Comics in the City: Sequential Art Is... Artist Talk
Oct 6, 2025
Join Comics in the City: Sequential Art Is... curator Regine L. Sawyer, founder of Women in Comics Collective International (WinC), for a panel discussion with featured artists from the exhibition. Our talk will focus on the work and careers of featured artists who will discuss their art processes, art choices, as well as the artwork they submitted to the show, including Tzu-Ying (Naomi) Chan, Caitlin Du, Vito Giancaspro, Alexandria Lopez, CJ McWillis, and Jani Spencer (Pensir).
About the Artists
Tzu-Ying (Naomi) Chan is a Taiwanese multidisciplinary artist, curator, writer, and art educator based in Queens, New York. She holds an MA in Curatorial Practice from the School of Visual Arts. Chan’s practice centers on cultural identity, environmental issues, and social justice. As an artist, her work spans printmaking, oil painting, installation, and ceramics, often reflecting her personal life experiences. Her curatorial projects have received recognition and support, including the 2025 LMCC Creative Engagement Grant. She has curated exhibitions in Taiwan and the United States, including The Story That Lives Within Us: Ada (Manhattan, 2025), Between Shores: Reimagining Formosa (Manhattan, 2025), Two Cities One Tale (Manhattan, 2024), The Third Party (Queens, 2024), and Strange World (Taiwan & Manhattan, 2022–2023).
Caitlin Du is a Chinese illustrator based in NYC who makes comics with ink on paper and vibrant colors. There is a sense of naivety and humor to her work even when dealing with melancholic themes and difficult subjects. Du earned an Illustration BFA from Parsons School of Design and an MFA in Illustration as Visual Essay from School of Visual Arts. She has tabled in numerous fairs including MoCCA Arts Fest, Small Press Expo, Jersey Art Book Fair and Brooklyn Comic Con. Her comics have been featured by The Comics Beat, New York’s Newsletter, 3x3 Illustration Award and American Illustration (AIAP). Du is in the process of pitching her newest comic, Scavengers, which also received funding from the SVA Alumni Society.
Vito Giancaspro is an interdisciplinary artist born in Italy and currently living and working in New York City. Giancaspro’s body of artwork consists mainly of drawings, paintings, illustrations, digital arts, photography, and a series of video installations titled, Art to Wear (2009-2015). He has originated, produced, and curated several art exhibitions which part of them included, Choreographic Fashion Show in Italy (1997) and the first 100 artist exhibition Art as a First Language (2007) in New York and East & West exhibition in Italy (2012).
Alexandria Lopez is a Queens-based artist who holds a passion for pen illustrations on paper that evoke story, emotion, and whimsical elements. She draws most of her inspiration in her work from her daily life as a mom and elementary teacher. She uses ink and line to depict the simplicity of life intersected with playfulness and imagination.
CJ McWillis is a cartoonist and illustrator from the Bronx. As the TezraTandem duo, she is the creator, artist and writer of her award-nominated, action-packed comic series, TEZRA, with her editing partner, Anisah. Her passion is in creating and exploring multi-faceted Black women in fantastical worlds, being the hero, the villain and everything in between.
Jani Spencer (Pensir) works in B&W pen-and-ink drawings. His ongoing graphic novel series is Day with Hope. He is currently enrolled at Queens College for a BA in Philosophy. The material from that study path often finds its way into his comics, and his work brings philosophy to comics, and comics to philosophy.
Regine L. Sawyer (moderator) is a long-time comic book writer, essayist, and editor working for companies such as DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Oni Press, Z2 Comics, Comic Book Resources, Time Magazine and more. She is also the Coordinator and Founder of the Women in Comics Collective International (WinC), an organization that supports women and gender expansive people of color working in the comic book and multimedia industry. In 2024, Sawyer received an Eisner Award, the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, for her humanitarian work in the Comic Book industry.
Join Comics in the City: Sequential Art Is... curator Regine L. Sawyer, founder of Women in Comics Collective International (WinC), for a panel discussion with featured artists from the exhibition. Our talk will focus on the work and careers of featured artists who will discuss their art processes, art choices, as well as the artwork they submitted to the show, including Tzu-Ying (Naomi) Chan, Caitlin Du, Vito Giancaspro, Alexandria Lopez, CJ McWillis, and Jani Spencer (Pensir).
About the Artists
Tzu-Ying (Naomi) Chan is a Taiwanese multidisciplinary artist, curator, writer, and art educator based in Queens, New York. She holds an MA in Curatorial Practice from the School of Visual Arts. Chan’s practice centers on cultural identity, environmental issues, and social justice. As an artist, her work spans printmaking, oil painting, installation, and ceramics, often reflecting her personal life experiences. Her curatorial projects have received recognition and support, including the 2025 LMCC Creative Engagement Grant. She has curated exhibitions in Taiwan and the United States, including The Story That Lives Within Us: Ada (Manhattan, 2025), Between Shores: Reimagining Formosa (Manhattan, 2025), Two Cities One Tale (Manhattan, 2024), The Third Party (Queens, 2024), and Strange World (Taiwan & Manhattan, 2022–2023).
Caitlin Du is a Chinese illustrator based in NYC who makes comics with ink on paper and vibrant colors. There is a sense of naivety and humor to her work even when dealing with melancholic themes and difficult subjects. Du earned an Illustration BFA from Parsons School of Design and an MFA in Illustration as Visual Essay from School of Visual Arts. She has tabled in numerous fairs including MoCCA Arts Fest, Small Press Expo, Jersey Art Book Fair and Brooklyn Comic Con. Her comics have been featured by The Comics Beat, New York’s Newsletter, 3x3 Illustration Award and American Illustration (AIAP). Du is in the process of pitching her newest comic, Scavengers, which also received funding from the SVA Alumni Society.
Vito Giancaspro is an interdisciplinary artist born in Italy and currently living and working in New York City. Giancaspro’s body of artwork consists mainly of drawings, paintings, illustrations, digital arts, photography, and a series of video installations titled, Art to Wear (2009-2015). He has originated, produced, and curated several art exhibitions which part of them included, Choreographic Fashion Show in Italy (1997) and the first 100 artist exhibition Art as a First Language (2007) in New York and East & West exhibition in Italy (2012).
Alexandria Lopez is a Queens-based artist who holds a passion for pen illustrations on paper that evoke story, emotion, and whimsical elements. She draws most of her inspiration in her work from her daily life as a mom and elementary teacher. She uses ink and line to depict the simplicity of life intersected with playfulness and imagination.
CJ McWillis is a cartoonist and illustrator from the Bronx. As the TezraTandem duo, she is the creator, artist and writer of her award-nominated, action-packed comic series, TEZRA, with her editing partner, Anisah. Her passion is in creating and exploring multi-faceted Black women in fantastical worlds, being the hero, the villain and everything in between.
Jani Spencer (Pensir) works in B&W pen-and-ink drawings. His ongoing graphic novel series is Day with Hope. He is currently enrolled at Queens College for a BA in Philosophy. The material from that study path often finds its way into his comics, and his work brings philosophy to comics, and comics to philosophy.
Regine L. Sawyer (moderator) is a long-time comic book writer, essayist, and editor working for companies such as DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Oni Press, Z2 Comics, Comic Book Resources, Time Magazine and more. She is also the Coordinator and Founder of the Women in Comics Collective International (WinC), an organization that supports women and gender expansive people of color working in the comic book and multimedia industry. In 2024, Sawyer received an Eisner Award, the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, for her humanitarian work in the Comic Book industry.
