The beginning of this blog goes back 4 years, to what I think may be my first official blog post on the Museum website . At least it is the first one I saw when I checked it today‎.  So if you want to see the adventures of the 5 artists who traveled with me to Havana to meet up with Cuban artists and animators, check that blog post.

If you do go back to this post you will understand why I am so excited that three of the artists we met in Havana were able to come as invited guests to Satire Fest in San Francisco. This  annual meeting of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) was held October 9 – 12, 2014.

Carol Hills Senior Producer for the BBC Boston interviewed Adán Iglesias, Falco, and Laz Ramirez for a future radio broadcast, hopefully you will get to hear it.

Adán and Carol

Carol and Falco

Carol and Laz

Gus Rodriguez, second from right with his wife, Liz,is a colleague from the Cuban magazine, DeDeTe in Havana. It was a happy reunion for these colleagues who had not seen each other for 9 years.
Gus has been located in Miami since late 2005‎, and is an artist for El Nuevo Herald in that city.

Part of Satire Fest was a ‘draw-off’ between the Cubans and US cartoonists moderated by Michael Cappozzola

The resulting cartoons by the Cubans was combined creative effort on the part all three.

On Sunday the cartoonist group came by bus to the Schulz Museum where they presented a panel discussion to a full auditorium.

Dan Perkins (aka Tom Tomorrow), Kal Kallaugher,‎ Steve Benson, Jen Sorenson .
Moderating the panel is recent Pulitzer Prize winner, Mark Fiore.

 

L to R: Laz, Gus Rodriguez, Falco, Adán
A good Charlie Brown memory to take home from the Museum.

Lex  and Brian had not seen the Cubans for over 6 years, so it was a touching reunion. Cesar Gallegos, left, Schulz Museum archivist, was our translator some of the time.

Justin Thompson, also on the 2008 trip, enjoyed a reunion with the 3 Cuban artists the next day—but no photos were snapped.

The Cubans visit to Satire Fest was picked up by local news in Havana, you can practice your Spanish here!

After four days of cartoonists and cartooning, I wanted to show our visitors some of the beauty of the Bay Area. They loved Armstrong Grove with its 1,000 year old redwood trees and the special clam chowder at Spud Point Marina in Bodega Bay. What they may have loved the most is our beautiful Pacific Ocean, which they didn’t want to stop looking at. In San Francisco they walked down the crookedest street, Lombard Street, and ended at the waterfront before heading to the airport to return to Havana.

 

—Jean Schulz