An Interview with author, artist, and teacher Cara Florence Goldstein

1. What inspires you to create comics and other work?

What inspires me to create comics is my childhood mentor, Al Baruch, who made Captain Hook for Disney’s Peter Pan. He had a comics class for kids and encouraged us to create our own characters and stories and that was really powerful. No adult had told me my own ideas are what matters the most. There’s also so many amazing women cartoonists today Hope Larson, Gabrielle Bell, Raina T., and herstorian Trina Robbins. I’m also lucky to live in a metro that had the first comic book store in America and one of the only Comics Museums curated by my good friend, Andrew Farago.

2. What initially drew you to comics?

What drew me to comics was Garfield comics in the newspaper on Sundays and Little Orphan Annie. I loved those two characters and the styles of art. My Grandma gave me a Little Orphan Annie comic book and I believe that was my first comic book, and we later watched the movie together. I think a lot of books are special because of the love that included a person in your life you shared them with.

3. Please tell us about the graphic novel you are currently working.

My graphic novel is called My Life In Buildings. I essentially quarantined at home alone for months at a time during the pandemic and aside from teaching online, I was quite isolated. I couldn’t really fathom the future when Trump was president and there was all this fear of dying, so I started to look back on my life.

I started to realize the architecture was historical and profoundly beautiful in every apartment I lived in. They were all charming and held so many memories for me. I actually started getting really vivid flashbacks and it was consuming me to the point of needing to make the art to release them. I showed the art to a few friends and started posting the pieces regularly on Facebook, and people started to comment that they connected to the work and felt it was my most compelling work.

It gave people a bit of nostalgia for times before the pandemic and people looked forward to the posts the following days and weeks. I finished that book in about two months and drew 5 full-color pieces a day on the iPad. The timespan is my high school years through when I moved to SF in 2002 to the pandemic.

4. Please tell us about your creative process.

In my creative process, I get an idea and really focus on it for months at a time. Often, I don’t finish the idea right away and pick it up several years later when my style has improved. My Life In Buildings was my first book to be finished. I feel it’s complete and it just needs an agent or a publisher.

5. Where can we find more information about your work?

I’m primarily an art teacher with my own studio. I have a website for my art kits and classes. I teach comics and portfolio development and a creativity class in the East Bay and San Francisco. Please visit www.carasartstudio.com.