Meet Rhea Ewing's Art and Comics

[jesse_the_k]

Rhea Ewing is a thoughtful and talented artist. They deploy oils, pencils, collage, as well as digital tools to capture how humans relate to nature. Among other subjects, Rhea's detailed illustrations combine beetles, butterflies, and human hands. I was thrilled to find their work at WisCon, and I'm delighted to support their work via Patreon. Rhea's print "Community" hangs in my living room.

Spend a happy afternoon exploring Rhea's art and writing at their site RheaEwing.com

As long as I've known them, Rhea has been working on FINE: a comic about gender. They've interviewed dozens of queer folks in the Midwest on how they experience gender in our time and place. I'm excited that Rhea's got a great agent and soon we'll be able to hold FINE in our hands.

Rhea is not just a skilled artist: their political insight and compassion shine through in their essay about the high school boys photographed in the Nazi salute--Rhea attended that high school. Like their art, Rhea communicates pithily "I used to hate myself for not being psychologically immune to everyone's bullshit. Now I recognize it as a strength, because it points me towards what needs to change. That change includes finding community with people who get it."

Found out more about the FINE project from this in-depth interview by Gretchen on Fandomentals, a culture-critique site new to me:

And of course, I hold myself to a very high standard, which is why FINE has taken so long! But at some point I have to recognize that I can’t make a definitive document about what it means to have a gender identity in the Midwest United States. I can’t even say this is what it meant within the time period in which I was doing interviews, which is between 2012 and 2016. I can’t even say that! This is just what the 57 people I talked to said about gender. It’s complicated.

The thing is, I don’t want to be immune to criticism, I just want those conversations to be productive. I want people to look at the gaps and missing pieces in my work and be inspired to create and fund projects that do what needs to be done next. When young creatives only see work being torn apart and creators being sent death threats, what are they supposed to think? I know it certainly held me back for a long time.

https://www.thefandomentals.com/creator-corner-interview-with-artist-and-graphic-novelist-rhea-ewing/

Comments

[heyfoureyes]

Thanks for this! I clicked over to this from Twitter. And then spent my lunch break reading several older posts of yours. You are an excellent writer! This 'reminds' me of what a blog can be, of why I loved LJ so much when it was quite active. And even plants a seed about DW and the possible value of being more active over here.

*blushes*

[jesse_the_k]

Glad to provide a lunch break.

It’s definitely quieter here, and I find that relaxing. There are some great writers here!

[dhampyresa]

I had never heard of this artist before and I love what I see of their work so far! Thank you for this post.

[jesse_the_k]

Mission accomplished!

They also have a Seven Strengths coloring book, in response to the 2016 election, which is somehow dreamy and heartening at the same time.

[dhampyresa]

A colouring book??? /tired, confused

After your nap....

[jesse_the_k]

Yep, they deconstructed some art and made a booklet with just line drawings, as well as info about coevolution, symbiosis, and other biological cooperation strategies.

https://gumroad.com/l/pjszv

$5 for a PDF, or you can order one from Amazon

I'm over in Europe, it was sleep time for me

[dhampyresa]

Somehow I never realised that regular people could make colouring books! That's so cool!

[ismo]

Wow, thanks for sharing that link! I love Rhea's art.