Pete and Dian have been professional cartoonists and caricaturists since the 1970s.
Before he got into caricaturing at events full time in the early 2000s, Pete Wagner was a political cartoonist and staff caricature artist for major newspapers for over 25 years. He was with CIty Pages, the 100,000 circulation weekly paper in MInneapolis, for 10 years. His work was published in over 300 newspapers, including TIME Magazine, the Washington Post, the Milwaukee Journal, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press and many more. He won the national Society of Professional Journalists' award for best cartoonist and numerous other juried awards.
Pete authored and illustrated two books, Buy This Book (1980) and Buy This Too (1987) and illustrated several more. Pete, who holds a Master of Fine Arts degree and a PhD-abd in Design Communication, has developed and taught cartooning courses at the University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, South Dakota State University, Minneapolis College of Art and Design and many K-12 schools through a Minnesota State Arts Board residency program. Pete's cartoons have been exhibited in the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City and he was shown and represented by Speedboat Gallery in St. Paul.
Dian Wagner started out as a fine watercolorist and painter with both a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and an Art Education degree and before joining Pete in his many gigs and travels as co-caricaturist, she won major awards for her watercolors and paintings and was exhibited in numerous galleries and the Katherine Nash Museum at the University of Minnesota. Dian has also developed and taught cartooning and comic art courses at community education centers. She was the staff editorial cartoonist for Minnesota Women's Press in the 1980s.
If these kinds of credentials mean nothing to you... please don't ask us to work for you!!!