STRIP ART: Wild Rose by Huhta

Art Huhta had a long career writing and drawing syndicated comic strips from approximately 1926-1970. He was born in 1902 in Crystal Falls, Michigan and passed away in 1990. In addition to being a newspaper cartoonist, Huhta also put his drawing skills to work as an animator at Disney, contributing to the famous dinosaur sequence in Fantasia. Art appears to have started his career in comics working on Mescal Ike with S.L. Huntly from 1926-40. He worked his way up from assistant, to ghost, and then eventually signed his name to the comic.After Mescal Ike, Huhta created Dinky Dinkerton from 1939 to the mid-40s. Following Dinky's demise, Art started up Wild Rose, a faintly L'il Abner-esque pretty girl comic set in the rustic hills, with a mix of adventure and gentle hillbilly humor. It was a Sunday-only comic that ran from 1946 to 1951. n the 1960s Art began to teach at The Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, where he became the head of the Cartooning and Animation Department. Among Art's more well-known students are Geoff Darrow and Mike Grell. Art gave each of his graduating students an original Dinky Dinkerton strip.