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A Brief Bio or Personal Summary
I was born in Portland, OR, and I spent my adolescence on Vashon Island,WA being a theater nerd, making art and reading comics. I have a couple of degrees, a Bachelor of Arts in women’s studies and opera singing from Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, and another in fashion design from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, CA. When I’m not making apparel patterns or drawing fashion figures for Seattle apparel designers, or working as a freelance illustrator, I keep a comic blog, “WrenCoMcs,” which has become my primary passion. I live in the International District of Seattle, WA with my partner, Schquay, and my “Beebs” (parakeets Gene and Jules), who are a consistent presence in my comics.
Personal Facebook URL
www.facebook.com/wrenmcmurdotheartist
Publishing History
Yes, self-published (Web or Print)
Influences & Inspirations
I find inspiration in everyday moments of crisis, or feelings I can’t easily identify. Other influences include romantic triumph, LGBTQIA... culture, girl culture, fashion, fitness motivation blogs, television, and family history.
What are you currently working on?
I keep a weekly blog of comics that have been described as “existential vignettes”: www.wrencomcs.com. These comics are autobiographical and explore mental health, sexuality, relationship dynamics, family, and daily connections.I am also researching for a graphic biography of my Great-Grandmother Anna Jenkins, a Mormon schoolteacher and single mother ostracized from her community for having an affair and subsequent illegitimate child during the Great Depression. Hers is a tragic story of self-reliance, intelligence, and love, as well as a mental decline and illness (eventually leading to her institutionalization and death). Much of her life experiences were recorded via letters between herself and my Great Grandfather Hawkins, the man she had the child with, whom she waited for, for most of her life.
Why should people vote for you?
Should I win the grant proceeds of this event, I will use the funds to complete my graphic biography of Grandma Jenkins for printed publishing. Her story connects all of the women in my family. We become misty-eyed and reverent, all of us sharing the same feelings and tensions. My family, as with many other families, upholds a long-standing history of chronic depression and mental instability. In addition to this fact, I believe most women battle the historically and culturally imbedded fear that we are, well…crazy, or that circumstances may drive us there. It is my intent to find myself, and my connection to my family in her story, and offer some perspective about the varying degrees of reality of the “hysterical” nature attributed to the feminine experience. It is also my hope to connect with other women and feminine people who battle, or whose families battle, mental health issues and accusations born out of feminine forbearances. This story will illustrate the beauty and depth of character present in my remarkably clever and able Great-Grandmother, but also the ultimate tragedy of her life. Please help me to fund the completion and publication of this project!
Wren McMurdo
