Nancy Husari
My primary art form is cartooning, but I consider myself to be a multi-media artist because I have also worked in watercolor, fabric art, and other visual art forms. I am also a musician, a writer, and a teacher. I attempt to allow myself to float from one art form to another, and there are many years when one or more of my artistic outlets remains dormant.
The nature vs. nurture controversy can be part of how we define ourselves as artists. I believe I was born with a cartoonist’s outlook on life. My inborn “talent” has been nurtured by the emotional pain and frustrations that are part of the human condition. The ability to transform negativity through humor is, in a sense, a coping mechanism. I love it when others identify with the frustration and humor in my cartoons, and can find something there to lighten their loads.
About twenty years ago, I knew three things: that I was a cartoonist, that I hadn’t done any cartooning in a long time, and that I had no idea of where to begin. I found a cartooning class, and I told the teacher that I wanted to make cartoons, but I didn’t know what to write about. He said, “Write about yourself,” and that short conversation changed everything for me. I began writing about myself and have not run out of material yet. The “self” that I draw doesn’t look like me at all, and eventually she morphed into a character known as Dr. Psychobabble.
Recently, I became interested in challenging myself with something that is longer and more fictional. I’m calling it a series of mini-comics with a working title of Pernicious Influences. I also scribble semi-legible cartoon stories called BARToons in a small sketchbook on my BART trips between San Leandro and San Francisco.