Mike Konopacki
{{short description|American cartoonist}}
Mike Konopacki (born c. 1951) is an American political cartoonist from Wisconsin, specializing in labor issues.
Background and early career
A 1974 graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison (B.A. in political science[http://www.wisconsinbookfestival.com/presenters/author.php?author_id=490 Wisconsin Book Festival: "Mike Konopacki"]), Konopacki began cartooning for the Madison Press Connection in 1977, as the successor to Pete Wagner. Konopacki's Press Connection cartoon originals are archived at the Wisconsin State Historical Society.
Syndication
After the Connection went bankrupt in 1980, Konopacki began syndicating his work through the labor news service Press Associates, Inc. In 1983 he and Gary Huck (a cartoonist for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America) created their own syndication service, Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons. Huck and Konopacki have published six collections of cartoons: Bye! American, THEM, MAD in USA, Working Class Hero, Two Headed Space Alien Shrinks Labor Movement and American Dread.[http://www.solidarity.com/hkcartoons/who.html Huck/Konopacki Cartoons: Who We Are]
= Archives of the syndicate =
The business records of the early years of the partnership are archived in the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library's Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives.{{Cite web |url=http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/huck_konopacki.html |title=Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives: Gary Huck and Mike Konopacki Labor Cartoons Business Records Collection WAG 264 |access-date=2010-06-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110702100808/http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/huck_konopacki.html |archive-date=2011-07-02 |url-status=dead }}
Other work
Konopacki has created comics on a number of topics, including union organizing, welfare reform, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization, often in collaboration with writer Alec Dubro. He animated the 1998 video Global Village or Global Pillage, narrated by Ed Asner.[http://www.southendpress.org/2004/items/GVGPvid Global Village or Global Pillage] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130111811/http://southendpress.org/2004/items/GVGPvid |date=2010-11-30 }} In 2005, Konopacki illustrated the section, "Wobblies in the '60s" in Wobblies!: A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World.Paul Buhle and Nicole Schulman, eds. Wobblies!: A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World London/New York: Verso, 2005; pp. ix; 238-241; 293. In collaboration with Howard Zinn and historian Paul Buhle, he co-wrote and illustrated A People's History of American Empire, a graphic novel adaptation of Zinn's A People's History of the United States[http://us.macmillan.com/author/mikekonopacki A Peoples' History of American Empire], Macmillan Books
Personal life
Konopacki lives in Madison, Wisconsin.[http://us.macmillan.com/author/mikekonopacki Macmillan Books: "Mike Konopacki"] He has earned his M.A. (2009) and M.F.A. (2010) degrees from UW-Madison's School of Art.[http://www.solidarity.com/hkcartoons/who.html Huck/Konopacki Cartoons: Who We Are] His MFA exhibit was titled, One Nation Under God.[http://www.art.wisc.edu/?folder=events&pagename=details&idEvents=646 Master of Fine Arts Exhibition by Mike Konopacki: One Nation Under God]
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.solidarity.com/hkcartoons/konopage.html Mike Konopacki Toons]
- [http://www.solidarity.com/hkcartoons/ Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons]
- [http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A53059 O'Driscoll, Bill. "Cartoonist Mike Konopacki discusses adapting Howard Zinn's A People's History]. Pittsburgh City Paper Oct. 2, 2008
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Category:American editorial cartoonists
Category:American political artists
Category:Artists from Madison, Wisconsin
Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni