Saturday, October 28th @ 3:30 – 4:30 PM
Kent Regional Library – Recommended for Teens and Adults
212 2nd Ave N, Kent, WA 98032
Sponsored by 4Culture
Additionally supported by the King County Library, City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and Artist Trust
Kent, WA – In 2016, Seattle cartoonist Noel Franklin received an Art Projects grant from 4Culture for her graphic memoir-in-progress, Girl On The Road.
The story is based on Franklin’s friendship with fellow WWU art student, Deborah Penne. They travelled together frequently and moved to Chicago after graduation. The development of their friendship is traced through road trips, a shared aversion to settling down, and then the impact of losing Deborah when she died, due to the mechanical failure that led to the crash of Alaska Flight 261.
Thematically, Noel draws her lived experience as a woman from the working class, with a focus on stories that are underrepresented in the arts world – particularly that of friendships between women and travel. Girl On The Road explores both themes.
During her October 28th engagement at the Kent Regional Library, Noel will discuss her story, themes and process, as well as distribute free copies of a sample excerpt from the Girl On The Road. The print publication is the direct product of 4Culture funding.
Noel spent the majority of her childhood attending public schools in Kent, returning previously to produce literary arts programs in grade schools there as part of the Seattle Poetry Festival programming. She graduated Kentwood Senior High (though most of her friends were from Kent Meridian.
About Noel Franklin
Noel Franklin is an internationally published cartoonist. In early 2013, she chose to apply her degree in fine arts from Western Washington University and her modest success in literary ventures towards making fine comics. Noel attributes her unique style – building dark and light shapes from densely knotted lines – to her experience with stone lithography. For more information, including publication listings, sample artwork and select press highlights, visit www.noelfranklinart.com
You can also read Noel Franklin’s recent interview with New York’s Design Arts Daily at: https://www.ai-ap.com/publications/article/21035/the-qa-noel-franklin.html
Noel has recently been awarded a 4Culture Projects Grant, Artist Trust GAP Grant and City of Seattle Office of Arts and Culture Artist Project Grant. In 2017, she received a Cartoonist Northwest Toonie award for Best Comic Book for Coyote and Butterfly Woman, which was illustrated by Noel and written by Anne Bean.
