Cartoonist Lynda Barry will join permanent staff at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as an assistant professor of interdisciplinary creativity through the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and UW-Madison Department of Art, according to a university news release.
Barry is a cartoonist and author known for her weekly comic strip “Ernie Pook’s Comeek” which ran in 70 newspapers nationwide, including Madison’s Isthmus. She has also produced several illustrated novels.
Barry began working at the university in 2012 as an artist in residence at the Arts Institute.
According the release, Barry said drawing, writing and creativity can help people in any discipline.
“Because we tend to give up on the arts so early in life, I became really interested in what would happen if we reintroduce the arts without the thought of ‘you’re going to do this to become a great writer or painter,’ but rather that it might help people with other work in their field,” Barry said in the release.
