Source: Martha Scott, 785-532-7718, marthas@k-state.edu
Web site: http://beach.k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Andrew North, 785-532-7718, anorth@k-state.edu

Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009

K-STATE EXPERTS EXPLORE THE RECREATION OF THE WORLD OF OZ IN COMICS DEC. 3

MANHATTAN -- Literary and popular culture experts from Kansas State University are offering a personal tour of the "Recreating Oz in Comics" exhibition, currently on display at K-State's Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art.

Anne Phillips, associate professor and associate head of the department of English, and Roger Adams, associate professor and rare books librarian in Hale Library's department of special collections, will offer literary, visual and scholarly analysis of the legacy of L. Frank Baum's land of Oz, at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3, at the Beach Museum.

Phillips will discuss the way that different illustrators have envisioned Baum's book, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," and trace the history of Oz illustrations from William Wallace Denslow's original illustrations circa 1900, to more recent renderings by contemporary artists including Barry Moser and Lisbeth Zwerger. Adams will talk about the importance and place of graphic novels and comics in scholarly and academic research.

The Beach Museum's "Recreating Oz in Comics" exhibition is on display through Jan. 31, 2010, and features the work of Eric Shanower, artist, writer and Oz historian; and Skottie Young, Marvel Comics artist. Shanower's Oz-related works include "Adventures in Oz," a series of five graphic novels; "The Giant Garden of Oz," an illustrated children's novel; and "The Salt Sorcerer of Oz and Other Stories," a collection of short stories. In late 2008, Marvel Comics released the first issue of Shanower and Young's adaptation of Baum's original book as part of a series of classic works of literature adapted to comic form.

The exhibition also includes a selection of Oz-related comic books and graphic novels from the David J. Williams III L. Frank Baum Collection in K-State's Libraries' Morse department of special collections.

For more information, contact the Beach Museum of Art at 785-532-7718 or drop by the museum on the southeast corner of the K-State campus at 14th Street and Anderson Avenue. Free visitor parking is available next to the building. Normal museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. The museum is closed Mondays.