around his studio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Stewart_(artist)

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Liza Donnelly's avatar

It's a complicated subject and I've discussed this with male friends before. Not being a man, its hard for me to comment much! Women react viscerally to men's bodies too (and of cours LBGT!+ people have their reactions), but men's bodies have not been objectified for centuries. But the point of my talk was not the way artists draw so much as that now women can draw their lives and their points of view, as well as their own bodies as they so please.

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Terry Mc Kenna's avatar

When I see nudes by artists that I admired decades ago, such as Neil Welliver, I wonder now if work like his would pass muster today. I don't see much of the male gaze in current day art. I see frank nudes - often by women but not much of young women gazed at by a 50 year old man.

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Philip Shane's avatar

Congrats on the talk! Hope you got to hear some fabulous music down there as well, it’s a great festival.

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Liza Donnelly's avatar

no, but saw some good films! Thanks, PHilip!

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Linda H. Davis's avatar

The NYer’s loss and our gain. I think both cartoons are wonderful— and yes, political, but what isn’t these days? Onward.

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Liza Donnelly's avatar

Thank you, Linda!

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