about bernie & zuzu
bernie & zuzu is named for Bernie Witzack and our original founder, the late and great Zuzu Boss Cat (bios below). bernie & zuzu is all about unique, one-of-a-kind goods with bold, bright color. bernie & zuzu is run out of a studio in the Madison Enterprise Center at 100 S. Baldwin Street in Madison, Wisconsin on ancestral Ho-Chunk land. Bernie hand screen prints all her goods at Madison's community printmaking collective Polka! Press.
You can find our goods at the top of State Street next to the Dane County Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings from April-October, and at Madison based art markets such as The Big Gay Market, The Crafty Fair, and the Madison Maker Markets as well as many others. Check our Events & Workshops page to find out where bernie & zuzu will be popping up next.
Our goods can be found at a few Madison brick and mortar stores as well! We are stocked at Hatch Art House, Communication Madison and have also worked with Little Luxuries and Olbrich Gardens Gift Shop.
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News
Bernie designed the 2025 Forward Madison FC Pride Jersey! It is available to order on the Forward Madison online shop Check it out here! Sales from the Pride Jersey are a fundraiser for OutReach Madison's Magic Pride Festival!
In February and March 2025, Bernie returned to the Pinney Library Art Studio for a mini-art residency! Warm Creativity on Cold Afternoons took place from 3:30-5:30 every Thursday in February and every Tuesday in March with drop-in art making projects for grown-ups, teens, and kids. Different surprise projects and medium(s) were featured each week to help patrons add some color play to their winter days!
Bernie was interviewed on Madison's local community radio station WORT 89.9 FM, during the Queery radio show in Nov, 2024. Learn about color as a verb, her teaching philosophy and ideas about creativity, and learn more about Zuzu the Boss Cat too. Listen to the interview
Bernie was the Artist In Residence at Pinney Library art studio from February - November, 2023. The residency, entitled Color Play - Making the World a Little More Rainbow, focused on the exploration of color, creativity and play. During the residency, Bernie transformed the Pinney Art Studio into an art installation bursting with color and artwork made by community members. View the Rainbow Room and learn more about Bernie's residency
bernie & zuzu was featured in the January 2023 issue of Madison Magazine! Read the article
Bios
Bernie (she/her)
Bernie Witzack is a queer artist, art educator, and the entrepreneur behind bernie & zuzu. Bernie earned a BA in Studio Art from Beloit College, a MA in Public Service from Marquette University, a MFA in Fine Art from the University of Michigan, and an AA in Graphic Design from Madison College. Bernie has been making art since she could hold a crayon, and showing art and teaching since her undergraduate studies.
Bernie is the co-President of Madison's printmaking collective Polka! Press, and has been a member for over 6 years. Bernie regularly offers workshops at the Textile Art Center of Madison, the Arts + Literature Laboratory, the Pinney Library Art Studio, and Polka! Press. Bernie was the Pinney Library Artist In Residence in 2023 and returned to Pinney for a mini artist residency in Winter 2025.
Zuzu Boss Cat (she/her)
April 6, 2005 - April 10, 2025
Zuzu was the founder of bernie & zuzu and our first CEO.
In her private life, Zuzu was adopted by Bernie when she was 8 weeks old and lived her whole life (20 years!) with Bernie. Zuzu was known for her playful energy, a mischievous streak and her loving, affectionate nature. Zuzu was an adventure cat and loved walks in the yard. She also loved belly rubs and watermelon.
In her professional life, Zuzu showed a precocious aptitude for numbers and business as a kitten, and earned an MBA from Harvard by age 5. Zuzu was a talented and brilliant CEO, and the only good CEO in the world. She is dearly missed. Her spirit will live on in our hearts forever, and she will always be a huge part of bernie & zuzu.