To all interested in political cartoons in the Washington DC area, here is an event you should enjoy:

Art Soiree holds monthly events which revolve around cocktails, socializing and art. On Thursday January 26 Art Soiree’s event is an exhibition of editorial cartoons of which I am one of the featured guests. For more information check out the link below. I hope to see you there!

You can learn more here.

I am pleased to announce that I am currently featured in this month’s edition of Malibu Magazine.

The magazine has a regular column called “10 x 10″ where they ask a guest 10 eclectic questions about his-or-herself ( my favorite: What tunes would be on the five-song playlist to your life?).

As part of my interview, I was asked to supply a photo. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to embellish it a little  so I created the art below.

You can check out the magazine article here

With 2 weeks left in 2011, I am happy to say that orders for the 2012 Economist Wall Kalendar have been brisk! ( you can order them from the Kaltoons store).

Above you can catch a glimpse of the July spread which features the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

I am looking forward to 2012 with a host of new projects roaring to go. I have tentative trips to Romania, Hong Kong, Singapore and the UK  as well as San Francisco  and Fargo, North Dakota planned. I also have some great animations in the works that will be available for viewing early in the year.

I am also hoping to publish a new collection of my cartoons form The Economist sometime in 2012 ( my first collection of cartoons exclusively from The Economist was back in 1988!)

I am also hoping to be working on the 2013 Economist Wall Kalendar!

I will be announcing new events and other  news right here on the blog… so keep on stopping by!

The great local NPR station in Baltimore, WYPR will be airing an interview with me in the days ahead. Their weekly show on the arts and culture called The Signal will talk to me about the my year’s projects including the 2012 Wall calendar as well as my upcoming event at The Walters. The show airs Friday 7-8PM and Saturday 1-2PM or  you download a podcast here.

This picture is from my retrospective exhibit at The Walters in 2006

On Sunday December 11, 2-3:30 I will be giving a public presentation at my favorite Museum, The Walters of Baltimore.

Here are some details from the Walters website:

Kal will chat about his work, look back at his best cartoons from 2011 and sign copies of his award winning 2012 Kal-endar (a great gift for the holidays), published by The Economist. He’ll finish his talk with a fun and lively drawing lesson.
Where:
The Walters Art Museum
When:
Sunday, December 11, 2–3:30 p.m.
Price:
Free
Media Contact:
Amy Mannarino, 410-547-9000, ext. 277, amannarino@thewalters.org

I hope to see you there!

I am delighted to announce the new 2012 Wall Kalendars have arrived and are ready for purchase. You can place your orders at the Kaltoons online store.

Price is $15.00 +shipping. Last year’s Kalendar was a great success and I think this year’s is an improvement from the previous award-winning editions!

I am delighted to announce the 2012 Wall kalendar is printed and ready to go. I have included above a sample spread from the Kalendar which I think is the best one to date. The Kalendar is fully illustrated throughout and took me 6 months to complete. I will be posting one spread a week as a sneak preview for those interested viewers.

Copies of the Kalendar will be available from the Kaltoons store starting October 24! Tell your friends!

I was sad to learn today of the passing of the great Maryland politician William Donald Schaefer. Schaefer or “Willie Don” as we would know him was a flamboyant, dynamic, zany and utterly unique politician who gave 50 years of his life to public service for the people of Maryland.

I had a strange and wonderful relationship with the Governor. As editorial cartoonist for the Baltimore Sun for 17 years, the Governor’s abundant antics supplied me with ample (read: mountains) of material to draw upon.

He was a great showman and ham who was fond of dressing up in silly outfits and wandering off script. His wacky persona was complimented by rubbery face which had more expressions than Baskin Robbins had flavors.

He also had an incredibly thin skin and didn’t take lightly to criticism… particularly unflattering cartoons.

Thus, I was a feature of many of his public tirades and recipient of poison pen letters inked by the great man himself. We had quite a relationship.

Recently, at a Stoop Storytelling series in Baltimore I had the pleasure of sharing some of his funnier antics I encountered. You can listen to the presentation here.

After his retirement from public service in his Eighties, he and I made amends.

I had been asked to partake in an hour long documentary  by MPT about his career in politics. At a private screening of the film he and I had a chance to visit. I thanked him for his dedication and service to the people of Maryland. He thanked me for finally picking on someone else for a change.

Classic Schaefer.

Despite the decades of cartoon criticism, I am a big fan of Willie Don Schaefer. He was an important and accomplished politician who made Baltimore and Maryland a better place to live for millions of citizens.

As a cartoonist I felt lucky to have such a gift as Governor … And as a citizen I felt incredibly lucky to have a Governor so dedicated as William Donald Schaefer.

The Governor and I had a brief detente in 2000 when he wrote the introduction to my collection of cartoons “Kal Draws the Line” (above)

If you are in the Bay area on April 28th Please come on by this event. The event is open to the public but be sure to rsvp as per the invitation above. I look forward to see you there!

In early March, I had the privilege of addressing the TEDx Warwick conference hosted at Warwick University in the UK. The event was a delight. The student organizers assembled  a provocative group of speakers in a very professional environment.

“TED” talks are great fun.  Your mission as a TED speaker is to give the “Talk of a lifetime” in 18 minutes. (For those of you unfamiliar with the “TED” experience, I highly recommend you take a visit the TED website.)

I hope my speech reflected well on my lifetime (thus far)… but I will let you be the judge. I have just learned my TEDx talk is now available for all to view. You can see it below!