The printmaking club is a little known secret Georgia State keeps. Formed less than three decades ago, students from different majors come together to etch works of art in metal and print their work on canvas or paper.
Club President Esme Jarrell is a senior at Georgia State and is currently working towards her BFA in Studio Art with a concentration in printmaking.
Print making, a hand-made tradition, is taught and practiced at Georgia State.
“[Printmaking] is extremely process ori- ented,” Jarrell said. “It takes the skills you know about drawing and you put them to work. It’s so much about the process and drawing is not the entire focus of it.”
This year, the printmaking club is participating in a project called “Print Big,” hosted by the Atlanta Printmakers Workshop.
“We haven’t done it in a few years,” Jarrell said of the project. “It’s a 4×8 ft wooden block and we as the Print Club are designing it. It’s a collaborative design and it’s printed with a steamroller. Schools from all over Georgia are coming to participate, so it’s a huge event.”
Other projects the club is working on involve self-renovation.
Stephanie Libetreu beveling a zinc plate.
“Some of other things we’ve been doing this semester includes meeting in smaller groups,” he said. “[We] are working on trying to organizing the printmaking area and making it effective for how we need to use it as students. It’s a huge project and we’re just taking it in small pieces. I think it’s really good because it encour- ages you to invest yourself in to the lab so you feel more like it’s yours.”
In the past year the club has held a demonstration at the Georgia State Street Fair. Some members have also been featured in an Art Stu- dent Union sponsored gallery show and the Research Award Competition. Other members took part in the Graphics Council International Conference in New Orleans and Print Dialog Day. They have also had print sales on campus at the Iron Pour and a City Park event.
“[Printmaking] is definitely worth checking out. It’s totally worth it and it’s a good thing to get in to,” Jerrell said. “We don’t do demos on printmaking, but the printmaking club is open to all majors.”
The printmaking club meets every first Thursday of the month in room 454. President Emse Jarrell can be reached at tjarrell1@student.gsu.edu for inquires about the club.
