“… but ultimately they teach us patience and persistence. I think those are the most important qualities to succeed at anything. Solving a simple maze gives us a sense of accomplishment, we are rewarded for patience and persistence. That’s an important lesson to learn.”
In our reconstituted Q&A series, Seven with Sue (+1), we are exploring the local arts scene. We customize the questions for folx in various parts of the arts community.
First up is Joe Wos. We met back in 2011 or so when I was working on the Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project, he was director of The Toonseum. Over the years, we’ve discovered things we have in common – our age, where we grew up, even health issues. Joe introduced me to many aspects of cartooning and more. He’s contributed to this blog multiple times. Joe is one of the people who truly introduced me to the arts and educated me about the disparities in accessibility. He inspires me to incorporate that into my own arts advocacy.
Special note that Joe created a custom maze to celebrate our 15th blogiversary which was a great honor. Can you solve it?
He’s the perfect choice to relaunch this series because he always has so much more to say.
Name: Joe Wos
Pronouns: (He, Him, Us)
Your Affiliation with the Arts: Cartoonist, host of Cartoon Academy on PBS/WQED, arts advocate
How do you describe your identity? I identify as a cartoonist, a father, a left-hander, Pittsburgher, and an educator.
The Questions and Answers
Tell us about your connection to or your first impression of Pittsburgh. I am a life long Pittsburgher. I grew up in North Braddock the son of a steelworker. Despite my frequent travels I always look forward to returning home to Pittsburgh. It is home. Over the past decade, I’ve thought about where I would end up… and despite the pull of places like New Orleans, or San Francisco, Pittsburgh is in my DNA, I don’t think I could ever really leave. I do love it here, and it isn’t some naive misguided emotion from someone who has never traveled beyond our three rivers, I’ve had the opportunity to travel all over, and there is just something really special about Pittsburgh that keeps bringing me back.
There are real barriers to the arts – time, money, accommodations, etc. But there’s also the matter of perception, that one must dress a certain way or be knowledgeable about the art form . How does the creative community collectively lower these barriers so people actually learn if they like opera, ballet, plays,drawing, or symphonic music as a few examples? I think this is the reason I always loved cartoons, they are not just a widely accessible art form but they introduce us to other art forms! How many of us learned about classical music through Bugs Bunny, or Jazz through Peanuts? I learned of great literature and films through the parodies in cartoons that made me seek out the source material. I am not a fan of the pretentiousness of the fine art world.
While I love Pittsburgh, there is a certain amount of gatekeeping in the art world here, too few people at the top controlling what is and isn’t regarded as art in our city. We need more independent institutions, smaller museums that aren’t afraid to speak up and speak out for underrepresented artists and creators. We need foundations that are willing to take chances and not just play it safe in art by funding the same big three or four institutions.
Tell us about an under-appreciated or underutilized cultural resource in this region. In my opinion our most under-appreciated cultural resources are our natural resources, the beauty of our three rivers, our forest, our parks. They are inspiring! I think our rivers are are greatest under utilized asset. There should be venues along the river, studios on boats, boardwalks, parks, benches to just sit and watch and create. I walk along the rivers and I see the pollution, deterioration, and just general disregard. Water is the most powerful force in nature, it is also one of the most beautiful and inspiring. If you go into the Carnegie museum of art you will see hundreds of paintings of nature, there is a reason for that, nature is awe inspiring, but museums shouldn’t be the only place we see it! We need to do more to protect and preserve our waterways in Pittsburgh. Not for industry but for inspiration.
With whom in the Pittsburgh region would you like to collaborate and why? I have enormous respect and admiration for many artists in the region, Cue Perry, Angela Oddling, VC2, my own son Adrian Wos and many many more. And while Im sure I would enjoy collaborating with any of these incredible visual artists, I think id get the most enjoyment out of collaborating with someone in a different art form. Combining my art with music, or comedy. I think Terry Jones is fantastic and deserves wider recognition and would love to do an album cover for him.
You are a man of many talents – mazes, cartoons, museum curator, educator, author, and more. Do you remember your first drawing? Snoopy. Charles M. Schulz is the reason I became a cartoonist. I loved snoopy and still do.
How do mazes impact learning for students of all ages? Mazes are the oldest interactive art form, and are in just about every culture going back thousands and thousands of years. They improve hand/eye coordination, problem solving skills, and much more… but ultimately they teach us patience and persistence. I think those are the most important qualities to succeed at anything. Solving a simple maze gives us a sense of accomplishment, we are rewarded for patience and persistence. That’s an important lesson to learn.
In your online cartoon academy,you say “Sign your name, take pride in your work.” Where did that advice come from? What if I dislike what I drew (or tried to draw)? Sign your name take pride in your work! When I was a kid I hated that teachers would make us sign the back of our work rather than the front. Every piece of art I had ever seen always had the signature on the front. When someone makes something, anything, they should be proud of it. They brought something new into his world, something that simply did not exist now exist because they took the time and effort to to create it. No matter anyones opinion of the quality of the work, it is yours, you made it and you should be proud! I do remember once a kid asked me at a workshop, “what does pride mean?” And I told them, “it’s a feeling you get from doing something good. It’s saying I did this, it represents who I am as person, and I want to share who I am with the world.” The kid then said to me “Oh, I thought it meant gay!” And I said, “Oh, because of pride fest and pride month. Well it’s very similar if you think about it- pride is standing up and saying, this is who I am, and I did good.”
Plus One: You collaborated with Snoopy and the Charles M.Schulz Museum on a book of mazes, seemingly a dream come true. How does an interactive drawing like a maze connect with iconic cartoon characters that we are used to passively reading in funny pages?
We don’t passively read anything in the funny page, we area actively engaged with those characters! Snoopy is recognized in more parts of the world than the Mona Lisa! My mazes provide another way to interact with them, in a way joining in on their adventures. Mazes are a journey, there’s a start and a finish and it isn’t really about either, it’s about the decisions we make along the way. My work adds an element by using cartoon illustrations within those mazes I’m saying “hey were all on a journey, but were not alone. There are friends along the path with us, in the case of my books those friends might be Snoopy, or Popeye, or an exploding kitten! The journey has a lot of twist and turns, dead ends, but when you pull back from staring so closely at the maze you see the big picture, there’s an illustration too, and it’s filled with the friends we meet along the way.
Where to Find Joe:
- Instagram: @Wostoons
- TikTok @Joe_Wos
- Facebook @JoeWos
- Cartoon Academy
- Mazetoon Academy
Seven (+1) with Sue is one of our favorite Q&A series – a quick dive into the local arts world. (+1) is a nod to my need for a companion when I attend a performance and an acknowledgment of the need for universal accessibility to the arts. If you’d like me to craft a Q&A for your production, email pghlesbianblog@gmail.com.
Previous Q&A’s in this series (pre-re-launch)
Actor Phoebe Lloyd Talks About Queering Chekhov in a new local production: a Seven (+1) With Sue Q&A
My ‘Burgh Vivant Q&A with Jill Sobule #7WithSue
My new Q&A column at @BurghVivant with Nicole Gallagher, creator of ‘Mija: one bitch’s tale’
Discover more from Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents
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