Artist Biography

Bryan Toy is Northwest Pennsylvania’s best-known cartoonist. He received his BFA from Alfred University in 1987 and furthered his education at Edinboro University of PA by earning a Master of Education. He has been teaching and creating art professionally for more than thirty-five years. Bryan’s paintings, drawings, and photographs are held in museum, corporate, and multitudinous private collections. His commentary illustrations have graced national publications. He is the regular political cartoonist for the Erie Reader. The best cartoons tell stories. Bryan’s fine art, being informed by this, also includes strong narrative elements. Multiple divergent characters often inhabit a scene which may include references to multiple times and places. His recent paintings have included strange monsters, impossible musical instruments, and surreal trees invented by his students in conjunction with real people and places from history, the news, and his own life. These elements interact to spur the imagination of the viewer to create their own stories. In just the past two years, Bryan Toy has participated in several invitational exhibitions and has been granted several honors, including the President’s Choice Award and an Honorable Mention in ICA “Art of Aging” Shows, an Honorable Mention in the NPAA Biennial Show, and Acceptance in the prestigious Erie Art Museum Spring Show. Currently, Bryan is working on a graphic short story entitled “Corvin Gotta Eat” for a comic anthology, experimenting with monoprinting, and finishing several commission caricatures. He is planning on auditioning for a musical at the Erie Playhouse and possibly going back to school for his MFA (because you are never too old to learn). For more information about Bryan Toy’s work, visit his website at www.bryantoy.com . His cartoon, “Just Toyin’ Witcha” appears in each issue in the Erie Reader. You can regularly find his fine art hanging at City Gallery in Erie, Pennsylvania