BIO

Max grew up in Milwaukee, WI, and moved to Salt Lake City to attend the University of Utah where they earned their M.A. in Comparative Literary & Cultural Studies in 2016. Max’s research interests include comics, queer theory, ecocriticism, and posthumanism. Their thesis, The Animal As Queer Act in Comics: Queer Iterations in On Loving Women and Nimona explores comics as a space for queer representation. Max earned an M.F.A. in Comics at the California College of the Arts in 2023. Their critical writing on comics and art appears in ComicsVerse.com and loveDANCEmore, and in the special edition of ZINES, Embodied DIY: Feminist and Queer Zines in a Transglobal World.

Max is passionate about arts access, sustainability, and education. Max has taught many comics and zines workshops, as well as Digital Illustration (Art 2535) at the University of Utah (2023-2024). Their interdisciplinary classes emphasize curiosity and vulnerability in order to build community and support engaged arts practices. Max’s own scavenger/multimedia art practice engages questions surrounding identity and the natural world. In their free time, Max helps organize Salt Lake City’s independent comics and zines festival, Grid Zine Fest, and enjoys exploring with their dog, Tally.

Prior to 2020, Max’s work may appear under the name “Molly Barnewitz.”

SELECTED EVENTS & WORKSHOPS

2024

May 18 / Grid Zine Festival / Salt Lake City, UT

May 11-12 / Toronto Comics Arts Festival / Toronto, Canada

2023

December 17 / Women & Queer Comics Pop Up / Echo Park, CA

November 18 / Nature Drawing Zine Workshop / Jordan River Nature Center, Salt Lake City, UT

October 21 / Alt Press Fest / Salt Lake City, UT

September 3 / San Francisco Zine Festival / San Francisco, CA

May 21-22 / Queer Spectra Arts Festival / Salt Lake City, UT

May 13 / Grid Zine Fest / Salt Lake City, UT

2022

October 22 / Alt Press Fest - Featured Artist / Salt Lake City, UT

July 2 /CCA Comics Festival Silver Sprocket / San Francisco, CA

June 10 / Grid Zine Fest / Salt Lake City, UT

May 21-22 / Queer Spectra Arts Festival / Salt Lake City, UT

CONTACT

Want to work together? Email barnewitz.max@gmail.com.