Nancy Ohanian, professor of art at Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ.
Widely published illustrator and cartoonist Nancy Ohanian, an art professor at Rowan University, delves into her world as a noted political cartoonist.
Beth Dombkowski:
Hello. My name is Beth Dombkowski, and I'm coming to you from the office of admissions at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. Welcome to Rowan confidential. I am here today speaking with Nancy Ohanion. Nancy Ohanion's imagery is syndicated through tribute content agency of the Chicago Tribune. She is the 2018 recipient of the National Press Foundation's Clifford K. And James T. Berryman Award for Editorial Cartoons. She has drawn exclusively for The New York times, The Los Angeles times, The Wall Street Journal, The financial Times, and other print and online news publications since 1974. Her political and social justice posters are included in the permanent collection of the center for the study of political graphics in Los Angeles. She teaches in the department of art at Rowan university. Nancy, hello, welcome.
Nancy Ohanion:
Thank you.
Beth Dombkowski:
Thank you for joining us today, and we appreciate your being here.
Nancy Ohanion:
Happy to be here.
Beth Dombkowski:
Okay, so I have a series of questions for you. Are you're ready?
Nancy Ohanion:
Yes.
Beth Dombkowski:
Here we go. Tell us what wakes you up in the morning? What's your inspiration or passion?
Nancy Ohanion:
Okay. I wake up every morning with a million ideas. I mean, that's how I wake up. I just pop out of bed and I immediately go to my computer. But also, I have to tell you, I take paper and pencil to bed with me-
Beth Dombkowski:
Do you really?
Nancy Ohanion:
Because I wake up a million times during the night and write down ideas. So the first thing I do when my mind is really nice and fresh in the morning is, I want to remember all those ideas. And because I write them down, it gives me the freedom in my mind to entertain some of the next ideas. So, I immediately go to my computer, and very often during that morning time, I'll think of things that I may have forgotten in a previous drawing I did, or something that I want to correct. Things just come to me from the drawings that I've done earlier, and I'll get up right away and either add those things or correct them, and change them on my website, upload them back on my website, and then I just start drawing. I have like a zillion ideas that are lined up on my computer. And that's what happens to me in the morning.
Beth Dombkowski:
Oh, my goodness. So you jump right into work every day?
Nancy Ohanion:
I do.
Beth Dombkowski:
That's wonderful. So tell us about the subject matter that you address in your work.
Nancy Ohanion:
Well, my drawings represent just about every social and political issue that is currently in the news. Mostly, I represent political corruption and Donald Trump. They're one in the same, with apologies to the world. But my subject matter is politics and politicians, mostly Donald Trump and people in Congress and the environment, gender issues, equal rights, any of the issues that are important to us now or that should be important, at least to our legislators.
Beth Dombkowski:
So you characterize yourself as an illustrator?
Nancy Ohanion:
You know what? People can call me whatever they want. Sometimes I'm an illustrator, sometimes I'm a cartoonist. Now I'm a cartoonist.
Beth Dombkowski:
You're a cartoonist. And what is your primary media that you use?
Nancy Ohanion:
Right now, all my work is digital. It used to be pen and ink. I started as a pen and ink many, many years ago in the 1970s, drawing for The LA times, as you said, and The New York Times. And I loved pen and ink. It's a wonderful skill to play with. And after a while, I started just being very curious about using color in my work, and I didn't feel like I could use color with pen and ink the way that I wanted to. So I started playing with the computer. I started using the illustrator program, Adobe Illustrator, and that's what I use now, Adobe Illustrator.
Beth Dombkowski:
Okay, great. So the cartoons that you do, how does this impact the world? How does art in general or commentary like this impact the world?
Nancy Ohanion:
So, I think that cartoons... When a person says something with a smile on their face, or when something is funny, it's not as threatening, and it's more apt to be heard. And that's why I love cartoons, because when you do a cartoon, you can say so much more than if you're on the news station, or if you're a TV anchor, or if you're writing it. So, you may be saying the same thing, but you're even saying it further, you're going further, you're going across the line of what would be appropriate to say in words. And so that's what I like to do.
Nancy Ohanion:
And I like people to be able to look at something without being turned off, and look at it and perhaps laugh. And then after they've seen it, then they can start thinking about what the idea's actually saying to them. So, sometimes I think cartoons, people are more apt to look at them rather than read an article, because they're not as threatening, but they're really saying the same thing.
