FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Will Calcote 1(805) 735-5134
When: March 22 through 24, 2002
Who: CARTOONISTS ACROSS AMERICA
What: will paint three (3) murals promoting reading and the arts in the
Seattle, WA, area.
Why: “Building a World of
Readers, Artists and Dreamers” since 1985.
Cartoonists Across America founder
Phil Yeh will paint three colorful murals promoting
reading and the arts in the Seattle area from March 22-24, 2002. He will be joined at these
events by the most talented cartoon artists in the Pacific Northwest.
1. The first event will take place at the Everett Public Library on Friday, March 22,
from noon to 5 p.m. The Everett Library is located at 2702, Hoyt Street.
2. For the second event, on Saturday, March 23, Yeh will be joined by guest artists at
the Factoria Mall in Bellevue from 11 am to 5 pm.
3. The third mural event on this tour will take place at Bothell Books from noon to 3 pm.
The bookstore is located at 18108, 102nd. Ave. NE, in Bothell.
All three murals will feature the slogan, “Building a World of Readers, Artists,
and Dreamers”. The general public is invited to come paint and join the fun. Free
copies of Yeh's latest
comic book, The Winged Tiger, will be available
at the events.
Yeh's amazingly popular Winged Tiger Comics & Stories
books are designed to encourage
students of all ages to get involved with the arts and reading
. Twelve thousand of these books throughout the nation are in the libraries
of young readers who have attended one of Phil’s assemblies.
The 11th issue of the series features many world famous cartoonists from the Pacific
Northwest including: Roberta Gregory, Jennifer Daydreamer,
Jason Lutes, Jim Woodring, Scott Alan, Craig Thompson, Donna Barr, Lin Lucas, Elizabeth
Pankey, Larry Lewis, David Laskey and Pat Moriarity. Former Seattle residents
Tom Hart and Megan Kelso are
also featured in this story set in Seattle where these artists are discussing the
creative process at a never-ending party. Musical guests include Grammy-award-winning
artists Los Lobos and Keiko and Kazu
Matsui. Seattle artist Jennifer Daydreamer is
featured on the cover of this landmark issue, which is also set in Japan, Mexico City
and California.
Yeh founded Cartoonists Across America & The World in
1985 and has been promoting literacy and creativity for nearly 17 years using his cartoon
mural painting events, speaking engagements, and many books. He and his troupe of artists
have painted more than 1000 murals in 49 states, Canada, Mexico, Hungary, England,
Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, China, Taiwan, The Cayman Islands, and Singapore.
The company’s work is deliberately global in concept and embraces all colors,
cultures and creeds. The object of The Winged Tiger Comics is to inspire
people of all ages to get involved with the arts. More than 200 guests have participated
in this series in the past four years, including: Star Wars creator
George Lucas, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
illustrator Felicia Bond, Actor/director
Henry Winkler, actor
Jason Scott Lee, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator
Kevin Eastman, Mad magazine's
Sergio Aragonés, French film designer and illustrator
Moebius, and For Better or For Worse creator
Lynn Johnston.
For the past two years Yeh has worked with artists from the Seattle area in creating
a mural at the Northwest Bookfest held in October. He also did events at
Bumbershoot and other area conventions for many years.
Yeh started his grassroots campaign after meeting Wally “Famous"” Amos,
national spokesperson for Literacy Volunteers of America. In 1986, he began his 15
year world tour. In 1989, Yeh was honored for his work at a reception in The White
House by former First Lady Barbara Bush. Mrs. Bush actually painted a mural with Yeh
in The Library of Congress in 1988. His "Read. Avoid Extinction." dinosaur
characters were also placed on a postage stamp in Hungary for the United Nations Year
of Literacy in 1990. Cartoonists Across America continues to work in partnership with
the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. He has also added more emphasis
on artists from all the arts in addition to the hundreds of cartoonists from around
the world that have helped in the campaign.
In September of 1999, the Los Angeles County Library Foundation selected actor Edward
James Olmos, Imperial Toy CEO Dr. Fred Kort, and Yeh to be the first honorees for
their new Alphie Award. Yeh's old friend and mentor Wally Amos flew out from Hawaii
to Sony Studios to present the award to Yeh, who took the opportunity to announce
that Cartoonists Across America & The World would continue to tour for another
ten years until the 2010.
Five years ago in California, Yeh met with Bill Cirone, Santa Barbara County's
Superintendent of Schools, who gave him a copy of the Superintendent's Task Force on
the Visual and Performing Arts. This report contains a number of interesting facts
that may help CAA with its education goals by using the arts.
Recent long-term studies conducted by major universities
have concluded that students who take at least four years of art or music education
before college do far better on their Scholastic Assessment Test exams. According
to the College Entrance Examination Board, these art and music students were 59 points
higher on their verbal skills and 44 points higher on their math test scores than
students who did not study the arts.
Educator Howard Gardner and his colleagues at Harvard University conducted a
decades-long study of the role of the arts in the development of human intelligence
and higher order thinking skills. The results found that instruction in the arts is
one of the best ways in which to involve different modes of learning.
United Nations estimates that more than 920 million adults in the world cannot read
or write. In the United States, more than 40 million American adults cannot read,
and 4 out of 10 adults DO NOT read for pleasure. This condition is called
aliteracy. This situation is
costing the United States about $300 billion a year in lost productivity.
Illiteracy is also directly related to our crime problem, with 70% of the prison
population in the United States unable to read. Better education is the only real
solution to tackle serious problems such as drug and alcohol abuse, teen suicide,
and youth violence.
In a time when illiteracy rates are rising for Americans and more American children
find themselves spending more time in front of the television and playing video games,
the arts are an excellent way to draw our kids away from mindless
entertainment. The arts can increase attention spans, create good work habits
and encourage students to read.
Cartoonists Across America & The World recently built a brand-new family-friendly
web site, dedicated to offering inspiration to kids of all ages to get involved with
some form of the arts. The site is located at http://www.ideaship.com
"Our basic message is that cartoons and illustrated books provide an excellent
way for young people who live in this increasingly visual age to get into reading.
We believe that kids aged 5-10 who enjoy comic books and illustrated books are more
likely to become readers of other material when they are older.
Comics are also an excellent way to encourage kids to get into drawing and all the arts.
Many film directors were influenced to make their movies after a childhood of reading
comics. The art form teaches kids to think in pictures and also to read.
When Phil visits schools, he always includes a live demonstration on how to draw. He
claims “I can teach anyone to draw and write their own stories. We know that
there are good comics for kids and I have pledged to promote these kid friendly
books on our world tour for the next ten
years," said Yeh from his Lompoc, California studio.
You can write to Cartoonists Across America & The World to have them visit your
school or community.
For a full color catalog, send $1.00 (in U.S. funds) for postage to:
Cartoonists Across America,
P.O. Box 670, Lompoc, CA 93438-0670
or call 1-805-735-5134
philyeh@ideaship.com
