Nicole Ferentz is an American cartoonist, illustrator, graphic designer, and teacher. Her works cover

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

themes,

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

themes, and themes of illness. Her comics have been featured in prominent queer comics like

Gay Comics In comics, LGBT themes in speculative fiction, LGBT themes are a relatively new concept, as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) themes and character (novel), characters were historically omitted from the content of comic books and the ...

.Ferentz, Nicole. “1993 March on Washington.” ''Gay Comics'', no. #17, 1993.

Education

Nicole Ferentz earned her BFA and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Career

Comics

Nicole Ferentz's cartoons are often biographical reflections of her own life that feature elements of

humor Humour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humorism, humoral medicine of the ancient Gre ...

within them.

Roz Warren's Cartoon Collections

Nicole Ferentz's work as a female comic creator is showcased in some of Roz Warren's

comic a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

collections. A biography on Nicole Ferentz is included alongside the biographies and works of

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

and

cartoonists like

Alison Bechdel Alison Bechdel ( ; born September 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For'', she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir ''Fun Home'', which ...

Angela Bocage Angela Bocage (b. 1959)
Lambiek's Comiclopedia. Retrieved Nov. 6, 2022. is a Karen Favreau within Roz Warren's ''Dyke Strippers: Lesbian Cartoonists A to Z''. Roz Warren's curated collection of comics ''Mothers!: Cartoons by Women'' features contributions from cartoonists like Nicole Ferentz, Claire Bretécher,

Barbara Brandon Barbara Brandon-Croft (born November 27, 1958) is an American cartoonist, best known for creating the comic strip ''Where I'm Coming From'', and for being the first nationally Print syndication#Comic strip syndication, syndicated African-American ...

Roz Chast Rosalind Chast (born November 26, 1954) is an American cartoonist and a staff cartoonist for ''The New Yorker''. Since 1978, she has published more than 800 cartoons in ''The New Yorker''. She also publishes cartoons in ''Scientific American'' and ...

, and Jennifer Camper. Nicole Ferentz's work on

sex Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, oft ...

and relationships is featured alongside female cartoonists like

, Claire Bretécher, and

Roberta Gregory Roberta Gregory (born May 7, 1953)
at the

, Jennifer Camper, and

Diane DiMassa Diane DiMassa (born 1959) is an American feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorpora ...

that covers topics like

motherhood ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestati ...

, relationships, and

women in the workforce Since the industrial revolution, participation of women in the workforce outside the home has increased in industrialized nations, with particularly large growth seen in the 20th century. Largely seen as a boon for industrial society, women in ...

Gay Comics

The 17th edition of

(previously Gay Comix) includes a comic contribution by Nicole Ferentz within their larger section covering the 1993 March on Washington. Ferentz's work is included in this issue of Gay Comics alongside other cartoonists like Robert Kirby, Kris Kovick, Leslie Ewing, and

Roberta Gregory Roberta Gregory (born May 7, 1953)
at the

Illustrations

Nicole Ferentz's work in collaboration with

Celeste West Celeste (Celestia) West (November 24, 1942 – January 3, 2008) was an American librarian and lesbian author, known for her alternative viewpoints in librarianship and her authorship of books about lesbian sex and polyfidelity. She herself was ...

focused on topics like

lesbian sex Lesbian sexual practices are sexual activities involving women who have sex with women, regardless of their sexual orientation. A woman who has sex with another woman may identify as a lesbian if she is sexually attracted to women, or bisexual ...

and

polyfidelity Polyfidelity is a form of non-monogamy, a romantic relationship structure in which all members are considered equal partners and agree to restrict sexual and/or romantic activity only to other members of the group. Origin The practices and b ...

. Ferentz took on the role of illustrator for

's novels ''A Lesbian Love Advisor'' and ''Lesbian Polyfidelity.'' Both of Celeste West's novels illustrated by Nicole Ferentz were nominated for

Lambda Literary Awards Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

; ''A Lesbian Love Advisor'' was nominated in the

2nd Lambda Literary Awards The 2nd Lambda Literary Awards were held in 1990 to honour works of LGBT literature published in 1989. Special awards Nominees and winners External links 2nd Lambda Literary Awards
{{Lambda Literary Awards Lambda Literary Awards, 02 1990 ...

under both Lesbian Nonfiction and Humor and ''Lesbian Polyfidelity'' was nominated in the

9th Lambda Literary Awards The 9th Lambda Literary Awards were held in 1997 to honour works of LGBT literature published in 1996. Special awards Nominees and winners External links 9th Lambda Literary Awards {{Lambda Literary Awards 09 Lambda Lambda (}, ''lám(b)d ...

for the Small Press Book Award.

Art curation

Nicole Ferentz's city-wide project "The Critical Messages Show" was a collection of political audio recordings, videos, and posters by female artists from across the country placed in public trains and buses across

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Nicole Ferentz acted as a co-curator alongside Anita David to create "The Critical Messages Show" under the sponsorship of the

Artemisia Gallery Artemisia Gallery was an alternative exhibition space in Chicago, Illinois, that operated from 1973 until its closure in 2003. History The gallery was a cooperative, started by 20 women who were frustrated by the lack of opportunities for femal ...

. Several works from the show were

censored Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

and banned by the Chicago Transportation Authority for their focus on contemporary public issues. Nicole Ferentz is a credited contributor to the 1986

Hallwalls Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center (aka Hallwalls) is a non-profit art organization located in Buffalo, New York. Since 1974, Hallwalls has shown and shows the work of contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds who work in film, video, literature ...

Exhibition "Artists from

Artemisia Artemisia may refer to: People * Artemisia I of Caria (fl. 480 BC), queen of Halicarnassus under the First Persian Empire, naval commander during the second Persian invasion of Greece * Artemisia II of Caria (died 350 BC), queen of Caria under th ...

" which featured the works of a number of Chicago-based female artists under the curation of Catherine Howe. Nicole Ferentz designed an event-specific logo t-shirt for the cooperative art exhibit ''Artemisia Flex'' at the

which looked to portray a feminist, artistic view on women body builders.

Other Work

Graphic Design

* Nicole Ferentz worked as a

graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

and published her own book ''Time Warp: a History of Graphic Design.'' Ferentz ran her own

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

firm for over a decade that worked primarily with

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

and cultural groups. * Nicole Ferentz worked as a

, and

web development Web development is the work involved in developing a website for the Internet (World Wide Web) or an intranet (a private network). Web development can range from developing a simple single static page of plain text to complex web applications ...

consultant for the Girl's Best Friend Foundation (GBF) in Chicago, Illinois. Ferentz's work with the GBF began in 2003 and involved her contributions as a graphic designer of brochures, websites, and postcards for the foundation.

Loyola University Chicago

In 2007, Nicole Ferentz was named the Director of Fine Arts for the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Cathol ...

References

Wikipedia Student Program American women cartoonists American cartoonists American graphic designers American women graphic designers American illustrators American women illustrators Living people School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni Year of birth missing (living people) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferentz, Nicole