Graphic Novelist Lynda Barry to Deliver 2017 Stanley P. Stone Lecture

When cartoonist Lynda Barry teaches comic-making, it’s not just for artists. It’s also for people who haven’t picked up a pen to draw since grade school. Students from all disciplines are invited to tap into their creativity at Barry’s Stanley P. Stone Distinguished Lecture this November.

An award-winning and wildly inventive artist, Barry was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame last year. Her comic Ernie Pook’s Comeek, which was syndicated in alternative papers until 2008, and her bestselling graphic novels What It Is and Picture This are infused with warmth and humor—and tackle big questions about memory, storytelling, and art.

Barry’s multisensory and interdisciplinary workshops include timed drawing and writing exercises and encourage students to “tamp down their inner critical voices,” says CGS Associate Professor of Rhetoric Davida Pines, who wrote a book chapter about Barry’s work. “Once they leave self-criticism behind, students are amazed to see what they create.” Pines incorporates Barry’s methods into her rhetoric classroom and mentored Stacy D. Appiah (CGS’15, CAS’17) on a project exploring the neuroscience of creativity.

“Barry’s work is innovative and powerful,” CGS Dean Natalie McKnight says. “It relates well to courses at CGS and Kilachand Honors College, which is helping to support Lynda’s presentation.” In addition to delivering the lecture, Barry will visit Pines’ class, Serious Comics, and offer the students a comic-making seminar. Tom Loeser, chair of University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Art, says Barry helps students find the artists within and has called her “the best classroom teacher I’ve ever seen.”

The Stanley P. Stone Distinguished Lecture will take place November 9, 2017, at 5 p.m. in Jacob Sleeper Auditorium, 871 Commonwealth Avenue.