Sarasota Arts & Culture Magazine - September/October 2007 - (Page 40)

Peters knows about Browne’s plans to move. “Chris told me he’d drawn an anti-growth cartoon for the newspaper,” he says. “The cartoon said: there’s too much building; too much traffic; too much everything. Sarasota is not the town he grew up in. But that’s true for every ties—software developers in Silicon Valley, actors in Los Angeles, or whatever. It might be that, despite all the changes ahead, place will still be all-important. We’ll see.” “For my wife Sherrie and me, it’s the lack of affordability and creative association that “Today’s digital tools and expanded bandwidth make it possible for cartoonists to live anywhere and succeed everywhere. If they feel like living in Sarasota, they can. If more cartoonists start flocking here, a third golden age of Sarasota cartooning might be possible.” The Toontown of the past could be a Toontown again. town. Chris knows it—but he still hates it. It’s kind of funny. Chris can’t wait to leave Sarasota, and I can’t wait to get back. We’re talking about the same town. But we’re not.” Austin McKinley is in his late 20s—a Gen X cartoonist who is equally at ease with Adobe Illustrator as pen and ink. In the early ‘90s, he graduated from Ringling College of Art in Design and returned to his hometown. He came back to Sarasota in 1995. “I don’t think Sarasota’s particularly hospitable to cartoonists,” he laughs. “I moved back because of a girl.” Though he does think Sarasota makes for great subject matter. In October of 2006, McKinley’s strip, Squareasota, debuted in the daily paper. McKinley says, “It’s a study of typical and atypical Sarasota denizens—a cartoonist, his lawyer girlfriend, his realtor mom, a skateboarder and a homeless guy. It’s all about culture clash.” “Sarasota’s a great place for nationally syndicated artists,” he says. “It isn’t a particularly good place for developing artists—but I think we’ve reached the point where the place you live doesn’t matter that much.” He says that today’s digital tools and expanded bandwidth make it possible for cartoonists to live anywhere and succeed everywhere. If they feel like living in Sarasota, they can. If more cartoonists start flocking here, a third golden age of Sarasota cartooning might be possible. The Toontown of the past could be a Toontown again. “Or that might be wishful thinking,” he says. “Talent tends to cluster in specific locations dedicated to certain special- makes Sarasota difficult,” he adds. “From what I’ve heard, it sounds like we had that once. The only reason we can afford to live here now is because I bought a place back in 1996.” Right now, Mike Peters likes the place he lives—but he wishes he were back in Sarasota; while Chris Browne would rather be in Sioux Falls. Why? Peters says, “It’s a matter of perspective. Here’s a way to explain it—I was sitting on a park bench in downtown Aspen, looking up at a mountain. An Aspen native sat down next to me—I think he had on a “Some of Grew up Here” t-shirt or something. He looked around at the new development and said, “This place has gone to hell.” Then he left. Somebody else sat down. He looked around and said, “God, this place is heaven.” The guy who remembered the small town Aspen he grew up in thinks the town has gone to hell. The new guy thinks he’s in heaven. Just substitute Sarasota for Aspen, and you see why Chris can’t stand it. He has roots here going back to his father. If I’d grown up here as a kid and was suddenly propelled 40 years ahead to the way it is now, I’d hate it too. I don’t, so I love it. I miss Sarasota dearly.” Peters adds that he still has property on Siesta Key. “I’m hoping to come back someday and build a house on it. We try to visit a few times every year, either with a friend or over at the Colony. “He adds that his memories stay with him. “I’ve got great memories of walking down my block to the beach. It calms me down whenever I think of it. My doctor advised me to go to my happy place when I get my blood pressure checked. Siesta Key is my happy place. I just imagine I’m there, and my blood pressure goes straight down.” 40 : : arts and culture magazine

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Sarasota Arts & Culture Magazine - September/October 2007

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