About Us:
OUR BIOS
:Gary Dumm • artcat13@sbcglobal.net
Gary is a life-long resident of Cleveland, who went to public school and Catholic schools here, including graduating from St. Joseph High School. He received an Associate In Arts degree from Cuyahoga Community college, studying art with teachers Gerald Kramer and David Haberman.
His mother used comic books to help teach him to read, and he still loves their juxtaposition of words and pictures. His first job was with Graphic Arts Co-ordinators where he learned sign making, silk-screening and graphic design fundamentals. During college he began doing cartoons and illustrations for the newspaper there, and afterwards continued making them for Cleveland’s “alternative” newspapers.
In 1976 he met Cleveland’s “master of the mundane” writer Harvey Pekar and began a 30 year association with him, drawing comics art for his autobiographical comic book “American Splendor”, and later doing promotional materials for the movie of the same name (2003) that appeared in Entertainment Weekly, the N.Y. Times, Le Monde and many other publications. In between he worked on other comic book titles, did illustrations for many book covers (1982 - 2000) published by Bowling Green University’s “Popular Press” and taught cartooning and typography at Virginia Marti College of Fashion & Design.
From 2003 on he’s done a series of cartoon/bios of Blues personalities for Music Maker Rag, numerous cartoon illos for Weingart Design (Cleveland) brochures from 2000 on, and illustrations for newspapers the Free Times and Scene magazine (2006), as well as an illustrated Cleveland Magazine article “Our Miserable Year” (2010).
He’s worked on illustrating (in black and white) several graphic novels published within recent years including “Our Movie Year” and “Ego & Hubris” written by Harvey Pekar, “The Beats” and “SDS, A Graphic History” by Paul Buhle & Pekar, and “Zombie Moon” and “Life Of The Dead” written by Tim Bennett and himself. Whenever these projects called for color his wife and team-mate Laura Dumm added beautiful digital color. Their collaborative efforts continue and are utilized for any projects that require color. Additional published efforts included illos for “Yiddishkeit” and “Robin Hood” (2011) and “Radical Jesus” (with color by Laura) from Herald Press in 2013. In 2014 Gary drew the chapter (with Laura coloring) about Hugh Hefner in Monte Beauchamp’s cartoon/bio book of famous cartoonists entitled “Masterful Marks” from Simon & Schuster.
As a change of pace in 2011, he began making public art for Cleveland’s St. Clair/Superior Development Corporation’s “Year of the...”Rabbit” project. He continued in 2012 and did another sculpture for their “Year of the Dragon.” These sculptures were both a mental and physical challenge (painting a large, three-dimensional object) and ultimately were very satisfying in viewing them in a public space with “public” reaction.
But the painted sculptures were dwarfed by the Dumms’ creation of “Our Love Letter to Cleveland”. He wanted to pay homage to Cleveland by honoring the people , places and things that make Cleveland great with a large scale mural (8’ x 60+’) unveiled September 2013. This project was funded by his receiving a 2013 Creative Workforce Fellowship grant and is installed close to Cleveland’s historic West Side Market.
In 2011 he began working with author Scott MacGregor on a 300 page graphic novel “Tunnel To Hell” (that will be published in Oct. 2017), partially financed by a CPAC Fellowship grant that Scott received that year. This project is a fiction-based-on-fact tale set in Cleveland in 1916, and relates a story of family, civil and workers’ rights and the tragedies that befell the immigrants who labored beneath Lake Erie, risking life and limb, to bring fresh water to the city of Cleveland. The book was published and on the book stands in October 2017.
Gary and Laura started working on a series of large pop/surrealist paintings about social issues and the environment in 2014. He comes up with the concept and starts sketching…they both discuss the idea and the painting develops into a final drawing that he transfers onto the canvas then Laura paints it. The series is ongoing, and he thinks that this is some of the best work either of them has done to date.
Laura Dumm • artcat12@sbcglobal.net
Laura was born, raised and still resides in Cleveland, Ohio. Self taught, she has always been interested in art. She married cartoonist/artist Gary Dumm in 1971. In 1986, after working for various publications, she made the decision to become a freelance graphic artist/illustrator and started her own graphic arts business. In 2009 she retired to be a full time painter. She is first and foremost a painter. “I’m a typical Gemini, I need change. I have never worried about having a signature style, painting the same way over and over is a bit boring to me.” For example, from 2008 to 2011, she was painting people/animals in abstract quilt-like patterns, but then changed to a more realistic pop art style. The one constant in her work is a bright color palette.
