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Get the latest newsBeth Hetland moved to Vermont back in 2009 like an oncoming storm. Her enthusiasm, love of comics and strong work ethic made her not only a joy to be around but a cartoonist worthy of respect. Upon her graduation in 2011, Hetland moved back to the bustling city of Chicago and took up a teaching post at the School for the Art Institute of Chicago.
Beth and some fun mail
What are you teaching at the SAIC and how are your classes shaping up?
Beth Hetland: I’m currently teaching two classes at SAIC.
On Mondays I have “Comics, Narrative and the Materialization of Images” from 9am until 4pm which is taught in the Fiber and Material Studies department. This class focuses on the parallels that exist between comics and fiber in that both stem from utilitarian imperatives: communication and functionality. Lots of screen printing, embroidery, story telling and experimentation.
On Fridays I teach “Beginning Writing for Comics Workshop” from 1pm until 4pm in the Writing department. This is more of a nuts-n-bolts comics class. We talk about more traditional techniques for writing and drawing comics, focusing on effective characterization, plot progression and narrative structure. It’s best suited for students who are new to the medium and want to learn more.
Hetland’s SAIC class wearing Jason Lutes inspired Captain shirts
Both classes are going swimmingly! Everyone has completed their first projects now, and this week the Writing students have another project due that we’ll be critiquing. There is a lot of natural community that has exploded out of both classes in very different ways. I think the most telling examples of this are how the discussions are taking form in each class. The fiber students are very passionate about discussing and analyzing what is or is not “a comic,” where as the writing students are very focused on and interested in the tones of each book we read.
Do your students have favorite artists and have they introduced you to any new ones?
BH: Oh my yes. They have so many influences and artists they’re constantly talking about, recommending, and drooling over. Someone whose work I’ve recently been told to look at was Mark Newport’s, very cool, knitted superhero costumes! As far as comics artists go though, they’ve mentioned lots of web comics, though, that I am embarrassingly not up to date with…
By Beth Hetland
Do you have a favorite assignment or something they really reacted to that you weren’t expecting?
BH: Well, my favorite assignments are coming up and they’re both being rolled out next week. I took the fibers class previously and the work that comes out of this assignment is always phenomenal. They partner up and need to create a collaborative installation comic using screen printing and stitch to convey a narrative. The writing class is also about to embark on an assignment I’m pretty excited about, inspired by Josh Kramer, actually. I wanted my students to have a non-fiction section of the class but I was trying to refrain from memoir and autobio (even though that’s my personal strong suit), and I thought it would be fun to have them do journalistic comics. They’ll be interviewing someone and then turning that interview into a 2 page “Comic Portrait.” I’m very interested to see how it turns out.
How is Chicago treating you and do you get to spend time with other cartoonists?
BH: Chicago has been treating me so good. It’s as if I pushed pause on my time here and am now back in the swing of things. I’ve spent a lot of time traveling to new and old neighborhoods just to spend time enjoying the city. Finding new reasons to love it all over again. This mainly translates to eating all kinds of food and digging up pinball locations. Ha!
CartoonINK’s gallery show
As far are hanging out with cartoonists who are not SAIC related… not so much. But it’s funny because a lot of the cartoonists ARE associated with SAIC. Especially with the show that’s closing this week, CartoonINK! I expect to see a lot of them at that event. I actually should be better about trying to find time to work my way into those circles.
What’s your favorite place to draw in Chicago?
BH:There’s a coffee shop that I’ve been told is the Cartoonist Coffee shop, I’ve only been there once but it was real nice it’s called Beans N’ Bagels and is near my house. I really like going to the Field Museum to draw and clear my head and the Art Museum too for that matter. There’s also a secret Caribou Coffee place that no one seems to go to that’s downtown I go there more for thumbnailing and ‘thinking’ rather than drawing though. But to be perfectly honest, I like to draw comics in my house. I have a studio space that’s quite nice and has all my stuff and then I don’t have to cart it anywhere. And then I can draw wearing anything I want, silly hats, shorts, pajamas, Halloween costumes, whatever…sometimes I to dress up to get to work.
