Orcas Center’s Visual Arts Committee Mounts Editorial Cartoon Show

Andrea Hendrick prepares the David Horsey editorial cartoon exhibit

By Margie Doyle

Andrea Hendrick, Artist and long-time member of the Orcas Center’s Visual Arts Committee, is known to speak out. So when the Crossroads Lecture Series Committee asked the public for new ideas for guest speakers, Andrea put forward the name of David Horsey, editorial cartoonist and columnist.

The Crossroads Lecture Committee followed through, and Horsey will come to Orcas to speak in October.

Then Andrea thought she’d double down and asked the Seattle native if the Visual Arts Committee could mount a show of his works at the Orcas Center in September. He agreed, and Andrea has been busy with preparations to mount 30 of his editorial cartoons at the Orcas Center.

Horsey has long been one of Hendrick’s heroes as his career led him from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer to the Los Angeles Times ,  syndication in more than 200 papers, seven books and two Pulitzer prizes.  His latest book, Refuge of Scoundrels, will be released soon. Andrea quotes Horsey as saying, “Editorial cartoons should be disrespectful, rabble-rousing and cast a cynical spotlight. [They should] question common values of society, point fingers and hurl accusations.”

As well as being an admirer of Horsey’s artistry and columns, Andrea finds him “a delightful speaker” in recorded interviews on public television and radio and the TED talk series.

“He is very kind and accommodating to work with,” Andrea said. She agreed to print, mat and hang his work if he gave permission, and with the wonders of electronic transmission and with the help of Gene Nery, Horsey’s pithy cartoons from 2009 to 2013, on subjects from Paula Dean to drones, will be on exhibit in the lobby of Orcas Center. Undoubtedly, the exhibit will provoke comment from left, right and center.

Horsey’s 2012 cartoon skewers Goldman Sachs

But Horsey is not about appealing to all tastes. He says, “The end goal of editorial cartooning is to stir things up until they get a little better for us all.”

That strikes a chord with Hendrick, whose  perspective on war, the presidency, gun control and other hot topics are frequently portrayed in her own artwork.

Andrea, who grew up in Washington DC, was a frequent visitor at the National Gallery; she was the little girl who sat on the floor and drew replicas of the famous works in the galleries.

She went on to study art at Syracuse University and at George Washington University.  She completed a Fellowship in Mexico and settled in Palo Alto, Calif., with her husband Hugh. Her paintings were widely exhibited in galleries and at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the DeYoung Museum.

She started a commercial art design studio, specializing in book design and illustrations for environmental organizations. Her involvement in design and advertised continued after she and her late husband Hugh moved to Orcas Island in 1999. Her  book illustrating John Muir’s writing, Northwest Passage, sells steadily at Darvill’s Bookstore.

Now she paints for herself, in spurts related to a central concept, whether it’s the folly of government or the landscape of the forest floor, “looking down, so I won’t break my neck walking in the park every day.”

Andrea is a longtime member of the Visual Arts Committee and although the group “can’t stand officers,” and operates without by-laws, she functions as its chair. “We just get together and work well together,” she says in her cheerful, matter-of-fact way.

The group’s 2014 calendar is already set, subject to change, with the annual photography, school students art, Terry Johnson’s students and the Artists’ Open House Tour displays interspersed between new exhibits.

The Visual Arts Committee also mounts “On and Off the Wall” exhibits four times a year in the Madrona Room at the Center. If the art On the Wall sells, it goes Off the Wall, to be replaced with another work by the same artist, Andrea explains.

“We’re always open to new ideas,” she says, and mentions unique shows from the past featuring masks and Mozart’s “Magic Flute.” “We’d like to have more talks with the shows, and related art-making and story-telling events are always packed.”

As always, a First Friday reception will open the David Horsey cartoon show on Sept. 6 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The public is “heartily invited.”

In October the prints will move from the Center to the public library for display. David Horsey will give a multimedia presentation at the  Crossroads Lectures Series at Orcas Center on Oct 20 20 at 4 p.m.