Progress for JAM/Index Collective !
Autobiographical comics and art may result from a creativity that capably "plays on the self.." 🎹 🎷🎶
WELCOME!
To Max Barnewitz, John Borstel & Athena Naylor, the three artists comprising Jam/Index, a 2025 Initiative by Dwightmess to support autobiographical comics & storytelling!
MAX BARNEWITZ
Max is a comics educator exploring queerness, transition in sequential art, often populating their storytelling with animals. They hold an MFA in Comics from California College of the Arts and an MA in Comparative Literary & Cultural Studies from the University of Utah. Max has taught many comics and zines workshops, and Digital Illustration at the University of Utah. Max currently teaches at the University of Maryland in the University Honors program as a Collegiate Fellow.
JOHN BORSTEL
John has described himself as an artist working at the crossroads of photography, performance, and text. For 20 years, John worked in programming and development for Dance Exchange, a nationally-touring contemporary dance company founded by MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Liz Lerman. In his own artwork, John practices "self-imaging," positing himself as both a medium and subject in various media. In John's words: "Some of my work synthesizes image and text. At the start, my biggest influence came from contemporary dance artists who combine spoken text with movement. In putting words and pictures together, I'm trying to do more than caption or explain. I hope to achieve a fusion of elements in which the specificity of language and the allusive quality of image each derives greater meaning by virtue of being placed together." See more by John Borstel»
ATHENA NAYLOR
Athena grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and now lives and works in Washington, D.C. She specializes in autobiographical comics and illustration. Her work has been featured in Nat. Brut and The Washington Post, and in 2021 she received an Honorable Mention for the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) Cupcake Award.
See more by Athena Naylor»
Progress: New comics work by our artists!
Check out this preview of new sketch pages of comics-in-the-making by Jam/Index Collective!
Minicomic/ Art ‘Zine collection:
We’re sorting the collection finally - Here’s a selection!
From the Studio: Character sketches
**JAM/Index has a show at the compound! Visit our IG for the latest news»
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