Graphic novelist to give guest lecture - Homewood Arts Programs visiting artist is University of Michigan's Phoebe Gloeckner

The half-cartoon, half-literate medium of the graphic novel has never quite gotten onto the radar of the general public. University of Michigan professor Phoebe Gloeckner is a good example of a graphic novelist that the world can take seriously - she has made a career of focusing on the narrative aspects of her genre, and she is teaching a new generation of young artists her craft. She will present the Spring Visiting Artist's Lecture at the Mattin Center this Thursday.

Gloeckner earned a Master of Arts degree in medical illustration from the University of Texas, and has done freelance work for several medical journals and schools. "The real reason I was interested in [medical illustration] was for my own art," she said in a phone interview this week. "I wanted to explore the human body."

The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Gloeckner's 2002 illustrated novel received widespread critical acclaim. It told the story of a young woman growing up in San Francisco in the 1970s, and it dealt largely with themes of vulnerability and the victimization of young women.

She is currently working on a chapter to contribute to the forthcoming collection I Live Here, a book that will examine a rash of recent murders on the Texas-Mexico border. The project is being edited by Mia Kirshner, a Canadian actress and writer who contacted Gloeckner after reading and being impressed by Diary.

For I Live Here, Gloeckner spent several months in Ciudad Juarez, a city just over the Rio Grande from El Paso, getting to know the families of the murder victims. "I think there is something very poignant about [these stories]," said Gloeckner. "Think of your average 15-year-old - They're a bud, they have nothing by dreams."

Gloeckner is focusing on only one of the murders that recently occurred, and she is writing her chapter in graphic novel form. The families of the victims are also contributing "artifacts" - portions of diaries and letters - to include in the book. She hopes that the collection will lead to some meaningful change. "This is what artists do - give voices to people who can't speak for themselves."

Thursday's talk will include a slide presentation and will focus on her work I Don't Remember Being Born. On Friday, Gloeckner will give a presentation to Tom Chalkley's cartooning class. "I'll be talking about my process," she explained, "how I gather info, how I process it, how it ends up being part of a story."

Gloeckner sounds like a creative writing instructor when she talks about teaching. She sees herself as a novelist, not just a graphic novelist, and she thinks that character development and the various other narrative elements of her works are just as important as the art. "In order to make your ideas into a story," said Gloeckner, "into something people want to read, sometimes you have to sacrifice fact for the sake of writing a good story."

She will not be focusing on draftsmanship in class. "I have a resistance to teaching technique ... The most important thing is for the artist to develop a voice and a vision."

Phoebe Gloeckner will give the Spring Visiting Artist's Workshop, as part of the Homewood Arts Programs, this Thursday, March 24, at 5:30 p.m. in Room 101 of the F. Ross Jones Building, Mattin Center.