♪ ♪
>> For years, Lynda Barry
has been asking a question.
She's be working out the answer
on paper.
>> I had no idea that
that question would shape
my entire life.
I met a teacher when I was
in college, Marilyn Frasca,
who asked me one question.
What is an image?
>> What is an image?
Born in Wisconsin
and raised in Seattle,
Lynda followed that question
into a career
as a prolific cartoonist.
♪ ♪
>> I had a comic strip
that ran in weekly papers
for thirty years.
So it ran in the Isthmus here,
that was one of my papers.
And I also write a lot of books.
>> 21 books so far.
And more, a play,
commentary on public radio,
and workshops,
plenty of workshops for people
who wanted to create.
All that work revolved around
that question.
>> So I've been interested
in this question
what is an image?
And my teacher was, I was so
lucky because she told me that
once I understood that,
I'd find that whether I was
making a painting or writing
a story or writing a play--
I had a play that ran in
New York for a really long time.
She said, it's identical.
The feeling is identical.
>> Eventually Lynda decided to
study that feeling full-time.
Her questions brought her
back to school,
and back to Wisconsin.
>> I live down by Janesville.
I live on a little farm.
And there was an opportunity
to be artist-in-residence
here at the U dub.
And I had some curiosity about
how drawing and writing
could be used for purposes
other than making
a neat picture or writing
a creative story.
But to try to fill that longing
that most people have
to make something.
>> Lynda loved the experience,
studying creativity
and the human brain.
So much so, she joined the
University of Wisconsin-Madison
as an assistant professor of
interdisciplinary creativity.
>> My husband calls me
Professor Long Title, because it
is kinda professor long title.
But I'm mainly interested in how
this stuff works on in people
of all ages.
From the littlest littlest,
you know.
[kids talking and laughing]
>> One Saturday a month,
the littlest take control.
Working with a team of graduate
students, Lynda observes
the connections between
how kids draw
and how they think.
>> I'm looking to understand
what this thing that we call
the art, which actually existed
before the word "the arts."
This this urge that people have
and you can see it with kids
in particular
to make pictures,
to tell stories,
to make sculptures,
to do everything
that we call the arts.
A three-year-old does all of it.
And not only does
a three-year-old do all of it,
anyone who is attached to that
three-year-old will also do
all those things.
So you can have like
you know, a really grumpy
grandpa who's not that much fun,
but if he's really crazy about
his grandson suddenly you'll
see him drawing with him,
telling stories, dancing,
doing all this stuff.
>> In these sessions with
kids from the community,
Lynda and her university
students ask children
to think about a topic,
then express their thoughts
on paper.
The drawings are put on display,
recorded and studied.
On this day, Lynda asked
children what they wonder about.
The responses come in
all colors.
♪ ♪
>> I'm wondering about what
caterpillars think about people.
>> Why is world the world?
>> Do zombies wear pants?
[kids talking and laughing]
>> You run into questions
that do this thing
the way that I explain is
it's like when somebody asks a
question that's a good question.
Like, that's a good question,
how it makes you feel.
I'm interested in what's
happening to the body when
you're going, oh yeah.
Sometimes you laugh because
something's funny,
but sometimes you smile 'cause
it makes you happy or
something's beautiful.
>> Yeah.
>> That was beautiful.
>> Lynda does similar research
with older adults
and college students.
They wonder as well.
>> I know the universe is
expanding, but what is it
expanding into?
>> With the help of those
co-researchers, young and old,
Lynda is finding new answers
to that old question,
what is an image?
>> I'm thinking that this thing
we call the Arts
is the original language,
and I think it's the language
that language is based on.
It's how we teach people,
it's how we learn,
and I think it has
a biological function.
I think it has something to do
with our health.
>> And each answer only
deepens her curiosity.
>> I physically feel good after
doing this.
So I'm curious about that step.
And the cool part is
as a cartoonist and a writer
I don't have the capacity
to study that in a deep, deep
academic way or a
scientific way,
but I have students who can.
And that is what this
appointment has brought me.