Biographical Info

Max Barnewitz (they/them) is a collage and comics artist from Milwaukee. They earned an M.A. in Comparative Literary & Cultural Studies from the University of Utah in 2016 and since have been spending their time developing their arts practice and helping organize local arts organizations, including Grid Zine Fest and Queer Spectra Arts Festival. Max is currently pursuing an MFA in Comics at the California College of the Arts, where they are investigating how shapeshifters can help us queer environments on and off the comics page. Max is passionate about arts access, sustainability, and education. They take an eclectic and irreverent approach to art making, and their scavenger/multimedia art practice engages questions surrounding identity and the natural world. Max can often be found in the Avenues walking their dog, Tally, or at home eating copious amounts of sour gummy candies.

Joshua Graham and Max Barnewitz joined students in making seed paper and discussing the significance of reuse and recycling to address the theme of overconsumption. In their workshop, students used shredded paper, which had been turned into pulp, to make their own sheets of paper. Students also participated in a haiku activity to think about ways of bridging scientific writing with creative writing to help communicate critical environmental topics, including recycling, water cycles, and air quality.