She lives in a multiple cat household, all rescued strays, and is very supportive of animal rights issues. In 2003, Laura had a one woman show titled “A Cats Eye View” at SmarTArt Gallery in Tremont, Ohio. In 2013 she had a solo show titled “BubbaPalooza”. The show included 30 different artistic depictions of the same pose of Bubba, her 17 pound orange cat and art muse.
Becoming interested in public art projects around the city such as the St. Clair Superior “Year Of” animal sculptures celebrating the Chinese New Year, she did 1 tiger (2010), 1 rabbit (2011) and 2 dragons (2012), (the second dragon was a collaboration with Gary) which are scattered around town. Two (the dragon and rabbit) were bought by East Ohio Dominion Gas Co., and can be seen at their building on East 55th.
Besides doing her own art she works with her husband Gary on multiple projects. When his comic work needs color she scans the black and white art into the computer and colors it in photoshop. They have worked as a team on many comic book projects including art for Harvey Pekar’s autobiographical comic American Splendor.
She worked for a design studio and a few magazines before starting her own graphic arts business (1986). After 20 some years of fun and challenging work she made the decision to close up shop and spend my time doing what she has always loved to do, painting. She called her style "Patternism," which is breaking down a realistic subject into colorful shapes and patterns. She painted pop/op art patterns inside abstract shapes to define the portrait of a person or animal in such a meticulous fashion that some think it is collage, instead of painted, BUT they are indeed acrylic paintings.
In a two-person show in 2009 I filled a gallery wall with 12 of the cat portrait paintings. Michael Gill of the Cleveland Scene wrote: "The juxtaposition of color and pattern doesn't strive for illusion the way op art does, but it has a similar eye popping quality." He also said "as abstract as representational work can be" and "all about color and pattern." My influences are: pop art/abstract art, children's art, fabric patterns and quilting.
Traditionally, quilts told a story; they allowed women to have a voice. My paintings use the quilt story/decorative idea, but put a modern super-color-saturated painted spin on it. One gallery owner suggested I look at my paintings through chroma-depth glasses that dramatically separate the hot from the cool colors. Doing this gave me the idea to consider doing a 3-D show, handing out 3-D glasses to people who attend; perhaps for my next "brick and mortor" gallery show.
In 2013 the Dumms installed their 60 foot long mural entitled “A Love Letter to Cleveland” in Ohio City (a few doors down from the West Side Market, facing its parking lot) with the monetary assistance of a Creative Workforce Fellowship granted through CPAC/CAC. The mural paid homage to the people, places and things that make Cleveland a wonderful place to live. The mural was destroyed by the wind and sun and taken down in 2018.
In 2013 her style changed to be more realistic. a protest pop art style. She worked with Gary on a show titled “The Fame, Shame, Blame Game”. A synergetic depiction of their rather critical views of the present wacky world in which we all live. They worked on the same canvases, contributing together what each does best. Their process was to brainstorm ideas, after which Gary begins sketching (followed by critical discussion), then he refines the drawings further and transfers those final drawings to canvas. He then handed that canvas off to Laura, who did the lion’s share of the painting. If Laura needed help tweaking something, Gary has been known to actually pick up a brush and add some color, but he quips, “If it were up to me the whole world would be done in glorious black & white!” (Ordinarily, due to his comic book duties, he works only in black & white.)
In 2014 they began working together on an environmental series using classic horror monsters, science projects gone wrong, to illustrate things like water and air pollution, the overuse of pesticides and the problem of bees becoming extinct! They had a solo show “Here There Be Monsters” in 2016 at BAYarts and are continuing to work on the series and show them whenever they can to promote environmental and social causes. This series has been a learning experience for them and showing the paintings helps to bring attention to others about some of the serious issues that face us in our modern world.
Today she is taking a break from the art rat race and thinking about her next series which she will do solo while Gary continues to do his black & white art.
