ICON is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to address the most important ideas and issues in illustration today. Every two years, we plan and produce ICON The Illustration Conference: a forum for ongoing dialogue on the topics that unite our community—inspiration, studio practice, advocacy, and education.
DAY 1
CHECK-IN CONFERENCE HUB
DAY 2
SPEAKERS
WORKSHOPS
PORTFOLIO REVIEWS
DAY 3
SPEAKERS
ROADSHOWS
GALLERY
Monet Alyssa is a freelance illustrator and artist based in Buffalo, NY. Her work combines digital and traditional media to create psychedelic and colorful motifs that adorn her dreamy figures. Her primary inspirations come from women, fashion, music, and nature. While exploring and combining these interests within her illustrations, Monet also enjoys exploring concepts dealing with our relationship with technology, to each and with ourselves. She graduated with her BFA in Illustration from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2019 and has been working as a professional illustrator since 2020.
I’m a multidisciplinary artist, designer and educator with experience in creative direction, branding, interactive design, motion, and virtual production. I thrive in dynamic, collaborative spaces where art, design, and technology come together to create meaningful narratives that drive positive change. I deeply value diverse, inclusive, and collaborative environments where different perspectives shape richer ideas and more impactful outcomes. My journey began with a BA and MA in Fine Arts, followed by a scholarship to pursue an MFA in Graphic Design at Georgia State University. Throughout this time, traditional, digital, and immersive virtual mediums became a passion, each offering unique possibilities and inspiration.
Kristy Caldwell is an illustrator in New York City. She develops narrative projects that explore imagination in relation to perception and experience, drawing from memory, history, and visual culture. She also uses creative visualization as a research method for worldbuilding. She is especially interested in imagination’s role in developing personal agency. She has illustrated more than a dozen children’s books, including Flowers for Sarajevo, a 2017 New York Public Library Best Book for Kids, and helped launch experimental literary journal Carrier Pigeon: Illustrated Fiction and Fine Art. Kristy’s illustrations have been recognized by American Illustration and Communication Arts. In 2025 she became the first visual artist to receive a William H. Helfand Fellowship at the Grolier Club Library. She has taught at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Pratt Institute, and the School of Visual Arts, and is currently an assistant professor of illustration at Queens College, CUNY.
As a cartoonist, Liam Cassidy draws inspiration from a wide swath of visual culture. His style of cartooning is closely tied to the loosely expressive early comics of Matt Groening, yet it is equally influenced by the tight pen work and complex narratives of Daniel Clowes and Charles Burns. He has a deep appreciation of the slapstick brilliance of Looney Tunes, just as he admires the raw painterly work of Philip Guston and Grace Hartigan. In his comics, you will recognize characters from local commercials and scenery from around St. Louis. He often borrows typefaces from highway signage or print advertising picked up at the Metro station. Cassidy wants his comics to be populated by characters that feel real, even if they live in a futuristic city run by aloof robots or if their heads explode in a shower of streamers and sparks. The faces he draws often come from people he meets or passes by in the grocery store. Creating authentic characters requires empathy — understanding rather than merely mocking, even when they appear to be deeply flawed. Comedy is central to Cassidy’s comics. As the son of Irish immigrants, he inherited their rosy-cheeked brand of fatalism. But he was also raised with the particularly Irish mindset that a good joke can act as a cure-all in times of tragedy. He grew up with unmitigated access to comedy. Some may see his childhood as a case study in overexposure to adult content, but he learned early on how to use humor as a tool to excavate joy from pain. Comedy is often derided in artmaking, with the artist’s intention questioned, as it’s assumed they are not serious about the subject. However, there is truth in the laughable. It’s absurdity that Cassidy take most seriously as an artist.
Cheri Lee Charlton is an illustrator, muralist, and teacher who lives in Chicago, IL. She has an MFA in Painting from Ohio University. She has been a college instructor for 15 years, most recently with the illustration department at Columbia College. Her clients include The Girl Scouts of America, Collectivo Coffee, Chicago Fire Soccer, NEWCITY Shopping Center, BLICK Art Materials, Gino’s Pizza, The Neighborhood Hotel, Rainbow Cone, and The Violet Hour. In 2021, Cheri was selected by the American Consulate and The Sister Cities of Chicago to design and paint a large-scale mural in Casablanca to celebrate the 200-year anniversary of relations between Morocco and the United States.
Liza Donnelly is a writer and award-winning cartoonist with The New Yorker Magazine, where she has been drawing cartoons and writing about culture and politics for forty years. She has contributed to CBS News and CNN, creating political cartoons as well as live-drawing special cultural and political events. Donnelly writes and draws for The New York Times and CNN Opinion pages and the Washington Post. Liza is also a screenwriter, working on her third feature and currently pitching a documentary.