Nancy Ohanion:
And so I hope that people look at these cartoons and actually have a laugh or look at them because they're beautiful. Even a blood splat can be beautiful if it's graphically done correctly. Even though it's a horrible thing, it might be a horrible subject, but if they're willing to look at something that's beautiful and then see what the artist is saying, that's a good thing. I hope that a message is getting across.
Beth Dombkowski:
So what are some of your favorite pieces that you've done recently, or what are some things that you're working on right now?
Nancy Ohanion:
Oh, okay. I actually just yesterday uploaded a drawing called Congressional Terrorist, and it is a drawing about the assault rifles, and how easy it is to get assault rifles, and how frustrating it is for Congress to act on this, how they are allowing people to buy assault rifles, and assault rifles are meant to kill. So I just don't get it.
Nancy Ohanion:
So what I did is, because Mitch McConnell is really the one that's holding all this back, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump, I did Mitch McConnell driving a pickup truck filled with assault rifles sticking out the back, it's called McConnell's easy delivery. And he's just driving this dilapidated pickup truck. It's a red pickup truck, which symbolizes the Republican party, and it has a license plate falling off the front, it's a personalized license plate, a vanity plate, and it's falling off the front and the headlights are falling out, and everything's flying all over the place, and the assault rifles are sticking out the back, and there's a upside down American flag, and a Confederate flag flying off the back, and he's just driving it down the street. And that was my last one I just finished.
Beth Dombkowski:
That's the last one that you finished?
Nancy Ohanion:
Yeah.
Beth Dombkowski:
Interesting.
Nancy Ohanion:
Let's see, I did a couple that... Oh, remember recently when Donald Trump just criticized or he made fun of three Republicans that were going to challenge his nomination?
Beth Dombkowski:
Oh, yes.
Nancy Ohanion:
He called him the three Stooges. So I did a drawing of the three Stooges debating a clown, and the clown being Donald Trump, has a KKK hood on.
Beth Dombkowski:
Oh, my goodness.
Nancy Ohanion:
And the hood has a little frill around the bottom like a clown collar. So, everything in my drawings is symbolic. I have no words. So you have to balance out the symbolism so they mean exactly what you want them to say, not too heavy on this side and not too heavy on that side. And that's what I play with every day.
Beth Dombkowski:
So interesting. So, it sounds like, from conversations that we've had, making the work is the important part for you and expressing those ideas. What happens to the work after it's produced? After it's out there?
Nancy Ohanion:
Well, it runs in all the papers that's subscribed to my syndicate package. So if my syndicate has 250 subscribers, then those subscribers can use any of the drawings that I've done from between now and 1980 actually, and they can use those drawings in their newspapers now. And they do, very often I'll see a drawing that I did many, many years ago, it might be a pen and ink drawing, or a different type of a stylized digital drawing that runs in the recent past. So they can run anything they want after I publish it.
Beth Dombkowski:
And what is the response generally to your work? Is that even feedback that you hear?
Nancy Ohanion:
Sometimes. Sometimes I'll receive feedback via my website. Other times I receive feedback from, there is a blog that runs my drawings, it's called downwithtyranny.com and they run the drawings almost every day. It's a liberal blog and they are very much for liberal candidates and the environment. And many of the things that we talk about in terms of social justice, and they run many of the drawings, and I see them in there and I donate those drawings to downwithtyranny. They are also involved in fundraising for blue America. And so I do hear a lot of feedback from them, good feedback actually.
Beth Dombkowski:
Sometimes, though things don't go as planned. So can you tell us about a time when the outcome was not what you expected and how you moved forward?
Nancy Ohanion:
Sure. I think that I can address that in terms of doing a drawing. For example, when I started drawing, part of the creative process is just allowing that process to take you where it's going. You have an idea of where you want it to go, but it takes you, because there are so many undiscovered things that you can only see after you've started that process. And sometimes those things that you don't think of are really cool, they're better than what you started out thinking you were going to do. And so maybe I'll put what I thought I was going to do over on the back burner, and I'll take off on what came up as a new idea. And sometimes it's so much better. Sometimes I blow it, sometimes it doesn't work, but so what? It's like you have to try it.
Beth Dombkowski:
Yeah. You have to go down that path and see where it takes you.
Nancy Ohanion:
That's right. And other times, so I had to try it, but everything is up for grabs. If I started something and I didn't want to finish it because it just didn't work, then I'll put it over here, because maybe it'll work next week or the week after.
