✒︎ illustration & comics ‧₊˚✩
Natalie 麥月明 is an illustrator and cartoonist based in Treaty 1 Territory in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
★ 2024 Festivals ★
🍰 CAKE Chicago - Aug 24 & 25
🍂 Prairie Art Book Fair - Sept 13-15
🌾 Prairie Comics Fest - Oct 5 & 6
💭 Thought Bubble UK - Nov 16 & 17
I started an e-newsletter blog!
Sign up for daily letters of my upcoming trip to the UK. Afterwards, infrequent reflections of life and media. maybe blogging about art in the future.
꒰ natalie 麥月明 ‧₊˚✩ ꒱
Natalie 麥月明 is Queer Chinese-Canadian artist of Toisan descent who works primarily with narratives. Their work is somewhere between a reflection of life and a little bit curious.Natalie loves going to their neighbourhood library, playing table top games, and making comics!email: ★ [email protected]
find me here: ★ tumblr ★ instagram ★ masto.art ★ bsky.social
curriculum vitae (lite)
In depth workshop and teaching info HERE
★ education
2019 Bachelor of Design, Illustration -- OCAD University★ published works - zines & comics
2023 Angel – Self-published, debuted at VanCAF
2021 Good Chicken / 良い鶏肉 – Self-published, Broken Pencil Zine Award – Fanzine Category
2020 Restaurant Diaries – Self-published, Broken Pencil Zine Award nom. Exhibited at Seeing Providence
Chinatown: a relational reconstruction.
2019 From Yesterday – Old Growth Press – LGBTQ+ & BIPOC Small Press★ shows, festivals, & fairs
2023 Vancouver Comic Arts Festival, Roundhouse Community Centre, Vancouver, BC
2019 Comic Studies Society Symposium, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON
Zine Dream 12, Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto, ON
Canzine, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON; Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON
2018 /edition Art Book Fair, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, ON
Hamilton Feminist Zine Fair, hosted by SACHA, Hamilton Public Library, Hamilton, ON
OCAD U Zine Fair, OCAD University Atrium, Toronto, ON
Canzine, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON★ workshops, panels, & programming
2021 My Monsters Hold Me Soft – zine reading and guest artist, hosted by Story Planet.
Wee Asian Arts Channel – all ages video zine making workshop for Reel Asian Film Festival.
2020 Comics Out Loud with Old Growth Press - disability centric comics reading presented by the Canada Comics Open Library, Online
2019 – Next Page: Comics and Zines Creating Change – featured panelist on a TCAF panel facilitated by Fiona Smyth at TCAF – Toronto Comic Arts Festival★ exhibitions, installation, & public art
(Current 2024-5) Year of the Dragon Zodiac Banner, Chinatown, Winnipeg, MB. Commissioned by Downtown BIZ and Winnipeg Chinese Community & Cultural Centre.
(Current 2024-9) Chinatown Neighbourhood Banner Project, Chinatown, Winnipeg, MB. Awarded by the Winnipeg Arts Council and Downtown BIZ.
2023 "Magic Fish" for Lights on the Exchange, Exchange District, Winnipeg, MB
2022 Seeing Providence Chinatown: a relational Reconstruction, curated by Jeffrey Yoo Warren, 95 Empire
St, Providence, RI, USA
2019 Bai Sun, Window Space at XPACE Toronto, ON
Natalie is available for: Workshops, school visits, teaching engagements, public speaking and other arts education gigs.
I have experience in all ages arts education and workshops including -★ Kid friendly comics and art workshops -- Great for teachers, librarians, and public programmers who are looking to bring comics into their classrooms and communities.★ Alternative literacy and storytelling programming and workshops through writing and drawing.★ Workshops that focus on telling personal stories through comics.★ Zine-making workshops.I currently hold a valid Child Abuse Registry Check from the Province of Manitoba and a Police Vulnerable Sectors Check (PVSC) from the City of Winnipeg - this means I am confirmed safe to work around children and other vulnerable persons.While I was living in Toronto, I completed the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) modules under a former employer.
