Faculty

The Printmaker

Five questions with Janet Marcavage, distinguished professor of art and art history

Janet Marcavage is excited to be back working with students in Kittredge Hall after teaching remotely from her garage for the past year. The distinguished professor of art and art history is currently working on a series of prints featuring striped planes floating in negative space. “I’m interested in creating abstract forms that feel as though they are open, momentary, and subject to change,” Marcavage said. Her latest piece, “Reassemble,” considers how we are rebuilding our lives following a long period of social distancing and loss. We recently caught up with her to chat about the inspiration behind her art.

Q: Can you tell me a little about your background and how you ended up at Puget Sound?
A: I was always interested in art. As a child growing up in Philadelphia, I drew pictures all the time and was fortunate to attend art classes and camps that nurtured my sense of curiosity and engagement with art. As an undergraduate, I attended University of the Arts in Philadelphia. I then lived in the Bay Area for a few years before attending graduate school for printmaking at University of Wisconsin-Madison. After graduate school, I was hired by Puget Sound and have been teaching in the art and art history department since 2004.

Q: Tell me about your work as an artist. What is your inspiration for your work?
A: I make unique and limited-edition hand-pulled prints. I love working with line, shape, and color. These days, I mostly use screenprinting, but sometimes I use other processes, such as collagraph and intaglio. Screenprint is a stencil process, where ink is pushed through onto paper. I create abstract imagery of two-dimensional planes that fragment, bend, and turn to suggest the unfolding of space. I work with colors that transition across shapes and lines that stem from everyday striped and gingham textile patterns. In my images, I’m considering the contingency of visual elements and how they correspond with perception—bending, overlaying, or confusing the picture.

Q: How did you first become interested in printmaking?
A: As a kid, I had some printmaking experiences, yet it was in college that it really captured my attention. I was a sculpture major, and printmaking was a required course. I ended up loving it. In my first class, I learned etching and screenprint from a great teacher, Tony Rosati. I loved the physicality of printmaking and that it was richly connected to drawing. I enjoy preparing the plates and paper, inking, the many ways of pulling prints and making multiples, and experimenting with the limitations and possibilities of screen stencils.

Q: What do you hope students take away from your classes?
A: I hope that students develop and deepen their personal connection to making art and are able to employ creative and skilled approaches to communicate their ideas. I hope that they take away an awareness and appreciation for varied perspectives and historical and contemporary contexts in artworks. I also hope that students have experienced the risk-taking and challenge involved in making art, as well as the understanding and many joys that it brings.

It is enlivening to create art, which is a vital tool for expression and communication. Abstract thinking and working through projects with materials contributes to creative dexterity in many settings.

Q: Tell me about your life outside of campus. How do you spend your time?
A: Last summer, I got an inflatable kayak, and my family and I began visiting various spots around the Puget Sound. Kayaking has become something that I really enjoy. In the evenings this summer, when the shade comes over our yard, we’ve been playing badminton, soccer, and other games. I also enjoy hiking and swimming.