Cartoonist (and teacher, author, etc) L. Bruce Holman has passed away.
Loyd Bruce Holman
January 30, 1939 – April 24, 2021
Dr. Holman held a PhD in fine arts, and before retirement was a tenured professor teaching drawing, painting and photography at Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri. He was also a filmmaker, a cartoonist, an author, a woodworker, a scout master, a weightlifter, a pilot, a lover of animals, a tinkerer, and a builder of things … at his heart he was a storyteller and a teacher.
From a remembrance by Bruce’s son Alex for Mother Earth News:
Bruce died recently after a courageous fight with Parkinson’s disease. He was a visual artist by trade and preference, and worked as an illustrator, filmmaker, and cartoonist.
Loyd Bruce Holman was the artist behind the cartoon strip “Down on the Farm,” published in MOTHER EARTH NEWS from 1975 through 1985.
In his own words:
“ ‘Down on the Farm’ isn’t a story about farming. It’s a story about returning to a country setting to live. I live in the country by preference. I’m not a farmer. I haven’t a farmer’s skills. But my wife and son and I enjoy the life that the country affords, and we try to maintain harmony with the land and the seasons. When we work at it, the land and seasons return a good life to us. Our garden produces fresh green things to eat; our chickens lay eggs when they’re so inclined; and when we kept goats, they produced milk by the bucketful and won blue ribbons at the state fair. But life is not all blue ribbons and bucolic idyll. There are also blisters and sweat, and an occasional tear. I’ve always found that a sense of humor is helpful. You can’t laugh life’s problems away, but humor helps keep things in perspective.”
From the Holman Gallery on Etsy (where originals can be purchased):
For over a decade, Mother Earth News readers enjoyed Bruce Holman’s cartoon, Down On The Farm, a cartoon about life well lived in harmony with the earth, and the friends and family we share that life with. The book Holman’s Harvest is a compilation of the full page comic strips that previously appeared in Mother Earth News and also contains news articles about the author/artist as well as stories and cartoons never published elsewhere. It is now in the permanent collection and on display at The Belgian Comic Strip Center Museum in Brussels.
