Jamie Smith (born circa 1965 in New York) credited as James T. Smith, is an Alaskan painter, printmaker, cartoonist and creator of the comic strips "Freeze-Frame" and "Nuggets".
He received his Bachelor of Fine Art (drawing and printmaking) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and has completed graduate work in a master's degree in sequential arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design. He has published three "Freeze-Frame" collections, with another "Freeze-Frame" collection as well as a "Nuggets" collection released on Earth Day, April 2008. [1]
Smith has illustrated several books, and his cartoons appear in newspapers and magazines across the state of Alaska. He also produces editorial cartoons for The Ester Republic and the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner . He teaches drawing and cartooning at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Before moving to Alaska, Smith graduated from Wm. Nottingham High School in Syracuse, New York, where he received art instruction from Roberta Braen and Charles Wollowitz (2-D and 3-D, respectively).
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images intended for satire, caricature, or humor; or a motion picture that relies on a sequence of illustrations for its animation. Someone who creates cartoons in the first sense is called a cartoonist, and in the second sense they are usually called an animator.
Ester is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. It is part of the Fairbanks, Alaska Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population in the CDP was 2,422 at the 2010 census, although there are only around 12 houses located inside of the village, the rest are in the surrounding area. The Ester Camp Historic District is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Ester was founded as a gold mining camp in the early 1900s, and the economy has focused on mining and services for miners. The Ester Volunteer Fire Department, John Trigg Ester Library, Ester Historic Society and Ester Post Office serve residents in Ester and surrounding areas. There is also a convenience store and secular chapel on the outskirts of the village. Many artists, writers, and musicians reside in Ester.
Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska, United States. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the population of the city proper at 32,515 and the population of the Fairbanks North Star Borough at 95,655, making it the second most populous metropolitan area in Alaska after Anchorage. The Metropolitan Statistical Area encompasses all of the Fairbanks North Star Borough and is the northernmost Metropolitan Statistical Area in the United States, located 196 miles by road south of the Arctic Circle.
A political cartoon, also known as an editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine artistic skill, hyperbole and satire in order to either question authority or draw attention to corruption, political violence and other social ills.
Signe Wilkinson is an editorial cartoonist best known for her work at the Philadelphia Daily News. Her work is described as having a "unique style and famous irreverence." Wilkinson is the only female editorial cartoonist whose work has been distributed by a major syndicate.
John Bruce "Jack" Coghill was an American politician and businessman who was the sixth lieutenant governor of Alaska from 1990 to 1994, serving under Governor Walter Hickel. Both were members of the Alaskan Independence Party.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner is a morning daily newspaper serving the city of Fairbanks, Alaska, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the Denali Borough, and the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the farthest north daily in the United States, and one of the farthest north in the world. The oldest continuously operating daily in Alaska, by circulation it is the second-largest daily in the state. It was purchased by the Helen E. Snedden Foundation in 2016. The Snedden family were longtime owners of the News-Miner, selling it to a family trust for Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder, founders of the Media News Group in 1992.
Thomas Neil Davis was a professor of geophysics from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the author of several books. Born in Greeley, Colorado, Davis received his B.S in geophysics from University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1955, an M.S. in geophysics from California Institute of Technology in 1957, and a Ph.D. in geophysics from University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1961. Davis spent most of his working career at the Geophysical Institute, pioneering the use of all-sky and low-level light cameras for the study of the aurora borealis and conducting rocket studies of the aurora. With Masahisa Sugiura he introduced the AE index now commonly used as a measure of solar-terrestrial interaction. A student of Beno Gutenberg and Charles Richter at Caltech, he also has done work in observational seismology.