Teaching Experience
★ Art Instructor at WAG QAUMAJUQ ★ 2022-present
Produced and delivered original and comprehensive curriculum for both youth and adult 10-week long or 1 week intensive courses at the Winnipeg Art Gallery QAUMAJUQ. -- Digital Drawing (Adults), Digital Drawing (Teens), and Graphic Novels (Teens).★ Art Instructor at FORUM Art Centre ★ 2024-present
Produced and delivered original and comprehensive curriculum for teen courses at FORUM. -- Teen Manga.★ Co-Facilitator for Story Planet WPG ★ 2024
Co-facilitated Story Planet's "StoryMaker" in-school program in two 5th grade classrooms alongside Rhael McGregor in the River East Transcona School Division in Winnipeg, MB.
Past Workshops
★ 2024 ★
Snoopy and the Red Barron Kids/all ages comics workshop at the Royal Aviation Museum for the Snoopy and the Red Barron exhibit from the Charles M. Schulz Museum.Atelier de ZINES / ZINES dans le jardin zine making workshop series with Maison des artistes in their sculpture garden throughout the summer.Pride Zine Crafternoon drop-in with ArtsJunktion at the Millennium Library.Collaborative Storytelling with Natalie 麥月明 workshop with VANCAF at the Roundhouse Community Centre, Vancouver.Reconnecting to Resistance, an all ages zine making workshop and learning circle with PAO! (Prairie Asian Organizers) at the University of Manitoba.★ 2021 ★
Video programming for Wee Asian Arts Channel – all ages video zine making workshop for Reel Asian Film Festival.
Past Panels & Programming
★ 2024 ★
Finances for Comic Makers, facilitated by Scott Henderson at the Prairie Comics Festival. LINK TBA.Public Speaking & Teaching for Artists, facilitated by Kathleen Gros at the Prairie Comics Festival, October. LINK TBA.Guest speaker for Recipes for Resistance: A Food Zine Workshop by Christina Hajjar with the Prairie Art Book Fair at Plug In ICA.Spotlight on Cupcake Award Winners , with Award winners and mentors, Zach Clemente, Kat Fajardo, Eli Perez, and myself at CAKE Chicago.★ 2023 ★
Year of the Dragon banner painting workshop with the disability program at a local elementary school in Chinatown. See the Final product here.★ 2021 ★
Guest artist and zine reading for My Monsters Hold Me Soft workshop series hosted by Story Planet.★ 2020 ★
Comics Out Loud with Old Growth Press, a disability centred comics reading presented by the Canada Comics Open Library, Online★ 2019 ★
Next Page: Comics and Zines Creating Change, facilitated by Fiona Smyth at TCAF.
The Tallest Star in the Sky
* NEW * 2024 August / 56p.
Made with the CupCAKE Award from CAKE Chicago.
Ming Fan / 冥婚
'Ghost Marriage'
* NEW * 2024 October / 7p.
Featured in the cult of COMRAD Winnipeg Comics Anthology
but i wuv you ghostface
ongoing / 12p.
Good Chicken
2021 / 32p.
Received the Broken Pencil Zine Award in the Fanzine category.
from yesterday
2019 / 20p.
Sequential Works
Self created and published unless otherwise stated!Click for info, more photos, and where to purchase and read.
Experience
Scout is Not a Band Kid by Jade Armstrong - Flats
clx3 comics 4 diyhrt(.)cafe - Project Management and Book Design
Fanthologies
Luminous: A JJK WLW Zine - Cover Artist
Candy Hearts Zine, a Valentines sapphic sailor moon zine - Page Artist
Transform! A Magical Girls Fashion Zine - Page Artist
Heroes on Fire, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts Fanzine - Page Artist
The Adventurer's Wife (GL)
Logo design for Jenn Rotowski's webtoon comic, The Adventurer's Wife (GL).Starting from Jenn's original design, I reworked the letter forms to have more Khmer script influence that she was going for while making sure it kept it's fantasy-romance themes (Jenn is mixed Cambodian). The colours became more saturated and lightened to stand out while keeping the pastel romantic feelings. I cleaned up the design while making it bolder overall in order to resemble the types of logos used in Manga publishing. Jenn ended up going with the lineless version since it matched one of the main character's personality more! I like both versions <3Photo's in order: Final Logo, logo without outlines (used in the comic), original logo designed by Jenn, and the logo in use!
