Mackey Chair Lynda Barry, the internationally acclaimed cartoonist, graphic novelist and 2019 MacArthur “Genius” fellow, is set for campus events on Feb. 9 and Feb. 16.
Prof. Barry will host a creativity workshop for Beloit College faculty and staff at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 9, in Moore Lounge of Pearsons Hall. Attendees will receive a free signed copy of Barry’s book, “Syllabus: Notes from an Accidental Professor.” Faculty and staff should RSVP to attend this event.
Prof. Barry titles her workshop Drawn Together, and describes it as follows:
“A workshop and demonstration of quick and simple drawing exercises to use at the beginning of any class that will bring students together to get ready to work, create and strengthen bonds between them, and help facilitate lively interaction in any classroom. These are exercises anyone can do, regardless of drawing ability.”
Prof. Barry will deliver her keynote Mackey presentation, titled “What it Is,” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, in Weissberg Auditorium.
She describes her multimedia lecture as follows:
“This talk is about our longing to interact with the world in a creative way. Why do we still wish we could draw or write or sing or dance even after we’ve given up on ever being able to do these things? Why does this longing stay with us? I believe there is something common to everything we call art. This ancient ‘it’ is something that feels somehow alive, and contained and transported to us by something that is not alive- a book, a song, a painting. This ‘it’ can travel across space and great expanses of time and still cause us to feel something, understand something, and be deeply moved. Why does it exist? Is there a biological function to this thing we have come to call ‘the arts’? One of the basic ideas about evolution is that things which contribute to our survival tend to persist. Art persists. Why?”
This is a public event; no RSVP necessary.
January 13, 2023
