A digital print by editorial cartoonist and photojournalist Ed Courrier, whose work is regularly carried in the Lehigh Valley Press newspapers has been selected to be included in the KSU Biennial Alumni Exhibition. “Quarantined! Measles” (2016 / 2019; digital print on acid-free, mate photo paper, artist’s proof, 4 1/ 2 in. x 5 3/4 in.) is one of 35 works chosen out of 315 submissions by Kent State University graduates in the juried exhibition held Jan. 17 – Feb. 21 at the Center for the Visual Arts, CVA Gallery, 325 Terrace Drive, Kent, Ohio.

“Quarantined! Measles” was published in the Bethlehem Press in 2015 and scored a 2016 Keystone Press Award for First Place Graphic/Photo Illustration, Division 7.

Always thinking out loud with humor Courrier said, “I’m grateful one of my cartoon prints was found guilty by a juried show’s juror and sentenced to hang.” He added, “Seriously, I feel honored, yet humbled, to have my work included in this exhibit, to be displayed along with the works of my talented fellow grads.”

Born and raised in a Cleveland, Ohio suburb, Courrier started drawing cartoons while in elementary school. Unfortunately, this was in the margins of his math work sheets. He found an outlet for honing his cartooning skills when he started drawing spot and editorial cartoons for his junior high and high school newspapers. A suburban weekly, Sun Messenger began publishing Courrier’s cartoons during his high school senior year.

After graduating high school in 1973, Courrier attended Kent State University. His work was published in the college paper The Daily Kent Stater and later in The Record Courier, the local newspaper serving Kent, Ohio and the surrounding communities.

Graduating from KSU in December 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in studio art, Courrier found work at The Express, a daily newspaper in Easton, Pennsylvania as a staff artist in June of 1978.

Courrier built up a freelance business as a graphic designer, illustrator and cartoonist after being laid off from The Express in 1979. Rodale Press, Rodale Institute, New Farm Magazine, the City of Allentown and Air Products were among his clients. He also worked for Sing Out! for nearly 18 years as an art director.

The East Penn Press (now owned by Times-News, Inc.) began publishing his political cartoons in August of 1979 through August of 1995, with the cartoons also appearing in other Lehigh Valley Press weeklies in the Time-News chain.

The Lehigh Valley Press picked up Courrier’s cartoons again beginning in 2007.

Courrier’s cartoon work follows current events in the ever-changing news cycle.

“The art faculty who mentored me while I studied at Kent State University and the kids in my classes were the best! I have so many fond memories of my time there,” remarks Courrier.

Courrier and his wife Cathy, also a KSU graduate, reside in Lower Macungie Township.

For more information on KSU exhibitions, visit kent.edu/galleries.