Strawberry Cottagecore Icon Set
I made a custom strawberry pattern tile a while ago which evolved into a phone wallpaper and then a desktop wallpaper + icon set. I love strawberries and cozy things --> cottagecore strawberry themed!Customize your desktop with a cute wallpaper and icon set! Organize your folders on the desktop shelves! Inspired by the numerous flash dress up doll games I played in my childhood.Includes desktop and phone wallpapers in 3 colour variants, 16 icons, and installation instructions for Mac and Windows.Available in my itch.io pageThank you!! Enjoy ♡
Public Art & Programming
2024 Year of the Dragon Zodiac Banner
The annual Chinatown Zodiac Banner for the year of the dragon! Created with the disability program at Victoria Albert School
Read More ⤳
Chinatown Neighbourhood Banner Project
Eight street banners installed in downtown Chinatown Winnipeg Public art replacing the regular district banners that synthesizes 7 of the 8 Buddhist Treasures and the Seven Teachings, as well as Winnipeg Chinatown community and labour histories.Chinatown Neighbourhood Banners 唐人街挂幅 on Winnipeg Arts Council’s website –
Read More ⤳
Bai Sun
Installation by Natalie Mark and Sharon Ma in Xpace’s window space.Info and documentation on Xpace's website –
Read exhibition essay by Amanda Low –
Read More ⤳
Night 4 Zines
A publications-based event as an alternative to traditional publishing launches. Organized by students, artists and designers, a non-transactional space was provided for an informal book launch with community programming. Night 4 Zines was created with the intent to showcase traditionally uncentred voices and narratives within the Toronto self-publishing community.
Read More ⤳
DIY Love: Queer Knowledge & History: Then, Now, and Forever
DIY LOVE 2017 was a public wheat pasting workshop at Pride Toronto’s 2017 Street Fair in celebration of LGBTQ2S+ activist knowledge facilitated by a group of LGBTQ2S+ artists, designers, writers, and curators. With the intention of creating a wall that celebrates queer knowledge and history, parade goers had the opportunity to wheat paste using pre-made and donated posters, or simply make their own!
Read More ⤳
August 2024 / 56p.
The Tallest Star in the Sky
The Tallest Star in the Sky is a collections of short comics about how mother's haunt their children using both literal myth and scientific mythos. Featuring a story about the Harry Harlow Isolation in Monkeys experiments, a retelling of the Minotaur myth, and other esoteric interests.This comic was made through the CupCAKE award from the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) which provided me with printing funds and a mentorship. Thanks Zach Clemente (Bulgilhan Press) for the amazing mentorship!
October 2024 / 7p.
Ming Fan / 冥婚
'Ghost Marriage'
What does marriage mean for young Chinese women in feudal China? When faced with severe poverty, class disparity, and British colonialism. "Can love bloom on the battlefield" - Metal Gear solid (The battlefield are the conditions in which rural Chinese women must exist under.)Spoiler-free image crops.
May 2023 / 20p.
angel
Today, Poppy ran away from daycare to follow a faerie into the woods, Don’t tell her parents!
(select pages)
2021 - ongoing / 12p.
but i wuv you ghostface!!
My ongoing minicomic about misinterpreting signs of romance and falling in love with cult classic slasher moniker, Ghostface.If there is one thing about me, it’s my ability to romanticize anything (I am deeply delusional and irrational). TW for canon typical blood and gore.
