By Joel Keller
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE
Being involved in an artistic endeavor, whether it involves painting, drawing, writing, or anything else, is always dependent on the environment the artist is in. If the subject matter isn’t stimulating enough, or if the surroundings aren’t relaxing or distraction-free, it will show in the work. It will feel disjointed.
With that in mind, two of Cedar Crest’s best-known artistic minds have utilized not only their apartment homes, but the people and places within the retirement community itself to inspire their work.
Cartoons and illustrations
Ever wonder how magazines get those cartoonish illustrations that accompany their articles? Don Trawin can tell you; he’s been an illustrator for more than 60 years, the last 30 of which have been exclusively for magazines. His work as a commercial illustrator put his anonymous drawings on everything from the backs of cereal boxes to the annual report of the New York Stock Exchange.
“I always preferred drawing from when I was a tiny child,” he says. “But this other stuff was there and lucrative, and I could do it.” He switched to illustrating for magazines in the mid-70s, after showing his portfolio to Fortune magazine. “They said, ‘Where have you been? We’ve been looking for someone like you!’” He freelanced for a number of magazines, including the Saturday Evening Post, before going into semi-retirement in the late 1980s.
He’s still a regular contributor to the Post. In an interesting arrangement, the magazine sends him the full text of articles they want him to illustrate, and he has free reign to draw what he wants based on what he’s read. Why does he continue to do it? “Because it’s fun. I like to do it, and it’s easy. I look forward to the articles they send me; they’re usually funny.”
“He is in the esteemed company of Norman Rockwell and numerous other illustrators from the Golden Age of Illustration,” says Post Managing Editor Patrick Perry. “We are lucky to have him.”