2008 Woodie Awards
Old World Knowledge, New Technology
Vance Studley gives printmaking at Valley a new life through his fresh ideas.
Tammy Abbott
Issue date: 5/19/04 Section: Valley Life
- Page 1 of 1
Fresh ideas and new technology combined with an old world standard make professor Vance Studley's printmaking class an exciting adventure.
Armed with an MFA from UCLA as well as a year in postgraduate studies at Yale, doing research at the Beinecke Rare Book Library, Studley brings expert knowledge and is a wonderful resource in the world print-, paper- and bookmaking.
"My involvement with printmaking was inspired by the personal encounters and work of Leonard Baskin, Antonio Frasconi and Peter Milton. I also took workshops with Rico Lebun in West Los Angeles.
"While in his classes I began to see the possibilities of drawing and the potential in printmaking."
Studley's love for books and printmaking started early, handed down to him from his grandfather who taught letterpress design and printing at the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford, Conn.
"My immersion in the world of the deaf was a result of all members of my mother's family having been deaf for generations," said Studley. "Both visual and audio language came from an early desire to read and the love of storytelling."
Studley offers a lifetime of experience teaching the skills of printmaking gathered from 26 years at Cal State Los Angeles, with 23 of those years being shared while teaching at Cal Arts Pasadena.
For those students who are afraid of harsh chemicals, Studley will implement new technology in the fall semester, making it possible to avoid them.
Studley, attempting to work with time constraints, is still formulating the program and hopes to deliver a full print-to-bookmaking experience to his students spanning several semesters.
Studley described a fascinating experience he had when he taught papermaking for a year in Tanzania Africa.
"People there just loved it," said Studley. "Women from the Masaii tribe wore these bright conga dresses and they would get tattered, so we would pulp it and make it into paper, and give them a sample - it was something very mystical to them."
"The Masaii and other citizens of Tanzania were intensely involved with the visual arts in an attempt to develop a global market for their woodblock prints. It was here, in Dar Es Salaam, that a grant from UNESCO enabled me to further develop classes I taught in the book arts."
In this, Studley's second semester, there are 15 students and he is working to build the program from there.
Combining literature and printmaking brings the total experience to life, according to Studley. "To hear the book as you turn the page, the flutter of it, it's a way to make things enjoyable."
Armed with an MFA from UCLA as well as a year in postgraduate studies at Yale, doing research at the Beinecke Rare Book Library, Studley brings expert knowledge and is a wonderful resource in the world print-, paper- and bookmaking.
 Media Credit: Tammy Abbott CAPTURING IDEAS- Studley shares a life full experience at Valley. |
"My involvement with printmaking was inspired by the personal encounters and work of Leonard Baskin, Antonio Frasconi and Peter Milton. I also took workshops with Rico Lebun in West Los Angeles.
"While in his classes I began to see the possibilities of drawing and the potential in printmaking."
Studley's love for books and printmaking started early, handed down to him from his grandfather who taught letterpress design and printing at the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford, Conn.
"My immersion in the world of the deaf was a result of all members of my mother's family having been deaf for generations," said Studley. "Both visual and audio language came from an early desire to read and the love of storytelling."
Studley offers a lifetime of experience teaching the skills of printmaking gathered from 26 years at Cal State Los Angeles, with 23 of those years being shared while teaching at Cal Arts Pasadena.
For those students who are afraid of harsh chemicals, Studley will implement new technology in the fall semester, making it possible to avoid them.
Studley, attempting to work with time constraints, is still formulating the program and hopes to deliver a full print-to-bookmaking experience to his students spanning several semesters.
Studley described a fascinating experience he had when he taught papermaking for a year in Tanzania Africa.
"People there just loved it," said Studley. "Women from the Masaii tribe wore these bright conga dresses and they would get tattered, so we would pulp it and make it into paper, and give them a sample - it was something very mystical to them."
"The Masaii and other citizens of Tanzania were intensely involved with the visual arts in an attempt to develop a global market for their woodblock prints. It was here, in Dar Es Salaam, that a grant from UNESCO enabled me to further develop classes I taught in the book arts."
In this, Studley's second semester, there are 15 students and he is working to build the program from there.
Combining literature and printmaking brings the total experience to life, according to Studley. "To hear the book as you turn the page, the flutter of it, it's a way to make things enjoyable."