2021 Fanzine / 32p.
Good Chicken
Good Chicken / 良い鶏肉
A perzine and fanzine based on a dream I had where Dabi (BNHA) and I unpacked our ptsd, desirability, apologies, and what it means to take responsibility for causing and carrying hurt. feat. my sister and a chicken. It doesn't cater to the BNHA universe, but it is not spoiler free.Winner of a Broken Pencil Zine Award in the fanzine category!! –“...A beautiful manifesto of graphic medicine”
– Fiona Smyth (Judge)Digital download available for purchase here ♡
2019 Old Growth Press / 20p.
from yesterday
A walk home on a rainy day with hands full of heavy groceries, the way the birds settle in the schoolyard. A family in a restaurant. From Yesterday is a publication released with Old Growth Press for their Summer 2019 launch. Through the retelling of mundane, but fleeting moments from childhood, From Yesterday features the progression of a year growing up in Winnipeg. There is no clear beginning, middle, or end, but rather an emotional progression that relies on memories.
In September 2020, Old Growth Press was asked to participate in Canada Comics Open Library programming, Comics Out Loud, where cartoonists did live readings of our work with blind accessibility in mind.The publication can be purchased in Toronto or at Page & Panel, the Beguiling, Another Story Bookstore, Art Metropole or directly from Old Growth Press' online shop.Purchase Online Here –
Winnipeg Chinatown 2024-2029
Chinatown Neighbourhood Banner Project
插画家麦月明(Natalie Mark)以喜悦与热情的心为唐人街创作了精美的艺术挂幅!作品的创作灵感来自天朝大厦的公共花园,一个来自各行各业的人们能够相遇、相识、相聚的地方。这八面挂幅形成了一种视觉上的「花园」,藉此来分享被主流历史所遗忘或忽略的经历与故事,并去实践世代传承的社群教诲。麦月明自身与唐人街社区的联繫、其父母在此地工作的经历,以及社区居民多元的生命故事深深影响了这件作品的创作。唐人街的样貌多元而丰富,这个社区不仅是常见的刻板印象,不仅只出现在历史文献中,更不只是用来开发获利的土地。这些挂幅歌颂了唐人街这个社区所涵盖的各种样貌,藉以创造一幅完整呈现社区特色的视觉飨宴。这些挂幅上所描绘的佛教珍宝──海螺、胜利幢、宝伞、莲花、宝瓶、双鱼和无尽结──代表了关于仁爱的教义,而这些教义可以对应至原住民社群传颂的七项教诲:诚实、谦逊、勇气、真理、智慧、尊重和爱。这七项教诲是教导我们如何与彼此共存共荣的重要原则,而今日,温尼伯的许多学校都实践与分享这七项教诲,希望能够增进下一代彼此间的和解、同理心及联繫。透过这些挂幅,麦月明希望能真挚地展示今日唐人街社区的多元样貌,佢同时也希望来到此地的访客以及在当地工作、生活的人们都能享受、欣赏这些挂幅。我们邀请您拜访这个社区,在享受美食,探索当地药房、茶馆及餐馆的同时,也别忘了对社区的邻里微笑致意,并学习以崭新的眼光来探看唐人街。
With joy and enthusiasm, illustrator Natalie Mark has created banners for Chinatown! Their work is inspired by the Dynasty Building’s public garden, a place where people from all walks of life meet. The eight banners are a visual “garden” to share people’s experiences that history has forgotten or ignored, and to honour community teachings.This artwork is shaped by Natalie’s life-long relationship with the neighbourhood, their parents’ experiences as workers here, and the complex realities of people living in the area. Chinatown is more than stereotypes, more than what you can find in historical documents, and more than land for development. These banners celebrate the whole community to create a complete picture of the neighbourhood.The Buddhist Treasures you see on these banners — Conch Shell, Victory Banner, Parasol, Lotus Flower, Treasure Vase, Pair of Fish, and Endless Knot — share lessons of compassion. This is similar to the Seven Teachings of Honesty, Humility, Courage, Truth, Wisdom, Respect, and Love. The Seven Teachings act as guiding principles in how we can live alongside one another. These days, many schools in Winnipeg share the Seven Teachings to inspire the next generation toward reconciliation and compassion.Natalie hopes that visitors, residents, and workers alike enjoy the new banners. Their goal is to thoughtfully show the current Chinatown community. You are invited to explore the food, medicine and tea shops and restaurants, to smile at your neighbours, and to see Chinatown with new eyes.This public art project is a collaborative initiative between the Winnipeg Arts Council and the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ. The Downtown Winnipeg BIZ promotes, cares and advocates for a vibrant and inclusive downtown where business thrives and people are drawn to live, shop and explore.Thank you to Dr. Tina Chen, Kwok Ngan, Pauline Leung, Dr. Jiuyong Xie, Yikun Wang, Szu Shen and Sarah Michaelson for sharing your wisdom with us.Info, documentation, and press on Winnipeg Arts Coucil website -
Process