The Ester Republic is a small, independent monthly newspaper published in Ester, Alaska, and established January 1999. The paper serves as an alternative media publication for the Tanana Valley. It is the only newspaper that has been published in Ester; the village has been served historically by Fairbanks newspapers. Contributors are generally amateur writers, although some professional journalists, poets, and photographers appear in its pages. The periodical encourages submissions of editorial cartoons by Alaskan artists, and has two "staff" cartoonists, Jamie Smith and Daniel Darrow. The paper has been operated out of the home of the publisher for much of its history; for a time its office space was the historic Ester post office, a 14'x16' structure built in 1971.
The Nome Nugget is a weekly newspaper published on Thursdays in Nome, Alaska, United States and serves the entire Northwest region of Alaska. Additionally, it is printed in Anchorage, Alaska for newsstands and airports. It was awarded best weekly newspaper in all of Alaska in 2012, 2021 and 2022 by the Alaska Press Club, and the Nugget's reporters have won dozens of awards and accolades for their work in recent years. It is an independent newspaper which is currently owned by the Nugget Publishing Corp., owned by Diana Haecker and Nils Hahn. The Nome Nugget is Alaska's oldest newspaper.
Joan Arend Kickbush was a popular Alaskan artist. Her paintings and illustrations featured Alaska Native children, Yupik villagers and Arctic wildlife. She painted in watercolor and oil.
Otto William Geist, a.k.a. Aghvook, was an archaeologist, explorer and naturalist who worked in the circumpolar north and for the University of Alaska for much of his adult life.
The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is a research library of American cartoons and comic art affiliated with the Ohio State University library system in Columbus, Ohio. Formerly known as the Cartoon Research Library and the Cartoon Library & Museum, it holds the world's largest and most comprehensive academic research facility documenting and displaying original and printed comic strips, editorial cartoons, and cartoon art. The museum is named after the Ohio cartoonist Billy Ireland.
Mr. Whitekeys, also known as W. Keys, is a musician, recording artist, entrepreneur, writer, media personality and ornithologist in the U.S. state of Alaska. He was the owner and operator of a nightclub called the Fly By Night Club, located in the Spenard neighborhood of Anchorage, from 1980 to 2006. In part due to his flamboyant public persona and penchant for humor, he figures prominently in the modern history and folklore of Spenard. He has released sporadic recordings starting in 1972, mostly under the band name The Fabulous Spamtones.
Mary Jane Fate was a Koyukon Athabascan activist. She was a founding member of the Fairbanks Native Association and the Institute of Alaska Native Arts and worked as a lobbyist for the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. She co-founded the Tundra Times newspaper and served as a director of the corporate board for Alaska Airlines for over two decades. She served as co-chair of the Alaska Federation of Natives between 1988 and 1989, the first woman to serve in the capacity, and was the third president and a founding member of the North American Indian Women's Association. Fate has served on various commissions and national studies of issues which affect indigenous people. She was the project manager of a study of women and disability, served as the only indigenous member of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission and was a member of U.S. Census Advisory Committee on indigenous populations. She has received numerous honors and awards for her activism on behalf of Native Americans and was inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame in 2014.
Hannah Paul Solomon was an American community leader and artist. She was the first female mayor of Fort Yukon, Alaska, helped organize the Fairbanks Native Association, and was inducted into the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame in 2012. Her traditional beadwork is in the collections of several museums.
Laura Mae Bergt was an Iñupiaq athlete, model, politician, and activist for the Iñupiat and other Indigenous Alaskans. Born in the Northwest Arctic Borough of Alaska to bi-racial parents, she grew up in Nome and Kotzebue before attending high school in Sitka. Involved in the Native Olympic movement, she was both a nine-times winner of the Arctic Circle blanket toss event and served as chair of the World Eskimo Indian Olympics in 1966. She worked as a promoter for the new state of Alaska attending trade shows and making marketing appearances as a spokeswoman and guest on radio and television programs. From the 1960s, she worked in various policy positions at the tribal, local, state, and national level to address issues like disability, education, employment opportunities, housing, and poverty, and promoting the rights of Indigenous people.
Lael Warren Morgan was an American journalist, author and historian who wrote books about Alaska's history and people.