DRAWN TO ART

WASILLA — A funny thing happened on the way to the Valley.

Before Lee Post was one of Southcentral’s most recognizable Alaska cartoonists, he was just another Valley kid looking for a future. He’s come a long way since being part of the first graduating class of Colony High School in 1994. At age 34, some of the work of the doodler-turned-artist is already in a museum.

“I was super proud to have the Dorothy Page Museum ask me to exhibit,” Post said about the Wasilla museum’s current featured exhibit, “Lee Post: Everything is a little bit better than you remembered.”

The retrospective of cartoons and drawings goes beyond the typical comic strip newspaper readers are used to. His work also includes drawings for children’s books, alternative cartoons and an eclectic collection of cartoon renderings of old photographs.

“Well, I have this collection of antique photographs, some of them family, some I don’t know who they are, and I used some of those images,” Post said. “I took some of those and basically adapted those into a series of drawings.”

“Adapted” may be a tame way to describe Post’s off-kilter sense of humor. One of the drawings, “The Old Men and the Monsters”, recreates a portrait of three older gentlemen in a very dignified pose. In Post’s drawing, there’s also a pair of monsters behind them.

“I thought it would (be fun) to just kind of rework it with the two monsters in there as an ‘alternative’ history,” Post said. “That’s why I enjoy having those photos; you can make your own narrative.”

Like the photograph of the cute little child on communion day. In Post’s drawing, the child is captured perfection, down to the little angel wings peeking out from behind — and then there’s the robot next to the child.

A juvenile detention officer for the state by day, Post began his other career as a cartoonist about 10 years ago when the editor of the Anchorage Press noticed his work, he said. That led to the creation of his popular “Your Square Life,” which appeared in the Press for about seven years. He also designed several colorful covers for the alternative newspaper.

“They just let me have free rein, and every week I just kind of made it up as I went along,” Post said.

Now he’s working on other drawing projects and has produced two children’s books, “Alaska Big and Small” and “Texas Big and Small.” Post’s experience drawing for an alternative newspaper and his quirky sense of humor might make him a natural political cartoonist. Although he has been approached to do political cartoons for various publications, he’s declined.

“Well, part of that is I’m a state employee,” he said, “so I haven’t delved much into the political stuff.”

Part of the museum exhibit, which runs through Saturday, is a breakdown of the cartooning method, which is much more organized than doodling on a napkin. He writes a script, creates a rough sketch before doing the drawing and then adds coloring and lettering.

Among the old men, monsters and robots is Post’s favorite work, a birth announcement for his daughter, Grace Anna Margaret Post, which looks like an old-time circus poster.

“She’s the ‘Amazing Grace,’” he said. “I guess my favorite was the birth announcement.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.