About the Exhibition

For Better or For Worse®
the Comic Art of Lynn Johnston

For Better or For Worse®: The Comic Art of Lynn Johnston looks at the career of popular comic artist, Lynn Johnston. The exhibition explores influences on her early work and the way her drawing style changed over time in the popular comic strip For Better or For Worse®.

For Better or For Worse® underwent many changes—taking the comic from a glimpse into the everyday home life of the Patterson family, to a comic with three-dimensional characters that seemed like real people. Seeing Elly Patterson and her family go through familiar situations added to the overwhelming success of the strip.

The exhibition charts the ways that Johnston drew from her personal experiences from an early age, and her continuous habit of including those experiences in her artwork eventually developing the much-loved characters of For Better or For Worse®.

The exhibition gives a behind the scenes look at Johnston’s creative process, her life, and the many doors that were opened for her along the way. For old fans and new, this exhibition will show the comic over its 29-year history, the characters that readers know and love, and includes fan responses to the comic strip.