Kate Charlesworth

Last updated

Kate Charlesworth
Born1950 (age 73–74)
Barnsley, England
Occupation(s)Cartoonist, artist
Years active1973–present
Notable work Sally Heathcote: Suffragette
Sensible Footwear: A Girl's Guide
Website katecharlesworth.com

Kate Charlesworth (born 1950) is a British cartoonist and artist who has produced comics and illustrations since the 1970s. Her work has appeared in LGBT publications such as The Pink Paper , Gay News , Strip AIDS , Dyke's Delight, and AARGH, as well as The Guardian, The Independent, and New Internationalist . Lesbian and Gay Studies: A Critical Introduction (Bloomsbury Publishing) calls her a "notable by-and-for lesbian" cartoonist. [1]

Contents

In 2015, her graphic novel Sally Heathcote: Suffragette (with Mary and Bryan Talbot) was included in a list published by The Guardian of the "top 10 books about revolutionaries". [2] Sensible Footwear: A Girl’s Guide, her autobiography and history of gay and lesbian culture in England and Scotland from the end of World War II to the present, was published in 2018. [3]

Early life

Charlesworth was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, England in 1950 to Joan and Harold Charlesworth. [4] [5] Her parents ran a local corner shop during her childhood. She attended Wombwell High School in Barnsley and attended Manchester College of Art and Design to study graphics and stage design from 1968 to 1973.

Charlesworth is an only child. [4]

Career

Charlesworth's career in comics began in 1973, when she pitched a daily strip called "Twice Nightly" with two gay characters and suffragette themes to the Manchester Evening News. [5] [6] The strip ran for six months. In 1976 she moved to London, after which she was published in gay and lesbian newspapers including The Pink Paper, Gay News, and Sappho, LGBT comic books including Strip AIDS , Dyke's Delight, and AARGH, and mainstream publications like The Guardian and City Limits . [5] [7] Her strips and cartoons often addressed contemporary issues in the lesbian and wider LGBT communities, including presentation, socio-political issues including oppressive legislation, and stereotypes in a humorous manner. In 1995 her work appeared in Dyke’s Delight issues 1 and 2, introducing some of her most popular characters, including Auntie Studs, to an American audience. [8]

She has produced science comics for New Scientist ("Life, the Universe and (Almost) Everything") and The Independent , as well as illustrations for several books published by the National Museums of Scotland. [9]

She describes her art style as not overly cartoonish or caricature, but emotionally realistic. In an interview she stated that she uses photographic reference and tries to get in the mind of each character to accurately portray their emotions on the page. [10]

More recently, Charlesworth has shifted to working on graphic novels. She illustrated Sally Heathcote: Suffragette by Mary Talbot, published in 2014. Her illustrations were highly praised by Neel Mukherjee in The Guardian as "beautifully executed in black-and-white, with perfectly judged touches of colour." [11] In 2011 she contributed to Blank Slate’s Nelson, a collaborative graphic novel with 54 British comic artists. [12] Nelson was chosen as The Guardian's graphic novel of the month by Rachel Cooke and one of 2011's best graphic novels by The Times . [13] [14] Charlesworth spent four years working on her autobiographical work Sensible Footwear: A Girl's Guide, which was published in 2019. [10]

Charlesworth has also worked as a storyboard artist for shows including Bob the Builder (Hot Animation), Pingu (Hot Animation), and Timmy Time (Aardman Animations). [15] [16] She has created several cards for Cath Tate Cards, run by fellow cartoonist and friend Cath Tate. [17] [18] [19] [20] She created the CD cover for Fast Talk Archived 29 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine by Kay Grant and Alex Ward. [21] She also produces various forms of 3-D art, including birthday cards, maps, board games, and shadow boxes, featured on her website. [22]

Her future plans include a joint comic project with her partner, Dianne, as well as moving into different mediums, including animation. [10]

Personal life

Charlesworth is a lesbian and has stated that she embraced her identity as a dyke in college when she entered a relationship. She has opined that she feels the lesbian community of the time heavily self-policed behavior and look, which prevented her from fully realizing her identity and influenced much of her work. [10] [4]

