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Creating comics. Running an art department. Helping students develop into caring and well-rounded people. Tim Barber ’18 has established a rewarding career in art and education since graduating from Emmanuel — and he recently returned to exhibit his work and share perspectives from that journey.
Speaking to an audience in the Gallery 5 space that included several students in the Art Education Licensure program that he himself completed, Barber said the path can be challenging. But it also created amazing opportunities for both his career and making the world a better place through art.
“My greatest superpower is adaptability — it is so essential,” said Barber. “Because I have that adaptability and the ability to knuckle down and push through the harder times, there is literally not one thing I would have changed.”
An art educator by day and comic book creator in his free time, Barber is part of the research-and-design team at the Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill. It’s an independent college-prep school, with ample resources and a great deal of leeway in how he practices and teaches art.
His prior experience included being essentially a one-person department for a school that was adding an art program. This was during the height of the COVID pandemic, at one of the few schools that remained in-person throughout. It was a lot; Barber remembered a time that he came home and started washing the dishes before realizing he was still wearing his mask. But the impacts were clearly visible: first in the classroom with students, and later along the hallways they decorated.
“That sense of community is what enabled me to keep up the arts curriculum at the school I was with, and it also gave me so much experience, as far as what the future could hold,” he said.
Creating a positive impact on young people is a priority for Barber, who described teaching as one of the best ways to make the world a better place. Sometimes that means providing stability for students who need it. Other times, it’s about modeling positive behavior, both in the classroom and through his art.
“As a person who has created a comic book that young people are going to be looking at, I need to make sure I’m using this platform to promote bravery and doing good in the world, and helping people out, and not being afraid of their neighbors…and to hopefully make a positive impact in the world,” said Barber.
The comic is Shredman, a katana-wielding skateboarder who navigates the concrete jungle of a crumbling society while being pursued by a mysterious mechanical menace. Barber bills Shredman as the greatest skateboarding action comic ever made. It’s also art that matters to him and his fans, which includes students and fellow artists he meets through work; that positivity and purpose gives him energy to keep it going, even at the end of a long day. He advised students to similarly pursue their interests.
“Whatever thing you have, whatever thing you’re into, that you’re really proud of it and you love it and care about it — that’s the thing that people want,” said Barber.
"It’s so important to bring that humanity to your job,” he added. “Because that means you don’t have to sell your soul for employment — you can still have your own thing, that you like.”
Barber returned to Emmanuel as part of the Gallery 5 series. Organized by the Art Department, it seeks to build bridges between Emmanuel and the larger art community in the Boston area by hosting at least two artists per semester at the studios on the fifth floor of the Eisner Administration Building.
It’s about building community and giving students an opportunity to meet with artists and experience their work, said Art Department Chair Brian Littlefield. It’s also a great opportunity to see creativity applied in the real world.
“I think it’s so important, because sometimes when you’re learning things in class it can feel a bit detached from actually doing it in the real world,” said Littlefield. “So, for the students to meet someone who is close to their age as a peer and actually doing it? I think that’s special.”
Originally from Bozrah, Conn., Barber opted for Emmanuel after touring the campus. Art is among his lifelong interests, but he’d heard the conventional wisdom about starving artists, and originally planned to major in English. Ultimately, he followed his interests.
“I took a printmaking class with [Professor] Littlefield and I was like ‘wait a minute: I like this,’” said Barber. “The rest is history.”
Being around creative people is important to Barber. He said the people were the highlight of his time at Emmanuel, noting the friendships and lasting connections with artists and professors he met along the way. Among the audience at his art talk was Dean of Emmanuel’s School of Education Sr. Karen Hokanson, SNDden, who remembers being impressed with Barber’s creativity in the classroom. Attending the art talk with several students now in the program, she was excited to see what he’s done since then.
“I am so happy that he continued in education, and has been so instrumental in bringing creativity out from children,” said Sr. Karen.
Barber’s exhibit at the Gallery 5 space is up through the week of Nov. 17th. Click here for more information about Tim Barber and Shredman comics.
