Chris Monroe
Encyclopedia
Christine Monroe is an American painter and cartoonist best known for her weekly comic strip “Violet Days,” which appears in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Duluth News Tribune
.
An anthology of her comic strips, “Ultra Violet: 10 Years of Violet Days” was published in 2004 by X-Communication.
Monroe has also illustrated three children’s books. “Totally Uncool,” written by Janice Levy, was published in 1999. "Monkey with a Tool Belt" (2007) and "Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Noisy Problem" (2009) about a monkey named Chico Bon Bon were both written and illustrated by Monroe. All of these books were published by Carolrhoda Picture Books, an imprint of Minneapolis' Lerner Publishing Group.
In 1999, City Pages
named her Best Local Cartoonist, writing: “Monroe's scratchy, winsome Violet Days meanders through everyday topics: the merits of various candies, the habits of squirrels, the shoplifting rituals of young girls. And each quick meditation is delivered with a deadpan tone that indicates a sharp wit honed against life's frailties and absurdities.”
Other periodicals that have featured Monroe’s comics include the Funny Pages, Funny Times, Zenith City Arts, Madcap, Twin Cities Reader, Pulse of the Twin Cities, Ripsaw
, Transistor and Ruminator.
She has also exhibited her oil pastels at the Duluth Art Institute and other galleries. She started exhibiting her work in 1984, the same year she graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
Monroe was born and raised in Duluth
, Minnesota
. She lived in the Twin Cities area from about 1980 to 1998, before returning to Duluth.
Duluth News Tribune
The Duluth News Tribune is a newspaper in Duluth, Minnesota. It is published by Forum Communications, which bought it in 2006 after The McClatchy Company acquired the News Tribunes previous owner, Knight Ridder.The present incarnation of the newspaper is the outcome of the merger and takeover of...
.
An anthology of her comic strips, “Ultra Violet: 10 Years of Violet Days” was published in 2004 by X-Communication.
Monroe has also illustrated three children’s books. “Totally Uncool,” written by Janice Levy, was published in 1999. "Monkey with a Tool Belt" (2007) and "Monkey with a Tool Belt and the Noisy Problem" (2009) about a monkey named Chico Bon Bon were both written and illustrated by Monroe. All of these books were published by Carolrhoda Picture Books, an imprint of Minneapolis' Lerner Publishing Group.
In 1999, City Pages
City Pages
City Pages is an alternative weekly newspaper serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. It features news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews, and music criticism. It is printed in a tabloid format, and is available free every Wednesday...
named her Best Local Cartoonist, writing: “Monroe's scratchy, winsome Violet Days meanders through everyday topics: the merits of various candies, the habits of squirrels, the shoplifting rituals of young girls. And each quick meditation is delivered with a deadpan tone that indicates a sharp wit honed against life's frailties and absurdities.”
Other periodicals that have featured Monroe’s comics include the Funny Pages, Funny Times, Zenith City Arts, Madcap, Twin Cities Reader, Pulse of the Twin Cities, Ripsaw
Ripsaw
Ripsaw was a Duluth, Minnesota newspaper published from 1917 to 1926 and again from 1999 to 2005. In its original incarnation, the paper was a scandal sheet with a reputation for muckraking, sensationalism and criminal libel...
, Transistor and Ruminator.
She has also exhibited her oil pastels at the Duluth Art Institute and other galleries. She started exhibiting her work in 1984, the same year she graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
Monroe was born and raised in Duluth
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. She lived in the Twin Cities area from about 1980 to 1998, before returning to Duluth.