'Nancy" Moves To BNA

The iconic comic strip character Nancy, who has starred in newspapers around the globe for over 80 years, has taken up residence at the Nashville International Airport.  The “Nancy Loves Nashville” exhibit opened today in the Concourse C Food and Retail Court (beyond the security checkpoint) and features the artwork of famed Nashville-area writer/illustrator Guy Gilchrist.  Ticketed passengers began to enjoy the more than 60 original pen and ink cartoons of the famed comic strip Nancy celebrating life in Music City, several Nancy one-of-a-kind Nancy guitars and a specially designed mural of Nancy and her boyfriend Sluggo flying high above the Nashville skyline.  Several pieces of the exhibit are on loan from the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum and highlight many of Gilchrist’s musical influences.  The exhibit will be on display through January 2014 and is part of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority’s (MNAA) Arts at the Airport program.

Nashville area resident Gilchrist is the world-renowned cartoonist who took over the classic newspaper comic strip Nancy in 1995. Since that time he has produced 365 comic strips a year for daily newspapers around the world. His credits include drawing Jim Henson’s Muppets comic strip, among other high-profile cartoons including Looney Tunes, Bugs Bunny, Tom & Jerry, The Pink Panther, Fraggle Rock and Tiny Dinos. He was also the co-creator of Muppet Babies. Guy is a two-time winner of the National Cartoonists Society’s prestigious Reuben Award for Best Illustrator and his work is permanently enshrined in the Smithsonian Institute. Guy learned the traditional ways of inking the black line of the cartoons using the same kinds of ink, brushes and dip pens that have been used by illustrators since the printing press was invented. Some of the pen points that he uses are over 100 years old.