Sturm, who serves as CCS' director, is best known for his trilogy of fictional American history graphic novels "The Revival" (1996), "Hundreds of Feet Below Daylight" (1998) and the award-winning "The Golem's Mighty Swing" (2001). Sturm's work has also appeared in The New Yorker.
"Market Day" follows one day in the life of a rug weaver living in eastern Europe in the early 1900s. On this day, he discovers at the market that "making art and making a living might not necessarily be congruent pursuits," according to Sturm.
The character, Mendleman, is hardly a simple craftsmen rather, he views the rugs he makes as beautiful, high-quality expressions of the human condition. Sturm said the character was inspired by his own struggle to balance providing for his family with his career as an artist.
"When you're young you can kind of make work and establish yourself as an artist because you don't have many concerns other than following the dictates of your imagination," Sturm said. "You roll out of bed in the morning and if you don't have health insurance, who cares? You'll live forever. "
The illustrations are characterized by a meditative, melancholy palette that is quite fitting for the novel's setting and content. Shades of gray predominate in the work until the final few panels, as Sturm gives the hero an ambiguous but hopeful ending. Sturm said he studied numerous sources, from Yiddish postcards to photographs by Roman Vishniac, to try and find the right artistic style for the piece. Sturm will give a presentation on these source materials during Friday's event.
Sturm said the event will be all the more special since it will be held at CCS. Prior to opening CCS, Sturm had been a professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia until he chose to "move on," he said. Sturm's in-laws owned a home in Hartland, Vt. where Sturm began to work as a freelance illustrator in summer 2001. Soon after, his second daughter was born.
"Artists love free rent," he said. "But I wondered, How am I going to support my growing family?'" he said. "I was really interested by White River Junction and I always thought about starting a school for cartoonists. I could not work from the house with two young daughters, so I got a little studio in 2002."
Since its inception, CCS has grown from 20 to 48 full-time students. CCS offers a master's degree in fine arts and also has a gallery program, in addition to hosting summer workshops for the community. CCS artists have gained fame within the comic community, and the Center has produced biographies based on the lives of famous Americans with the publishing company Hyperion, with one most recently on Amelia Earheart, according to operations manager Valerie Fleisher.
"Market Day" reflects the fortunes of Sturm, CCS and even the greater White River Junction community. In the town's heyday starting in the late 19th century, White River Junction was a New England transportation hub, according to Sturm, but saw its economy crumble as railroad use declined. The downtown area has seen a revival in recent years, according to Sturm, as artists began settling into the previously abandoned buildings. The result has been a revitalized community, complete with galleries, a museum and vintage clothing stores that Sturm likened to a small East Village.
"A lot of people in this area gave up on it or felt this town beyond redemption," Sturm said. "It is just one of these small villages that has a lot of underutilized infrastructure, and in such a small village it only takes a few people who in the past four or five years really revived it. And there are a lot of cool, interesting, smart, creative people in White River Junction."
