Lee Post goes by the artistic name “Post Marks” and describes himself as an illustrator and community advocate in Anchorage where he has been working with kids for about
over 30 years, from daycares to residential treatment facilities to helping kids
who are at risk. His website also describes a personal background in psychology, cognitive neuroscience, leadership development, management issues, social work, justice issues, community outreach, change management, and the court process. He has developed and provided numerous trainings to staff on subjects such as the court process, change management, trauma informed care and youth resiliency.
Post talked to KBBI on Monday and described some of his experience more specifically,
“I have been doing cartooning for as long as I've been working with kids, and so it was a way it was my hobby when I was working with kids in difficult situations. And I got my start doing zines back in the early 2000s when I came back from college in Seattle. I grew up out in the Mat-Su Valley, and settled back in Anchorage when I returned. And so I did zines for a number of years, and then I got asked to do a comic strip for the old Anchorage Press. I did that for about seven years. And when I had kids, I didn't have the time to do my own comics as much, and I decided I wanted to work with kids and make a class where anybody could walk in the door, pretty much at any point during the class and feel like they were welcome, that they could participate, that they could walk away with something that was their own voice and and said what they wanted to say. And so I've been doing that probably for about 15 years, and working in libraries and community centers, sometimes at the McLaughlin Youth Center, sometimes with at-risk teens around the state, and it's been just amazing,” he said.
Post has provided workshops to students in Southeast Alaska, the Anchorage and Mat-Su area, Willow and Kotzebue. He described some of his favorite features that he can offer students in his courses. “Part of what I pride myself on is, is we use materials that you can find anywhere. So I use pens and pencils and index cards and copy paper, and I try to keep it to just that, so that, like both the classes are portable and I can do it anywhere. I've done it in hallways of the Willow Community Center as kids walk by. I've done it in large classrooms with, like three classrooms of second graders. And so it's this thing where all the materials are disposable kids and adults can get their hands on them, so there's no barrier for doing it outside of class. And so that's one of the great things. I'll be packing up a couple tote boxes and bringing them down to Homer, and just really prepared for how many people show up,” Post said.
In addition to courses, Post has also provided cartoon arts in various ways including trail markers in various parks in Anchorage, such as the Fish Creek Park here in Spenard. He’s also created stickers and logos for nonprofits who support youth calling into the crisis line. “I've done T shirts and just pretty much anything you can imagine. I'm working on commercials now to support some retirement programs for adults working at small businesses,” he said.. These projects and more are available to browse on his website, postmark.graphics or leepost.com.
The two workshops he’ll be providing at the Homer Public Library are:
- “One step at a time: using comics to make everything more complicated.” This is for people age 10 and older and will take place on Friday July 25th from 1:30-3:30 p.m..
- Food and Comics: An Artistic and Culinary Adventure. This will take place on Saturday July 26th from 3 to 5 p.m. The flyer describes this course as “talking about meals that are important to us, our families and culture and then work on an art project to highlight what makes them important, the meal’s history and how it’s made.” For youth under age 7, they may get the most out of the activities if they have an adult to help collaborate on during the activities.
These workshops are free and open to the public and no prior drawing experience is necessary.