Charlesworth has been politically active in British and Scottish politics and pushes for equal rights. When Clause 28 of the Local Government Act was being pushed in 1988, aiming to ban the promotion of and education about homosexuality by local authorities, including schools, Charlesworth teamed up with Viv Quillin, Cath Jackson, and Cath Tate, three other local cartoonists, to produce a series of postcards to campaign against it. [20] More recently, she has notably been outspoken against Brexit and President Trump, arguing that their popularity represent a backslide for LGBT rights. [23]

She has also been involved in many efforts to increase awareness of LGBT history. [10] In 2006 she illustrated a guide for a walking tour of 500 years of Edinburgh’s LGBT history, published by the LGBT Centre for Health and Wellbeing and Remember When. [24] In the same year she participated in the City of Edinburgh Council's "Rainbow City" exhibition at the City Art Centre. [6] [25] She also participates in Edinburgh's Loud and Proud choir, which sang at Equal Marriage lobbies of the Scottish Parliament. [6]

She currently lives with Dianne, her partner of 13 years, a dog, and a cat in the Borders in Scotland. [4]

Awards and honors

Bibliography

Books

Contributions

Graphic novel collaborations

Comic strips and cartoons

Books (illustrations) [39]

  • Bolton, David et al. (1989), Oxford Intensive English Courses: OK 1: Student's Book, Oxford University Press, ISBN   9780194323536
  • Bongo, Ali (1979), Be a Magician, Macdonald Educational, ISBN   9780356063683
  • Brown, Gabrielle, editor (2019), Psychoanalytic Thinking on the Unhoused Mind, Routledge, ISBN   9780429620782
  • Dickson, Anne (1982), A Woman In Your Own Right: Assertiveness and You, Quartet Books Limited, ISBN   9780704372696
  • Dickson, Anne (1985), The Mirror Within: A New Look at Sexuality, Quartet, ISBN   9780704334748
  • Henriques, Nikki and Anne Dickson (1986), Women on Hysterectomy: How Long Before I Can Hang-glide?, Thorsons, ISBN   9780722511640
  • Hopson, Barry and Mike Scally (1988), Communication: Time to Talk, Lifeskills Publishing Group, ISBN   9781852521059
  • Irvine, Susan (1994), Bird Facts, HMSO: National Museums of Scotland, ISBN   9780114952167
  • Johnston, Sue (1989), Hold On to the Messy Times, Pandora, ISBN   9780044404972
  • Kitchener, Andrew (1993), Escape from Extinction, HMSO: National Museums of Scotland, ISBN   9780114951221
  • National and Local Government Officers Association (1988), Part-time Work, NALGO
  • National and Local Government Officers Association (1986), Job Sharing, NALGO
  • Robinson, Richard (2006), Why the One You Fancy Never Fancies You: Murphy's Laws of Love, Constable & Robinson, ISBN   9781845294458
  • Summerskill, Clare (2008), We’re The Girls and Other Songs, Stories, and Monologues, Diana Pub., ISBN   9780955830808
  • Swinney, Geoff (1993), Fish Facts, HMSO: National Museums of Scotland, ISBN   9780114951214
  • Wade, Mike and Sue Mitchell (1999), On the Trail of Scotland's Past, NMS Pub., ISBN   9781901663051

