Paul 'Moose MacKinnon,' comic book artist, honoured in exhibit

An exhibit on a Cape Breton comic book artist who's brought awareness to many facets of Island life since the 1970s is on display at the Beaton Institute at Cape Breton University.

Paul "Moose"MacKinnon's work covers such topics asthe Cape Breton Liberation Army, a group that wants Cape Breton to separate from Nova Scotia. He is alsoresponsible for the Old Trout Funnies comic strip.

"I'm in an art gallery. It's still kind of hard to fathom at times," he said.

MacKinnon has also illustrated for local magazines and wall calendars. Drawing came naturally to him.

"I had friends who were very musical, they could pick up a guitar and just wow me and I wouldn't know what string to touch," he said. "But I could pick up a pencil or a paint brush and there it was, there was my outlet."

Five years ago, MacKinnon donated his work to the Beaton Institute. It was there that professor Ian Brodie took an interest.

"It's just this ridiculous treasure trove that I had no experience with,"Brodiesaid.

Brodie says his research includesinterviews with MacKinnon and others who are characters in the drawings. He has alsowritten a book about MacKinnon that will come out next week.

The exhibit will be on display until the end of January and MacKinnon calls it a walk down memory lane.

"A lot of these characters are based on friends of mine and some of them have passed on, but they live on in the comic,so it's nice," he said.