OUR BIOS
:Gary Dumm • artcat13@sbcglobal.net
Gary is a life-long resident of Cleveland, who went to public school and Catholic schools here, including graduating from St. Joseph High School. He received an Associate In Arts degree from Cuyahoga Community college, studying art with teachers Gerald Kramer and David Haberman.
His mother used comic books to help teach him to read, and he still loves their juxtaposition of words and pictures. His first job was with Graphic Arts Co-ordinators where he learned sign making, silk-screening and graphic design fundamentals. During college he began doing cartoons and illustrations for the newspaper there, and afterwards continued making them for Cleveland’s “alternative” newspapers.
In 1976 he met Cleveland’s “master of the mundane” writer Harvey Pekar and began a 30 year association with him, drawing comics art for his autobiographical comic book “American Splendor”, and later doing promotional materials for the movie of the same name (2003) that appeared in Entertainment Weekly, the N.Y. Times, Le Monde and many other publications. In between he worked on other comic book titles, did illustrations for many book covers (1982 - 2000) published by Bowling Green University’s “Popular Press” and taught cartooning and typography at Virginia Marti College of Fashion & Design.
From 2003 on he’s done a series of cartoon/bios of Blues personalities for Music Maker Rag, numerous cartoon illos for Weingart Design (Cleveland) brochures from 2000 on, and illustrations for newspapers the Free Times and Scene magazine (2006), as well as an illustrated Cleveland Magazine article “Our Miserable Year” (2010).
He’s worked on illustrating (in black and white) several graphic novels published within recent years including “Our Movie Year” and “Ego & Hubris” written by Harvey Pekar, “The Beats” and “SDS, A Graphic History” by Paul Buhle & Pekar, and “Zombie Moon” and “Life Of The Dead” written by Tim Bennett and himself. Whenever these projects called for color his wife and team-mate Laura Dumm added beautiful digital color. Their collaborative efforts continue and are utilized for any projects that require color. Additional published efforts included illos for “Yiddishkeit” and “Robin Hood” (2011) and “Radical Jesus” (with color by Laura) from Herald Press in 2013. In 2014 Gary drew the chapter (with Laura coloring) about Hugh Hefner in Monte Beauchamp’s cartoon/bio book of famous cartoonists entitled “Masterful Marks” from Simon & Schuster.
As a change of pace in 2011, he began making public art for Cleveland’s St. Clair/Superior Development Corporation’s “Year of the...”Rabbit” project. He continued in 2012 and did another sculpture for their “Year of the Dragon.” These sculptures were both a mental and physical challenge (painting a large, three-dimensional object) and ultimately were very satisfying in viewing them in a public space with “public” reaction.
But the painted sculptures were dwarfed by the Dumms’ creation of “Our Love Letter to Cleveland”. He wanted to pay homage to Cleveland by honoring the people , places and things that make Cleveland great with a large scale mural (8’ x 60+’) unveiled September 2013. This project was funded by his receiving a 2013 Creative Workforce Fellowship grant and is installed close to Cleveland’s historic West Side Market.
In 2011 he began working with author Scott MacGregor on a 300 page graphic novel “Tunnel To Hell” (that will be published in Oct. 2017), partially financed by a CPAC Fellowship grant that Scott received that year. This project is a fiction-based-on-fact tale set in Cleveland in 1916, and relates a story of family, civil and workers’ rights and the tragedies that befell the immigrants who labored beneath Lake Erie, risking life and limb, to bring fresh water to the city of Cleveland. The book was published and on the book stands in October 2017.
Gary and Laura started working on a series of large pop/surrealist paintings about social issues and the environment in 2014. He comes up with the concept and starts sketching…they both discuss the idea and the painting develops into a final drawing that he transfers onto the canvas then Laura paints it. The series is ongoing, and he thinks that this is some of the best work either of them has done to date.
Laura Dumm • artcat12@sbcglobal.net
Laura was born, raised and still resides in Cleveland, Ohio. Self taught, she has always been interested in art. She married cartoonist/artist Gary Dumm in 1971. In 1986, after working for various publications, she made the decision to become a freelance graphic artist/illustrator and started her own graphic arts business. In 2009 she retired to be a full time painter. She is first and foremost a painter. “I’m a typical Gemini, I need change. I have never worried about having a signature style, painting the same way over and over is a bit boring to me.” For example, from 2008 to 2011, she was painting people/animals in abstract quilt-like patterns, but then changed to a more realistic pop art style. The one constant in her work is a bright color palette.
