Join Illustrator Wendy MacNaughton, as she describes how the challenges of 2020 have opened the door to a new creative opportunity — teaching art to children.
Technical Level: General Audience
Type: Keynote
Category: Inspiration
Track: Illustration and Digital Painting, Education
Audience: Educator, Graphic Designer, Illustrator
Illustrator, Graphic Journalist, and Educator
Wendy MacNaughton is an illustrator and graphic journalist. She has published 12 books including 3 New York Times Bestsellers, and is the illustrator of the acclaimed #1 NYT Bestselling Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, by writer and cook Samin Nosrat. A former visual columnist for The New York Times, Wendy was the fifth artist granted access to Guantanamo Bay where she drew the culture of the United State’s War Court.
Wendy’s work centers on “deep looking” - the idea that through direct observational drawing we are able to overcome bias and connect with one another and the world around us. She combines drawing with active listening and social work ethics in a method of visual storytelling she calls "drawn journalism.” Under the title “Meanwhile” Wendy introduced drawn journalism to The New York Times, where she was the newspaper’s first weekly visual columnist in the Sunday Business section. “Meanwhile” was the back page column for California Sunday Magazine for three years, and was published as a book: Meanwhile in San Francisco: The City in Its Own Words.
Wendy is the co-founder of Women Who Draw, a database promoting visibility for women-identifying and non-binary illustrators emphasizing women of color and LGBTQ+ artists that transformed hiring practices in the publishing industry. Recently, with her wife Caroline Paul, Wendy created and taught DrawTogether, live daily art classes for kids that used drawing to provide socio-emotional support during Covid-19. The classes encouraged imagination, promoted resilience, confidence and flexibility, and connected every child with tens of thousands of other DrawTogether kids from over 40 countries.
Wendy has degrees in both art and social work. She’s worked as a writer in corporate advertising; as an advocacy campaign director for non-profits; and sold books in a used bookstore. She spent several years working throughout East Africa creating educational campaigns for health and civic engagement, including the national campaign for Rwanda’s first democratic election.
Wendy lives in San Francisco with her wife, two cats and a dog.