Beth Dombkowski:
So you teach in the department of art at Rowan university. How long have you been associated with Rowan?
Nancy Ohanion:
27 years.
Beth Dombkowski:
27 years, in the art department the whole time?
Nancy Ohanion:
Yes.
Beth Dombkowski:
And what types of courses have you taught over the years?
Nancy Ohanion:
I started teaching illustration, and I loved teaching that, it was wonderful. I also taught representational drawing and figure drawing, which is what I teach now. I loved illustration, and I think that when I started in 1992, I was probably more relevant to teaching that class, because the transition between traditional media and computers was in the fresh starting stages. I was just starting to use digital media. I started a few years after that. Now, so many things have changed. And I think that I'm probably better now teaching figure drawing because we have a new faculty right now, Adam Gustafson, who is wonderful, teaches illustration now and I think he's younger and he's more relevant to what the students need now. So I love teaching figure drawing though, and it's very important in cartooning-
Beth Dombkowski:
Oh, absolutely.
Nancy Ohanion:
... Very important in any area of the art department that you are thinking of going into, especially because it teaches you how to see, it teaches you how to see differently, have a different perspective.
Beth Dombkowski:
I'll reveal this, I'm a graduate of an art school myself-
Nancy Ohanion:
Oh, yeah?
Beth Dombkowski:
Art school education, and I was a photography major. So, a lot of photography majors come in and say, why do I have to learn figure drawing? Well, I learned so much in that class, so I value what you're saying about it so much, in how it teaches you how to see, and teaches you how to represent something three dimensional, and two dimensional plane. Even as a photographer, it improved the quality of work so much. So, what advice would you give your 18 year old self?
Nancy Ohanion:
All right. I think one of the most important things is don't burn your bridges.
Beth Dombkowski:
That's great advice.
Nancy Ohanion:
Don't burn your bridges, don't get discouraged. There are going to be things that you're going to do that they're going to be horrible, and there are things that you're going to do that are going to be great. Just don't take it personally, just recognize it, learn from it and just keep going network crazy, and meet people in every area, diversify the types of imagery that you work with and understand the bigness and the importance of the digital world in getting your work out there.
Beth Dombkowski:
So, when asked about advice you would give yourself, what advice would you give a student who's interested in studying art at Rowan?
Nancy Ohanion:
At Rowan? One thing I think is important is to take all the art classes you can so that you know what you like best, and you know what you don't like. I think you have to know what you don't like also, not only what you like. So take some chances, take some risks and play with the computer, play with ceramics and printmaking a painting and illustration, and all the different areas in the art department, and then make up your mind what you'd like to do. Because a lot of those things you can cross over. You can use printmaking in illustration, and you can use painting in illustration. Everyone needs to understand design no matter what area you're in.
Nancy Ohanion:
I also think it's important to take business classes and marketing classes. That's very important for young people, how to market your work, how to understand the business side of being an artist, understand how to live your life as an artist, but to be an entrepreneurial with that gift that you have.
Beth Dombkowski:
That's really good advice, really good advice, and luckily we have our college of business here, so they can actually overlap. Lastly, why Rowan, and I'm going to ask that in two ways. Why Rowan for you, and why Rowan for students that might want to go into your fields.
Nancy Ohanion:
All right. For me, Rowan was, it came at the right time, the right place in my life. I was very lucky to get this job when things were changing in the illustration industry, my business was just illustration, I just was a freelancer, but when this job came along I didn't realize that time, how lucky I would be, because right now it's a very different world than when I was illustrating. So I'm very happy to be here.
Nancy Ohanion:
As far as my students go, I love the students. Just all my students are wonderful. And so many of the schools that I adjuncted at over on the West Coast, they're all pretty much the same, they all want to know how to do what we do. So, for that reason, I'm fortunate personally to be at Rowan, but I love the kids just no matter where they come from.
Nancy Ohanion:
Why would a student want to come to Rowan? Because I think we have a very wide range of offerings within our art department and it's very flexible. No matter what your area of specialization is, you can take anything that you want from all the different areas, and you can combine them, you can say, "I'm not going to do this," or "I am going to do this." And the teachers are very hands on. We want to help you, we do help you, and it's so much fun in the department. Westby is a fun building to be in, and there's a lot to offer.
Beth Dombkowski:
That's so great. Thank you so much Nancy, we appreciate your time. Thanks for coming to talk to us. I love your work. I can't wait to see what comes out next. And this has been Rowan confidential.