PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Christopher A. Kuntz, the grandson of Scott Brown, grew up in Indianapolis. He travelled west to Stanford University when he was 18. After graduating from Stanford, he taught high school physics and German until his late 20s. He then moved into medicine. He spent 25 years as an eye surgeon before branching out into other fields, including art and writing. Scott Brown: Cartoonist is his first book. With his lovely wife Alice, Kuntz enjoys woodworking, mushroom hunting, exploring the woods, eating wild foods, snorkeling, salsa dancing, and dinners with other couples.
By Alan Wigton, President, Richland County Historical Society: Scott Brown was a Mansfield native son who came of age in the Great Depression. He flavored the lives of generations of Mansfielders with cartoons and humor from behind the soda fountain of the family's drugstore on Helen Avenue. His work appeared in national magazines. But he also freely shared his humor about his neighbors and the interesting people around him, Mansfield people, with whoever walked through the shop door. Brown had a love of history, the humorous side of history. His grandson Christopher Kuntz has brought it all together with a huge sampling of Brown's illustrated humor alongside the history of his Ohio family. When Scott Brown's widow, Ann, prepared to move out of her home on Rae Avenue in Mansfield in 2002, she donated the cartoonist's lifetime accumulation of artwork and related material to several local museums. This made it possible now, twenty years later, for Kuntz to deliver about the most entertaining family history one could imagine. Kuntz took aim at understanding his Ohio ancestors in terms of the events and conditions that surrounded them. He conveys this from the time they came to the region after the War of 1812 up until his last memory of his grandfather in 1982. This parallels the lives of many of our pioneer families, told by someone who clearly sought and found his piece of Richland County history. By Ben Towle, five-time Eisner-nominated cartoonist and Professor of Illustration at The Columbus College of Art and Design: Scott Brown: Cartoonist is not just a fascinating biography of a mid-twentieth century cartoonist deserving of wider acclaim, but it's also a heartfelt love letter to family and family history, a glimpse into the surprisingly vast world of Ohio cartooning tradition, and an exciting read full of everything from cats with gold teeth to weather-predicting turtles. By Sally Geisse: Scott Brown: Cartoonist packs a tremendous amount into a quick, enjoyable read - the perfect companion to our modern lives short on time, long on need for inspiration. The book celebrates the genius of the titular Scott Brown, an accomplished mid-20th century cartoonist, artist, and astute observer of human nature, all packaged into the unassuming proprietor of Brown's Soda Shop, the proud Mansfield, Ohio, home of the largest, coldest and best chocolate soda on Route 30 (including all detours). The meticulously researched illustrated biography sets the context with vivid stories of the Ohio frontier, generations of the Brown family, and our emerging hero, Howard Scott Brown, prolific artist and soda shop philosopher. Scott Brown: Cartoonist sports a treasure trove for a broad swath of readers. Aspiring and accomplished artists will savor the more than 100 full color illustrations of cartoons, drawings, paintings, linocuts, and sculptures that complement an insider deep dive into the roots of creative inspiration and artistic prowess. History and genealogy buffs will light up with the lively prose of a kindred soul, author Christopher Kuntz, M.D. Kuntz adeptly weaves numerous nuggets of expansive research into a cohesive, compelling narrative of not just human survival, but human thriving, and delight. Moreover, the book ignites the spark of the artist, historian, and humanist in us all, emboldeni
