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Phoebe Gloeckner and Omar Sosa-Tzec on “Teaching Visual Communication Today”

Scott mccloud FINAL

On Wednesday, November 7 from 2 – 3:30 pm at the U‑M Duderstadt Center (2281 Bonisteel Blvd.), Stamps professors Phoebe Gloeckner and Omar Sosa-Tzec will serve as panelists on Teaching Visual Communication Today,” an event organized by the University of Michigan Library and presented in partnership with the Duderstadt Center, ArtsEngine, the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, and the Ann Arbor District Library.

In 2018 study of social media use in America, the Pew Research Center found that 18-to 24-year-olds stand out for embracing a variety of platforms and using them frequently.” They use multimodal platforms more frequently than their elders and they are more likely to use platforms that are visually dominant (YouTube, SnapChat, and Instagram).

Are their skills in visual and multimodal communication evident in their academic engagement? How do our disciplinary curricula help them develop technical skills and prepare them to be critical practitioners in visual culture? What challenges and opportunities lie on the horizon, why does it all matter — and how does the study of comics apply?

Phoebe Gloeckner and Omar Sosa-Tzec will be joined by U‑M faculty members Barry Fishman and Melissa Gross, with special guest Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics (1993); Reinventing Comics (2000); and Making Comics (2006)).

Additional events at the Duderstadt Center in connection with Scott McCloud’s visit include:

Tuesday, November 6th at 7 pm: Comics and the Art of Visual Communication with Scott McCloud. Comics” is finally coming of age as an artistic and literary form. Now, this once-maligned medium of expression is poised for new opportunities, thanks to a mutating media environment and a potential revolution in visual education. Author and comics artist Scott McCloud demonstrates why every visual choice we make matters — in a fast-moving cascade of images and ideas.

November 5 – 16: Conveying Information Through Comics. Using selections from the comics collection at the University of Michigan Library, this gallery exhibition explores the many ways in which comics can be used to communicate a wide variety of types of information in disciplines as diverse as science, history, religion, economics, biography, fine arts, and more. Duderstadt Center Gallery hours: noon‑6 pm, Monday through Friday.