I was invited to apply as an artist for a public art initiative for the Chinatown Neighbourhood. Seeing as I have personal/familial roots there as well as specializing in 2D art, I went for it! Normally I don’t apply for contests, but this one was more of a “Contract Award” type gig rather than a usual contest where artist sign away their rights upon submission.1. There was a written application with emphasis on the artist’s relationship to Chinatown. After being chosen, we had to provide concepts to be presented to a committee.2. Sketches + personal, archival, and community research. After the application, I was shortlisted and contracted to come up with concepts. I paired the Buddhist Treasures and the Seven Teachings as conceptual bases and then I used themes and experiences from research to create the initial banner concepts. Anyone who knows the area knows that it’s not just a Chinese neighbourhood, so I really wanted to honour the visible members of the community and promote teachings of compassion, as well as honour those forgotten in the archives.Pages of brainstorming and sketching eventually led to thumbnails (Image 1).Fine art/contemporary art spaces are different from commercial art and design spaces in that they ask for “refined sketches”. I think if I left my sketches as is, my chance of getting this work would have been lower. I knew I would be presenting these concepts to mostly non-artists, and put in a bit more effort to make my art easier for the committee to visualize (+ a nice presentation doesn’t hurt!)3. The sketches were then traced over digitally. In the illustration world, we call this step “linears”. This is the step before “finals” where everything is laid out clearly. The actual banners are about 30x90”, but I just made them big enough to do refined drawings and grey flats. (Image 2).4. One of the banner concepts had to be taken to final and included in a mock up, so I chose the figure that would have different skin tones, but not be so detailed that I would be expending too much labour if I didn’t get contracted for the next part. Mock up (Image 3) and Final (Image 4).5. I privately presented this work to a committee of various community members, educators, and even a graphic designer! I was the second artist presenting my concept proposal so I was quite nervous! It was an opportunity to talk about my work in more depth and also for the committee to provide feedback. It was a nice collaborative process with people who genuinely want to see the area flourish!As you can tell from my site, I was asked to take my work to final! Find my work in Winnipeg’s Chinatown!Feb 10th edit: The project is installed in Chinatown as of TODAY!!! Please take a look! Happy New Year!
Winnnipeg Chinatown 2024
2024 Year of the Dragon Zodiac Banner
Winnipeg Chinese Cultural Community Centre (WCCCC) and Downtown BIZ’s annual zodia banner design competition took on a new form for thhe 2024 year of the Dragon. Rather than their usual contest format, I was asked to involve members of the community in the art making process. With community facilitation support from Pauline Leung, and overall support from Jori Pincock from Downtown BIZ, this took the form of art workshops with the disability program at Victoria Albert Elementary School. The kids helped me paint some dragons that I then digitally collaged and painted on until it transformed into the current banner!Rather than a contest, this years Zodiac Banner was a community and public art project with Victoria Albert Elementary School’s disability program to co-create this year’s Chinatown Zodiac Banner for the Year of the Dragon! It was unveiled at the Lunar New Year Banquet celebrations at Kum Koon Garden organized by the WCCCC on February 13th. I was invited to sit at the Downtown BIZ table with all the wonderful folks that helped make this project happen, as well as give a speech on the banner itself. You can read my speech below!Two Chinese idioms translated to English, for peace and prosperity for the communities (inspired by Bay Area illustrator, Cynthia Chang’s LNY art!):
A spark ignites a prairie fire;
A drop of water penetrates stone.新年快乐 / sun ngin fai lok - happy new year!
