Why Walter Scott is saying goodbye to Wendy, his most famous creation
CBC | Sabina Wex | June 14, 2024
CBC Q interviews Walter Scott ahead of the latest Wendy release
Ten years ago, Walter Scott went to a hangover brunch where he drew a stick figure of a party girl vomiting. The Mohawk artist had just returned from an artist residency at the Banff Centre, where many of the other artists he met created intense, conceptual work.
"I felt this pressure to be more austere and academic in the way that I make things," Scott tells Q's Tom Power. "Then I think that pressure just broke. I was like, 'I'm going to make this really stupid drawing of someone vomiting.' And it was the first thing that had made me feel joy in a long time."
Scott never imagined that this animated character, who he called Wendy, would stay with him for the next decade and span a series of four graphic novels. In the Wendy series, Scott follows the character's journey as a comic book artist who must contend with both the art world and her personal life.
Scott's latest installment in the series, The Wendy Award, follows Wendy struggling with imposter syndrome after receiving a nomination for the prestigious National FoodHut Contemporary Art Prize.
But after the new graphic novel comes out on July 9, Scott may be saying goodbye to Wendy — at least for a few years.
"Wendy and I have been together for a while," he says. "It's time to explore other things."
The Wendy novels are loosely based on Scott's own life. Like Scott, Wendy is also a comics artist (with her own popular comic strip, Wanda) and in the first book, Wendy has a love triangle similar to one that Scott actually had. Wendy's nomination for a prestigious art award is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Scott's own nomination for the prestigious Sobey Art Award.
Check out the full interview here!
"I felt this pressure to be more austere and academic in the way that I make things," Scott tells Q's Tom Power. "Then I think that pressure just broke. I was like, 'I'm going to make this really stupid drawing of someone vomiting.' And it was the first thing that had made me feel joy in a long time."
Scott never imagined that this animated character, who he called Wendy, would stay with him for the next decade and span a series of four graphic novels. In the Wendy series, Scott follows the character's journey as a comic book artist who must contend with both the art world and her personal life.
Scott's latest installment in the series, The Wendy Award, follows Wendy struggling with imposter syndrome after receiving a nomination for the prestigious National FoodHut Contemporary Art Prize.
But after the new graphic novel comes out on July 9, Scott may be saying goodbye to Wendy — at least for a few years.
"Wendy and I have been together for a while," he says. "It's time to explore other things."
The Wendy novels are loosely based on Scott's own life. Like Scott, Wendy is also a comics artist (with her own popular comic strip, Wanda) and in the first book, Wendy has a love triangle similar to one that Scott actually had. Wendy's nomination for a prestigious art award is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Scott's own nomination for the prestigious Sobey Art Award.
Check out the full interview here!