‘The Prints of Jules Heller’ on view at museum

UNIVERSITY PARK — ‘The Prints of Jules Heller,’ a retrospective exhibition on view at the Palmer Museum of Art through Monday, Aug. 14, was organized to mark the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts’ 50th year and celebrates six decades of Heller’s printmaking efforts.

In 1963, Penn State President Eric Walker enlisted Jules Heller, then the director of the university’s School of Fine and Applied Arts, to serve as the founding dean of the College of Arts and Architecture. One of Heller’s crowning achievements during his tenure as head of the college was the role he played in 1967 as general chairman of the planning committee for the first Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.

“This year we only scratched the surface,” he announced at the close of first year’s festivities. “In years to come, when people want to know what is going on in all the arts, they will come to Central Pennsylvania to find out.”

The event now attracts more than 125,000 visitors per year.

Prior to coming to Penn State, Heller taught for 15 years at the University of Southern California, where he developed an international reputation for printmaking. His text, ‘Printmaking Today,’ issued in 1958, was the first studio-oriented book on the graphic arts ever published, and the Jules Heller Print Study Room in the Art Museum at Arizona State University, where he served as dean of the College of Fine Arts from 1976 through 1985, is named in his honor.

Patrick McGrady, Charles V. Hallman, curator, and Nancy Heller, professor of art history, University of the Arts, will lead a Gallery Talk titled ‘The Prints of Jules Heller,’ on Friday, June 24, at 12:10 p.m. in the exhibition gallery located on the museum’s first floor.

Michele Randall, artist and printmaking instructor, will instruct a workshop for adults, ‘Gelli Plate Monotypes,’ on Saturday, June 25, noon to 3:00 p.m.

Participants will create their own painterly monotype using a Gelli printing plate, a reference photo and ink or paint.

Those attending should meet in the lobby and wear appropriate clothing for working with materials.

Sue Uhlig, art educator and graduate student in art education, will instruct a workshop for children and youth, ‘Celebrate the Arts through Printmaking,’ from 10:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, July 9. Participants will view ‘The Prints of Jules Heller,’ exhibition and discuss Heller’s prints, in addition to his role as one of the founding members of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. They then will design their own series of prints to commemorate the 50th Festival of the Arts using a variety of printmaking techniques, such as screenprinting and gel printing.

The workshop is for children ages 8 to 12.

Natalia Pilato, artist and graduate student, art education, will instruct another workshop for children and youth, ‘Arts Festival Mini-Banners,’ from 10:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, July 16.

Children in attendence will make a family banner using printmaking and fabric transfer techniques. All ages are encouraged to participate and each family will take home a banner like those seen displayed over the Arts Festival route each year.

A parent or adult learning partner is encouraged to accompany young attendees to children’s workshops. Participants should meet in the lobby and wear appropriate clothing for working with materials.

Workshops are free, but participants must register by contacting the curator of education at (814) 863-9188 or dck10@psu.edu. Space is limited.

Children’s and family programs are partially funded by the James E. Hess and Suzanne Scurfield Hess Endowment for Art Education in the Palmer Museum of Art and the Ruth Anne and Ralph Papa Endowment. All other programs are sponsored by the Friends of the Palmer Museum of Art.

Also on view at the Palmer Museum of Art this summer are ‘American Art in the Shadow of World War I,’ through Sunday, Aug. 7, and ‘Still Moving: Photographs by Steve McCurry,’ through Sunday, Sept. 18.

The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State is located on Curtin Road and admission is free. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. The museum is closed Mondays and some holidays.

The Palmer Museum of Art receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.