恭喜发财 / gong hay fat choy - prosperity and good fortune
身体健康 / sun tai gin hong - good health!Thanks to Pauline Leung, Jori Pincock, tamara rae birch, Nelia Husack and Kathy Tank from Victoria Albert Elementary School along with the wonderful kids and staff!, Sign Source for production, and the folks at Downtown BIZ! Additional thank yous to the stakeholders - Tina Chen, Amy Zhang, Kwok Ngan, Shawna Dempsey, and Alan Wong.
XPACE Window Space
Bai Sun
Literally translating to, “honouring the gods,” Bai Sun is an installation that reimagines household altars - traditionally used for gods, ancestors and luck - as a way to honour memory, family, and history. The pieces embody spaces where our family’s cultural ties are strongest - restaurant, household, gravesite, factory, etc. The main piece of the installation is reminiscent of the calendars given away at Chinese food restaurants around the new year. Recreating these spaces through key objects invokes feelings of nostalgia and familiarity. This installation is a means of remembering and rekindling with the artists’ family and history.Documentation by Polina Teif.WINDOW SPACE
Natalie Mark and Sharon Ma, Bai Sun
July 5 - August 3, 2019Info and documentation on Xpace's website –
Read exhibition essay by Amanda Low –
TRANZAC Tiki Room
Night 4 Zines
Night 4 Zines was a publications-based event that acted as an alternative to traditional publishing launches. Organized by students, artists, and designers, a non-transactional space was provided for an informal book launch with community programming. Night 4 Zines was created with the intent to showcase traditionally uncentred voices and narratives within the Toronto self-publishing community.Our experiences as marginalized creators are felt privately so why not celebrate our successes together.Night 4 Zines was coordinated by myself with support from Sheila Sampath’s Nano Publishing course. Thank you to participating artists and those who were not able to make it: Rakshanda Khan, Vincy Lim, MAKE! SHIFT! LOVE! [Keet Geniza], Loretta Miauw, and Rabeea Syed. Thank you Seiji & Kaythi for their activist book club “Patchwork Primer” and for sharing a brief history of lesbian publishing. Thanks to Megan Amanda for the beautiful photos and Sheila Sampath (the Public) for the guidance and encouragement.Co-Programming:
Patchwork Primer (How Do We Find What We’re Not Looking For?)Hosted by Seiji & Kaythi –
Patchwork Primer is a compiled publication and book club workshop that focuses on histories of lesbian publishing. Attendees were invited to read as a group from several text excerpts giving a brief account of the role of lesbian publishing in western history and challenges that arise in small-scale publishing.
Toronto Pride 2017
DIY Love: Queer Knowledge & History: Then, Now, and Forever
DIY LOVE 2017 was a public wheat pasting workshop at Pride Toronto’s 2017 Street Fair in celebration of LGBTQ2S+ activist knowledge facilitated by a group of LGBTQ2S+ artists, designers, writers, and curators. With the intention of creating a wall that celebrates queer knowledge and history, parade goers had the opportunity to wheat paste using pre-made and donated posters, co-create with the posters, or simply make their own!The project is supported by OCAD University, Xpace Cultural Centre, and Toronto's larger LGBTQ2S+ community. We would like to thank the artists and groups who kindly donated posters and other content to the project: Anthea Black, OCAD U Student Press, Patterns Magazine, The Public, Francis Tomkins & Yasmin Emery, and Mary Tremonte.
This project was created by Lex B., Will Carpenter, Kaythi, Natalie Mark, Seiji, John Wigle, and Maya Wilson-Sanchez.Read full Artist Statement HERE –
Print ready, high-resolution scans of each poster can be downloaded here for you to print at home! –
On site photos compiled by XPACE –