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ENLARGE
Cartoonist Leigh Rubin gives a presentation at the Umpqua Valley Arts Center in Roseburg on Wednesday evening.
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ENLARGE
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Merchandise is displayed as cartoonist Leigh Rubin gives a presentation at the Umpqua Valley Arts Center in Roseburg on Wednesday evening.
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Cartoonist Leigh Rubin illustrated how art can be funny at a Wednesday night fundraiser for the Umpqua Valley Arts Center that drew a full house.
Fans of all ages heard the creator of the one-panel daily comic strip Rubes describe his career and his inspirations from the past 25 years.
Rubin, a California native who calls himself a “sit-down comic,” said he liked the chance to meet with his fans and hear them laugh. He tours the country when not “chained down” to his drawing table, visiting some of the 400 cities that carry his cartoons in their daily newspapers.
“I sit down and come up with something,” Rubin said of drawing his cartoons. “I think it is going to go over well... but to see people laugh in person is great because you know they're not faking. Nobody forces them to laugh.”
His presentation brought plenty of laughter to the room as he told of the real-life inspirations, many stemming from life with his wife and three sons, behind his comics.
Rubin began speaking to groups several years ago when he was asked to appear at a local school as part of a career day. He has since spoken to crowds of up to 600 and was pleased at the turnout for Wednesday night's show, which volunteers said raised about $400 for the arts center.
“There was enough people here to make me very happy,” he said of the turnout, estimated at about 80 attendees.
Raffle tickets were sold at the door for prints and books donated by Rubin. All proceeds from the raffle and additional donations went to the arts center. The gathering was sponsored by The News-Review.
The standing-room-only event left some younger fans in the back stretching to see the whole frame of images projected on the screen facing the audience .
“I got most of the jokes,” Kevin Coalwell, 10, said. “A couple I didn't get just because they were for older people.”
Nicholas Norlin-Pritchard, 11, also enjoyed the show, saying the projected panels “kind of amused” him. But, he was most excited about a print he won in the raffle.
“Not many people like the bathroom ones,” Norlin-Pritchard said, proudly displaying a scene of a Texas longhorn bull unable to pass his horns through a bathroom stall. “I'm gonna hang it up in my room.”
Helen and Bob Schultz waited after the show to get autographs and take pictures with their favorite comic. Helen Schultz brought a scene from her daily Rubes calendar that showed a comical interaction between a hawk and fish.
“He has a wicked sense of humor,” Helen Schultz said. “(It) kind of evokes thought. You sit at the table and say ‘Now what did he mean by that'... It keeps our mind stimulated as we get old.”
“I don't like to give the joke away,” Rubin said, adding that he likes to make implications that people with cultural literacy will understand. “I like to make people work for it.”
The Schultzes said they liked that the event supported other artists, as their son is a painter and bronze sculptor. While they come to many events at the center, they were excited to learn of the visit by Rubin.
“I would love to shake the hand of someone that has no other agenda than to make people laugh,” Bob Schultz said of Rubin. “You can see that in his cartoons and (after asking him questions) in the man.”
After shaking the hand of the last person to leave, Rubin packed up his display table and joked, “On to the next town to bring humor and joy to this humorless world we live in.”
• You can reach reporter Heather Morse at 957-4208 or by e-mail at hmorse@nrtoday.com.
Fans of all ages heard the creator of the one-panel daily comic strip Rubes describe his career and his inspirations from the past 25 years.
Rubin, a California native who calls himself a “sit-down comic,” said he liked the chance to meet with his fans and hear them laugh. He tours the country when not “chained down” to his drawing table, visiting some of the 400 cities that carry his cartoons in their daily newspapers.
“I sit down and come up with something,” Rubin said of drawing his cartoons. “I think it is going to go over well... but to see people laugh in person is great because you know they're not faking. Nobody forces them to laugh.”
His presentation brought plenty of laughter to the room as he told of the real-life inspirations, many stemming from life with his wife and three sons, behind his comics.
Rubin began speaking to groups several years ago when he was asked to appear at a local school as part of a career day. He has since spoken to crowds of up to 600 and was pleased at the turnout for Wednesday night's show, which volunteers said raised about $400 for the arts center.
“There was enough people here to make me very happy,” he said of the turnout, estimated at about 80 attendees.
Raffle tickets were sold at the door for prints and books donated by Rubin. All proceeds from the raffle and additional donations went to the arts center. The gathering was sponsored by The News-Review.
The standing-room-only event left some younger fans in the back stretching to see the whole frame of images projected on the screen facing the audience .
“I got most of the jokes,” Kevin Coalwell, 10, said. “A couple I didn't get just because they were for older people.”
Nicholas Norlin-Pritchard, 11, also enjoyed the show, saying the projected panels “kind of amused” him. But, he was most excited about a print he won in the raffle.
“Not many people like the bathroom ones,” Norlin-Pritchard said, proudly displaying a scene of a Texas longhorn bull unable to pass his horns through a bathroom stall. “I'm gonna hang it up in my room.”
Helen and Bob Schultz waited after the show to get autographs and take pictures with their favorite comic. Helen Schultz brought a scene from her daily Rubes calendar that showed a comical interaction between a hawk and fish.
“He has a wicked sense of humor,” Helen Schultz said. “(It) kind of evokes thought. You sit at the table and say ‘Now what did he mean by that'... It keeps our mind stimulated as we get old.”
“I don't like to give the joke away,” Rubin said, adding that he likes to make implications that people with cultural literacy will understand. “I like to make people work for it.”
The Schultzes said they liked that the event supported other artists, as their son is a painter and bronze sculptor. While they come to many events at the center, they were excited to learn of the visit by Rubin.
“I would love to shake the hand of someone that has no other agenda than to make people laugh,” Bob Schultz said of Rubin. “You can see that in his cartoons and (after asking him questions) in the man.”
After shaking the hand of the last person to leave, Rubin packed up his display table and joked, “On to the next town to bring humor and joy to this humorless world we live in.”
• You can reach reporter Heather Morse at 957-4208 or by e-mail at hmorse@nrtoday.com.
