Southern Vermont Arts Center exhibiting showcasing comic book art

12:00AM / Wednesday, March 13, 2002Print Story | Email Story

Cartoonist Eugene Colanâ€™s hand drawings of super hero characters are so precise that they are often published directly from the pencil sketch, without first being â€œinked.â€ Colan, a longtime resident of New York City who recently moved to Vermont, has been drawing cartoon characters and scenes for both DC and Marvel Comics since 1946. He is currently exhibiting nearly 20 of his original sketches this spring at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, Vt. The exhibit, â€œPainting with Pencil,â€ is on display now in Gallery 1 of the arts center. It includes framed and autographed copies of the original frames, accompanied by the corresponding comic book in which they appeared, and other background information. Popular characters such as Captain America, Daredevil, Iron Man, Wonder Woman and Howard the Duck are included in the display. Colan, who studied at the Art Students League of New York under renowned illustrator Frank Riley, began his prolific career brightening the pages of the Manila Times in the Philippines during World War II, where he served as a corporal in the Army Air Corps. Upon returning to the U.S., he began in 1944 drawing Wings Comics for Fiction House. His big break came in 1946, when he signed contracts with the countryâ€™s two largest comic-book publishers, with whom he is still associated to the present day. In the more than 50 years of his career, his work has included nearly every genre about which comics have been printed: romance, war, crime/detective, Western, science fiction, horror, humor, and superheroes. He is closely associated with many characters, such as Daredevil, Batman, Captain Marvel, Dracula, Submariner, and others. His early work for Marvel included Menace, Mystic, and Journey into Mystery. He later headed to DC Comics to do Sea Devils and Hopalong Cassidy. His most well-known work was done in the 1960s for Marvel Comics, including the long-running Tomb of Dracula, and Daredevil and his collaboration with Steve Gerber on Howard the Duck. According to an artistâ€™s biography, â€œGene has gathered a very devoted following. His artwork is original and unique, copied from nowhere but his own fertile imagination. His style is immediately recognizable for its dramatic and sweeping cinematic form, mastery of light and shadow, expression and characterization, and unusual eye-catching layouts.â€ Indeed, those on display showed characters whose swooping gestures broke through the lines of their individual windows, with many full-page graphics. The original drawings, about twice the size of the comic books in which they appeared, are for sale as part of the exhibit. Colan, now 75, is still active in the business. He is currently working on an adaptation of the old pulp fiction character â€œThe Spider,â€ which is slated for film in the near future. He has also returned to drawing special-project Batman stories for DC Comics. With increased nostalgia of the comic book period, most notably from the popularity of Michael Chabonâ€™s Pulitzer prize-winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, historians are looking back to the golden age of comic books for its cultural significance; its portrayals of violence, of good and evil, and the messages it presented to millions of young boys throughout the 20th century. Student exhibits The artwork of local students is also gracing the walls of SVACâ€™s Yester House, an annual tradition. Hundreds of students from Pine Cobble School, Maple Street School, Flood Brook Union School, Mettawee Community School, Burr and Burton Academy, Shaftsbury Elementary School, The Dorset School, Manchester Elementary & Middle School, Arlington Memorial High School, Long Trail School, The Mountain School, Northshire Christian Academy, and even some home-schooled students, showed off a variety of work they have been doing this school year. At Saturdayâ€™s opening ceremony, the hall of Yester House were filled with budding young artists and their parents checking out, among other things, hand-woven baskets, paintings of American troops, collages of three-dimensional dioramas, and surrealist-inspired paintings of the family pet. The artwork shows the diversity of each schoolâ€™s art programs, both in terms of media used and the type of subjects and approaches. As part of the exhibit, the SVAC Board of Trustees awards scholarships to three students participating in the exhibit. In addition, students may apply for the Eva Mathiasen Memorial Scholarship, based on an art portfolio. The Southern Vermont Arts Center can be reached at (802) 362-1405.

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McCann Recognizes Superintendent Award Recipient

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:32PM / Tuesday, December 23, 2025

Landon LeClair and Superintendent James Brosnan with Landon's parents Eric and Susan LeClair, who is a teacher at McCann.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Superintendent's Award has been presented to Landon LeClair, a senior in McCann Technical School's advanced manufacturing course.

The presentation was made last Thursday by Superintendent Jame Brosnan after Principal Justin Kratz read from teachers' letters extolling LeClair's school work, leadership and dedication.

"He's become somewhat legendary at the Fall State Leadership Conference for trying to be a leader at his dinner table, getting an entire plate of cookies for him and all his friends," read Kratz to chuckles from the School Committee. "Landon was always a dedicated student and a quiet leader who cared about mastering the content."

LeClair was also recognized for his participation on the school's golf team and for mentoring younger teammates.

"Landon jumped in tutoring the student so thoroughly that the freshman was able to demonstrate proficiency on an assessment despite the missed class time for golf matches," read Kratz.

The principal noted that the school also received feedback from LeClair's co-op employer, who rated him with all fours.

"This week, we sent Landon to our other machine shop to help load and run parts in the CNC mill," his employer wrote to the school. LeClair was so competent the supervisor advised the central shop might not get him back.

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