Chelsea District Library

Artist in Residence

Jerzy Drozd
Artist-in-Residence partner logos

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About Jerzy

Jerzy Drozd began his comics illustration career at 19, self-publishing his own comic books. He has also worked for Antarctic Press on their flagship title Ninja High School. While at Antarctic Press, he and writer Tom Root (of Cartoon Network’s Robot Chicken) co-created the mini-series PPV: Pay-Per-View. He is one of the artists behind Make Like A Tree Comics, a self-publishing comics company that specializes in all-ages comics serialized online and collected in print. This venture caught the attention of Glencoe McGraw-Hill, who contracted Drozd to co-create and illustrate a series of pro-social and educational comics stories for their Backpack Reader series of books. In 2006 he completed his 197-page online graphic novel, The Front, a retelling of the first comics story he self-published.

Though he continues to work as a freelance illustrator, Drozd’s main passion has always been comics, and he enjoys sharing that passion with others. In 2005 he began performing workshops at schools such as Central Michigan University and Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne. He served as the Lead Teaching Artist with ArtServe Michigan’s Literacy Arts Comic Book Project, teaching the comics art form to over 700 Detroit 3rd and 4th graders as well as leading professional development sessions with teachers. In 2008 he worked with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to create a participatory workshop for teachers. In June 2010 he served as programming director for the annual
Kids Read Comics convention, an event he co-organized with teen librarian Edith Burney, DC Comics writer Dan Mishkin, and Green Brain comics store owners Dan and Katie Merritt.

Drozd lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his wife and three cats. You can find more information about his teaching work at www.jdrozd.com.

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Summer Workshops & Events

Comic Jam! Comics are Great: Annual Fine Art Exhibit of Original Comics on exhibit at the River Gallery May 28-June 22

Comic Jam! Live Drawing Exhibit
Saturday, June 18 | 3:00-5:00pm | River Gallery | 120 S. Main Street | Drop-in

As part of Comic Jam! Comics are Great: Annual Fine Art Exhibit of Original Comics Art, curated by and featuring Artist-in-Residence Jerzy Drozd, River Gallery will host an afternoon of live-drawing where spectators are invited to observe the artistic process in action.

Comic Jam! Reception
Saturday, June 18 | 6:00-8:00pm | River Gallery | 120 S. Main Street | Drop-in

Join us for an artist reception featuring Artist-in-Residence Jerzy Drozd alongside many of the artists whose work appears in the exhibit. Join us for a relaxed evening of art, conversation and music.Both events in partnership with the River Gallery. Joint programs of the Chelsea District Library and Chelsea Center for the Arts. Funded by the Chelsea Community Foundation.

Try your hand or hone your skills at cartooning and comic book making. July 9: Draw Dynamic/Write with Images, July 23 Robots vs Monsters/Make a Mini Comic. Joint programs of the Chelsea District Library and Chelsea Center for the Arts. Funded by the Chelsea Community Foundation.

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About Artist in Residence Program

The Artist-in-Residence program is a joint venture of the Chelsea District Library (CDL) and the Chelsea Center for the Arts (CCA). In addition to instructional and consultative activities, the Artist-in-Residence enriches the local arts scene by his or her presence and offers workshops and other programming events.

Each year, an artist is selected by representatives of CDL and CCA on the basis of their merits and their ability to bring interesting and engaging programming to the community. The Artist-in-Residence term is one year, running from September-August. The primary objective is to produce writing and related programming, but other innovative and interdisciplinary programming is also encouraged. The program provides support to artists for their presentations and acts as a catalyst for other community partnerships and spin-off programming.

Past Artists

2008-2009 | ML Liebler

2009-2010 | Nancy Seligmann & Saleem Peeradina

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