APPRECIATION: Cartoonist Dwane Powell's sharp wit punctured inflated egos
EDITOR'S NOTE: Dwane Powell, 74, was the editorial cartoonist for the News & Observer in Raleigh for nearly 45 years. He died Sunday. His work was nationally acclaimed. He became one of the newspaper's most recognized staffers. This appreciation of Powell's impact and work is from Seth Effron, CBC's opinion editor.
Dwane Powell should have been an easy guy to dislike.
But Powell, who spent nearly 45 years drawing political cartoons that punctured the inflated egos of the powerful and self-important in North Carolina and the nation, probably could have counted all his enemies on one hand.
Jesse Helms, North Carolina’s “Senator No” whom Powell often portrayed as a club-wielding caveman, had a wall dedicated to Powell’s caricatures. Helms even offered up a blurb in a collection of cartoons.
The impeccable former Gov. Jim Hunt was pictured with an enormous pompadour and giant comb protruding from it.
More recently, state Sen. Phil Berger’s beard was more stubble as he was pictured herding the Republicans – portrayed as long extinct wooly mammoths wearing state legislative building’s distinctive pyramids as hats.
Powell was an unapologetic progressive – dare it be whispered – a “liberal?” Ideology and political affiliation were no refuge for a deserving target of commentary. Check out his portraits of former governors Jim Martin, Mike Easley, Bev Perdue or Pat McCrory. Ditto for former U.S. senators Terry Sanford, Elizabeth Dole, Kay Hagan and John East.
To the degree that anyone might not embrace – even abhor – Powell’s perspectives, it was even harder not to like Dwane Powell. He was principled not pious.
Dwane loved what he did, his fellow cartoonists, the journalists he worked with and the personalities who made the news.
I had the good fortune to be on that receiving end. A little more than a year after launch of The Insider, the state government news service I created, it needed a boost. Dwane graciously worked with me to put together a book – “100 Proof Pure, Old Jess.” The compilation of Helms’ quotes and Powell’s best cartoons and some original illustrations – was a branding effort for The Insider.
Sen. Helms may have been as quotable as they come, but make no mistake, it was Powell’s cartoons that sold the book. During the 1993 Christmas shopping season Barnes & Noble stores in North Carolina displayed the book prominently, near the checkout lines, as a $5 impulse purchase. While no big deal to Dwane, I was thrilled to see a book I’d worked on hold such a visible spot. After two printings, 15,000 copies were sold.
Kevin Siers, the cartoonist at The Charlotte Observer, was a competitor who went head-to-head with Powell on a daily basis. But among his competitors, Powell had no enemies – only deep and fond friendships. Siers, in a Facebook tribute, said Powell was “an important voice in North Carolina politics; an amazing cartoonist, a great colleague and a fantastic friend. Gracious, generous, encouraging and totally unafraid whether skewering sacred cows or drawing on hotel tablecloths or walls.”
See for yourself. A sampling of Powell’s best is on display at the City of Raleigh Museum.
Much of his work is housed in the Southern Historical Collection of the University of North Carolina library in Chapel Hill. The more than 3,850 items span 265 feet of library shelf space. Cartoons, photos, correspondence and other items document a career that witnessed: nine presidents; eight North Carolina governors; 11 local NCAA men’s basketball champions; a Stanley Cup championship; HB2; adoption of liquor by-the-drink; hog farm pollution; coal ash spills; and gerrymandering battles.
Dwane Powell leaves his wife Jan; daughter Devon Powell Penny, her husband Greg and their son Myles – and the rest of us – with plenty of reasons to think of him and smile. That is his gift. It is no small legacy.