She lives in a multiple cat household, all rescued strays, and is very supportive of animal rights issues. In 2003, Laura had a one woman show titled “A Cats Eye View” at SmarTArt Gallery in Tremont, Ohio. In 2013 she had a solo show titled “BubbaPalooza”. The show included 30 different artistic depictions of the same pose of Bubba, her 17 pound orange cat and art muse.
Becoming interested in public art projects around the city such as the St. Clair Superior “Year Of” animal sculptures celebrating the Chinese New Year, she did 1 tiger (2010), 1 rabbit (2011) and 2 dragons (2012), (the second dragon was a collaboration with Gary) which are scattered around town. Two (the dragon and rabbit) were bought by East Ohio Dominion Gas Co., and can be seen at their building on East 55th.
Besides doing her own art she works with her husband Gary on multiple projects. When his comic work needs color she scans the black and white art into the computer and colors it in photoshop. They have worked as a team on many comic book projects including art for Harvey Pekar’s autobiographical comic American Splendor.
She worked for a design studio and a few magazines before starting her own graphic arts business (1986). After 20 some years of fun and challenging work she made the decision to close up shop and spend my time doing what she has always loved to do, painting. She called her style "Patternism," which is breaking down a realistic subject into colorful shapes and patterns. She painted pop/op art patterns inside abstract shapes to define the portrait of a person or animal in such a meticulous fashion that some think it is collage, instead of painted, BUT they are indeed acrylic paintings.
In a two-person show in 2009 I filled a gallery wall with 12 of the cat portrait paintings. Michael Gill of the Cleveland Scene wrote: "The juxtaposition of color and pattern doesn't strive for illusion the way op art does, but it has a similar eye popping quality." He also said "as abstract as representational work can be" and "all about color and pattern." My influences are: pop art/abstract art, children's art, fabric patterns and quilting.
Traditionally, quilts told a story; they allowed women to have a voice. My paintings use the quilt story/decorative idea, but put a modern super-color-saturated painted spin on it. One gallery owner suggested I look at my paintings through chroma-depth glasses that dramatically separate the hot from the cool colors. Doing this gave me the idea to consider doing a 3-D show, handing out 3-D glasses to people who attend; perhaps for my next "brick and mortor" gallery show.
In 2013 the Dumms installed their 60 foot long mural entitled “A Love Letter to Cleveland” in Ohio City (a few doors down from the West Side Market, facing its parking lot) with the monetary assistance of a Creative Workforce Fellowship granted through CPAC/CAC. The mural paid homage to the people, places and things that make Cleveland a wonderful place to live. The mural was destroyed by the wind and sun and taken down in 2018.
In 2013 her style changed to be more realistic. a protest pop art style. She worked with Gary on a show titled “The Fame, Shame, Blame Game”. A synergetic depiction of their rather critical views of the present wacky world in which we all live. They worked on the same canvases, contributing together what each does best. Their process was to brainstorm ideas, after which Gary begins sketching (followed by critical discussion), then he refines the drawings further and transfers those final drawings to canvas. He then handed that canvas off to Laura, who did the lion’s share of the painting. If Laura needed help tweaking something, Gary has been known to actually pick up a brush and add some color, but he quips, “If it were up to me the whole world would be done in glorious black & white!” (Ordinarily, due to his comic book duties, he works only in black & white.)
In 2014 they began working together on an environmental series using classic horror monsters, science projects gone wrong, to illustrate things like water and air pollution, the overuse of pesticides and the problem of bees becoming extinct! They had a solo show “Here There Be Monsters” in 2016 at BAYarts and are continuing to work on the series and show them whenever they can to promote environmental and social causes. This series has been a learning experience for them and showing the paintings helps to bring attention to others about some of the serious issues that face us in our modern world.
Today she is taking a break from the art rat race and thinking about her next series which she will do solo while Gary continues to do his black & white art.