People

Sheika Lugtu is a cartoonist, educator, and publisher. Prior to joining the team at the Carnegie Mellon School of Art, she worked in Admissions at her alma mater, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Sheika brings her passion for youth mentorship and student advocacy into her college admissions work by prioritizing students’ creative growth, and helping families find the right fit for their future.

With her BA in Visual & Critical Studies and BFA in Studio Art, Sheika embraces collaborative making and interdisciplinary study in her own practice. Her work with the Ladydrawers Comics Collective centers on the impact of economics, race, sexuality, and gender on the comics industry, media, and visual culture at large. She is the founder and publisher at Cow House Press, an award-winning indie comic press dedicated to supporting marginalized voices. As an educator, Sheika has taught comics history and illustration, lectured, and facilitated workshops at numerous arts organizations including SAIC, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Richard and Mary Gray L. Center for the Arts, and North Branch Projects.

Most recently, Sheika served on the inaugural board of Chicago for Chicagoans, a non-profit historical tour organization focused on engaging and building hyper-local communities. She juries for the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo and organized exhibitions with the Foundation for Asian American Independent Media. Her work has been published in Sixty Inches from Center as part of Art Design Chicago, South Side Weekly, Truthout.org, PEN America and others. Beyond publication, she has received the Saari Residency grant through the KONE Foundation of Finland and exhibited in the Figge Art Museum. When she isn’t dressing her dog, Walter, in tiny sweaters, Sheika’s research interests lean towards Americana, memory, and nostalgia as reflected through the diasporic lens.