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References

  1. ↑ Doty, Alexander; Gove, Ben (1997). Lesbian and Gay Studies: A Critical Introduction. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p. 95. ISBN   9780304338825.
  2. ↑ Mukherjee, Neel (14 January 2015). "Neel Mukherjee's top 10 books about revolutionaries". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  3. ↑ Kate Charlesworth (2019). Sensible footwear: a girl's guide. Myriad Editions. ISBN   978-0-9935633-4-8. OCLC   1103990878.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Jamieson, Teddy (27 July 2019). "Cartoonist Kate Charlesworth on gay and lesbian life since the 1950s". The Herald. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Kate Charlesworth - British Cartoon Archive - University of Kent". www.cartoons.ac.uk. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Comic Material". Diva magazine. 1 November 2014. ISSN   1353-4912.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Charlesworth, Kate; Shenton, David (2009). Drawn Out and Painted Pink. Cath Tate Cards.
  8. 1 2 "GCD :: Issue :: Dyke's Delight #2". www.comics.org. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  9. ↑ Ó Méalóid, Pádraig (13 July 2014). "Suffragette Lady: An Interview with Kate Charlesworth" . Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Lyell, Carrie (August 2019). "Rainbow Footprint". Diva magazine– via EBSCOhost.
  11. 1 2 Mukherjee, Neel (14 January 2015). "Neel Mukherjee's top 10 books about revolutionaries". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  12. 1 2 "NELSON « Blank Slate Books" . Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  13. ↑ Cooke, Rachel (18 November 2011). "Nelson, edited by Rob Davis and Woodrow Phoenix – review". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  14. ↑ "2011's best graphic novels". The Times. 26 November 2011. ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  15. ↑ "Kate Charlesworth - Cartoonist - Illustrator - Writer". katecharlesworth.com. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  16. ↑ "Kate Charlesworth". IMDb. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  17. ↑ "Kate Charlesworth - Cartoonist - Illustrator - Writer". katecharlesworth.com. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  18. ↑ "Kate Charlesworth - Cartoonist - Illustrator - Writer". katecharlesworth.com. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  19. ↑ "Kate Charlesworth - Cartoonist - Illustrator - Writer". katecharlesworth.com. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  20. 1 2 3 Streeten, Nicola; Tate, Cath (2018). The Inking Woman. Myriad Editions. ISBN   978-0-9955900-8-3.
  21. ↑ "Kate Charlesworth - Cartoonist - Illustrator - Writer". katecharlesworth.com. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  22. ↑ "Kate Charlesworth - 3D". katecharlesworth.com. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  23. ↑ "My plan? To stick around". Diva magazine. January 2015. ISSN   1353-4912.
  24. ↑ "Happy Walking". ScotsGay Magazine. No. 68. February 2006 – via EBSCOhost.
  25. ↑ "Proud City: People's Story Museum reflects on LGBTQIA+ life in Edinburgh". www.edinburgh.gov.uk. Retrieved 26 November 2019.[ permanent dead link ]
  26. ↑ Basement Gallery (London, England); Krazy Kat Theatre Co (1990). Crusing!: an exhibition of gay comix featuring the work of Howard Cruse, Kate Charlesworth, Groc, Kath Jackson and David Shenton. London: Basement Gallery. OCLC   27407506.
  27. ↑ "Sh(OUT): Contemporary Art and Human Rights/Drawn Out & Painted Pink". The List. 29 April 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  28. ↑ "Drawn Out and Painted Pink". Gallery Of Modern Art (GoMA) Glasgow. 14 April 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  29. ↑ BAULCH, Kevin (31 May 2019). "Exhibition: Stonewall 50 - LGBTQI+ Life Before & After". United Kingdom - European Commission. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  30. ↑ "Kate Charlesworth". Myriad. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  31. ↑ Stewart, Catriona (26 July 2019). "Non-binary artist move by city museums". Evening Times (Glasgow, Scotland). Retrieved 25 November 2019– via NewsBank.
  32. ↑ "Kate Charlesworth Book Launch at The Cartoon Museum". Myriad. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  33. ↑ "Portico Prize". The Portico Library. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  34. ↑ Charlesworth, Kate (1999). Mary Anning: a souvenir. Lyme Regis: Lyme Regis Philpot Museum. OCLC   71047114.
  35. 1 2 "Kate Charlesworth". www.comics.org. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  36. ↑ "Women sit at a table with their legs entwined; an advertisement for safe sex by the Lesbian and gay switchboard. Colour lithograph, 1992". Wellcome Library. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  37. ↑ "The Worm (1999) OGN SC - Comic Book DB". comicbookdb.com. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  38. ↑ "Kate Charlesworth's festival faces index | | guardian.co.uk Arts". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  39. ↑ "Explore the British Library Search - kate charlesworth". explore.bl.uk. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
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