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It's not wrong that Tillie Walden's accountant listed her occupation as "author" on her tax return. After all, Walden will publish her 11th book this year. But it's not quite right, either. Walden is a cartoonist, a profession that perhaps confounded the tax pro.
"I think he was like, Cartoonist. What the hell is that?" Walden said last week in her Norwich studio.
The answer should reveal itself, at least in part, on Thursday, April 13, when Walden will become the fifth cartoonist laureate of Vermont at a Statehouse ceremony. She plans to say a few words at the occasion and expects to meet Gov. Phil Scott. Recognition by the state is gratifying, Walden said, and beyond anything she ever imagined.
"I was just wrapped up in getting my work done day-to-day," she said. "I never think about things happening outside this room. I was perfectly content to be in Vermont and make my books. This is cool."
Vermont is the only state that regularly appoints a cartoonist laureate; it has named one since 2011. The Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction collaborates with the Vermont Arts Council to select the cartoonist. CCS cofounder James Sturm said the position "brings attention to this medium by highlighting the work of a great practitioner of the art — people whose work is very unique and singular ... They're practicing this art form at the top of their game."
Walden, he said, "checks all the boxes."
"First and foremost, there's her excellence as a cartoonist," Sturm said. "She's created an astounding body of work."
James Kochalka, Vermont's first cartoonist laureate, agreed, calling Walden's artwork "marvelous."
"She's got amazingly expressive, delicate and nuanced lines," he said. "It's just beautiful cartooning."
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- Page from On a Sunbeam
Sturm described the cartoonist laureate position as "DIY." The holder has no formal role during their three-year term but can do what they choose — and as much or as little of it as they like — to showcase the art form and bring comics to the people.
Prior to her official appointment, 26-year-old Walden already has engagements lined up for the spring, including at a senior center and a queer book club. The CCS faculty member is pleased that her new position will allow her "to reach corners of the state that I couldn't reach on my own," Walden said.
"I want to make people feel excited about art in Vermont," she continued. "I'm so happy to talk about comics."
Walden, who's a lesbian, intends to reach LGBTQ audiences in her role as cartoonist laureate. "I consider everything I make to be queer," she said. "It's in the bones — it's in the infrastructure — of everything I do."
Walden moved to Vermont at 18, the day after graduating from high school in Austin, Texas, to attend CCS. She drove to White River Junction with her father in a used Subaru. He flew home to Texas, and she moved into an attic apartment.
She went grocery shopping at a food co-op, not knowing what a co-op was. (Now she and her wife, fellow cartoonist Emma Hunsinger, are members of the local co-op and regulars at Dan & Whit's general store in Norwich.) She got a job cleaning rooms at Hotel Coolidge in White River Junction. She drew. She started cartoon school at the end of summer. She drew some more.
"Honestly, it was the best time of my life," Walden said. "I totally flourished, and I fell in love with Vermont. My world so became my own. It wasn't hard to find a focus."
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- Page from Tillie Walden's graphic memoir, Spinning
In her second year at CCS, Walden started work on what would become her graphic memoir, Spinning, published when she was 21. The story centers on her childhood and teenage years as a competitive figure skater. The book — characterized by keen observation and filled with moving visual detail — has a lyricism that can be achieved by only the very best artists.
Rendered in deep purple and yellow, Spinning is a poignant and introspective exploration of growing up, coming out and trying to find one's place in the world. The cover drawing shows six young skaters lined up in their little outfits: Five of the skaters are looking in one direction; Walden is looking the other way.
Published in 2017, Spinning earned Walden the first of her two Eisner Awards, this one for Best Reality-Based Work. The prize is considered perhaps the most prestigious in comic art.
"My art was a lot simpler back then," Walden said. "It had a lot of rawness."
Her more recent books include the first volume of the Clementine series, set in the apocalyptic world of "The Walking Dead" and representing a departure for Walden in content and style. The story takes place in Vermont, where a grim and brutal tale of death and despair plays out against the aching beauty of the snowy landscape. Walden's comic gives new meaning to the name "Killington." ("I couldn't resist," she said.) Yet she leaves her readers moved by friendship and touched by the hopefulness of youth.
As an artist who makes "sensitive, introspective, gay stuff," Walden said, "I never would've thought in a million years that I would make a mainstream comic for 'The Walking Dead.'" The three-book deal offers Walden stability, she said, and gets her out of her comfort zone by working in a different genre.
"It's a narrative that goes over multiple books," Walden said. "It's very challenging, very daunting."
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- Page from Sketchbook 2017-2020
She's finished the second volume of the Clementine trilogy, in which her characters head north from Vermont, and will start the third this month. At this point, all Walden knows about the story is who will die and what the final image is.
"You throw yourself in," Walden said. "I just start sketching characters and writing things around them in a very haphazard process."
At the same time, she's beginning work on her second collaboration with Canadian indie rockers Tegan and Sara. Their first book together, Junior High, will be released next month. The twin sister musicians write the books, and Walden illustrates them.
"I get to do the fun part of making it as interesting and engaging as possible," she said. "It's so delightful."
These new projects are taking a little longer than usual for Walden — who said her standard pace is "accelerate" — because she's pregnant with her first baby. It's been illuminating, she said, to try to slow down and not push her body.
She has to tell herself, "I'm sorry. You can't draw for eight hours a day. You're gonna have to lay down and eat Cheetos," she said.
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- Sketch from 2019
Last spring, Walden and Hunsinger published a children's picture book that they wrote and illustrated together, My Parents Won't Stop Talking! It's about a trip to the park that gets held up by parents who stop to chat with the neighbors. The story was inspired by Hunsinger's trips to church as a little kid, Walden said. Hunsinger wanted to leave and get home for lunch, but her parents kept talking to fellow parishioners.
Asked if the book will serve as a cautionary tale for parenthood — compelling Walden to go straight to the park without chitchat — the cartoonist issued an apology to her future children.
"I will talk to our neighbors forever," Walden said. "If I see Arnie and Annette and I see Chris and Jill, I'm not going to be able to stop talking to them."
There's just so much to discuss on her windy dirt road in Norwich, from the mud to the bear who knocked over the trash can. Besides, there's no park outside Walden's door — just the trees beyond her studio window, the ones she drew in Clementine.