What are you working on in your own time, like you have any? Plan on going to any cons soon?
BH: Teaching, even two classes, is a monstrous commitment. I had no idea how to anticipate the amount of outside prep time to prepare for even one class. I knew it was going to be a lot of work, but HOLY COW! So the time I spend not preparing for class is pretty minimal. And on top of that, I have a second job with the school as a traveling Faculty Portfolio Reviewer. Two weekends of the month I travel to various schools with a team of faculty and staff and spend 4-hours marathon reviewing prospective student’s portfolios. Ooofda.
That being said… I am working on comics. Slowly and surely, but it’s happening. For my thesis at CCS, I began telling a three-part story, two parts were completed during my time there, but the third was very mystical and, well, not done. But I’m excited to say that I have begun thumbnailing that book and will be done with the whole thing in early February. My goal is to apply for the last round of Xeric Grants with the full story.
I’ve also made a commitment to work with my best friend, Kyle O’Connell, on NaGraNoWriMo in November! I’m really excited for this project because I’ve been itching for an adventure challenge. We’re mixing up the rules a little bit, but he’s taking October to write a script for me, and then November 1st I get to see it for the first time and draw, draw, draw! We’re still shooting for between 100-160 pages and all I know about the story idea is it takes place in 1800s France and has adventure, bank robberies, friends, bicycles, hot air balloons and fun!
Depending on how fast I end up drawing, I’d like to post each week on my blog www.beth-hetland.com. But if drawing time takes too long and I run out of scanning time then it’ll have to wait till the month is over. I’ll definitely be printing it! That’s fo’ sho’!! And as Faculty I have access to some great equipment that makes binding books easy peasy! Kyle and I will have to talk about creator’s rights I’m sure once the challenge is all wrapped up. Hahaha, Steve will be so proud that I immediately thought about that just now.
I have a whole slew of Cons lined up, too. Since I’m in the Midwest, everything is equally far, so why not shoot for the stars, huh? I was just at SPX for the first time, which was a blast! Next up is MIX on November 5th and 6th, I’ll be tabling with Andy Christensen. Then a bit of a rest while I finish my book, the spring holds to be very promising: ZineFest in Chicago, Stumptown in Portland, MeCAF in Maine, maybe TCAF in Toronto and brand new CAKE in Chicago.
How has CCS helped you and shaped you in your current situation?
BH: In a very literal, immediate way, if I didn’t have a Master’s degree I would not be teaching and I’d still be working and living in Vermont. But CCS has helped me in ways I feel I can scarcely put into words. In teaching, I actively go through all my old handouts from classes to squeeze every last drop of knowledge given to me from my CCS faculty to give to my students. A handful of friends from CCS have come through town and Colleen Frakes gave a talk to my class. I still talk to a lot of CCSers pretty regularly, whether to discuss who’s tabling with whom, their newest projects or just to catch up. Although I have a really good community of artists here in Chicago, I still find myself leaning heavily on the magical realm of CCS. It’s like we all went through this big thing and not that other people can’t relate, but they just don’t get what it was like to be one of the Lost Boys… you know? I wish I had better words to describe what that time was like for me, and give you a good example of before and after Beth, but I think this fumbling around for words and struggle with allusions just goes to show that CCS has affected me beyond words. All I can say is CCS was the best decision I ever made and like a pebble dropped in a pond, the ripples will continue to grow. But less hokey…
Skyping with other CCS ’11 alum, Lawrence Derks III and Carol Thompson
Many thanks to Beth Hetland for her thoughtful words on comics, teaching, Chicago and The Center for Cartoon Studies. Creating a comics community wherever you go is one of the many tools a CCS alumni has in their toolbox, its right next to the Pentel pocket brush refills. To see more of Hetland’s work please visit her website Hooray for Comics!
