As a student at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Rebecca Strzelec started as a painting major. In her classes, however, she soon realized she might need to change her major.
“I realized I wasn’t as good as I thought I was at painting,” she says. “Everyone around me was so good, and I was just OK. So I started experimenting with all of the various majors at the school. I majored in almost everything at Tyler and then changed my mind. That’s how I ended up in metals.”
Strzelec earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in metals, jewelry, and CAD-CAM (computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing). Besides exhibiting her work in more than 65 exhibitions, she is a professor of visual arts at Penn State Altoona and, as of July 1, is the Penn State laureate for the 2016-17 academic year.
Established in 2008, the Penn State laureate is a full-time faculty member in the arts or humanities who is assigned half time for one academic year to bring greater visibility to the arts, the humanities, and the university as well as his or her own work.
“I’m honored to have been selected because I get to share my work and what’s going on in the arts at the university for a whole year,” Strzelec says. “It presents an awesome opportunity. I don’t think many people understand what artists do in academia when it comes to their research and creative activity. I’ll be able to define that, speak to my role in teaching young people to make and appreciate art as well as demonstrate how artists use technology, science, and narrative all at once.”
Strzelec’s work focuses on investigating the ways wearable objects interact with the surfaces of the body and includes the creation of these objects through computer-aided design or 3D printing. Recently, Penn State Altoona started a lab, the Center for Additive Manufacturing and Printing, or The CAMP, which has a collection of digital input and output technologies, including 3D printing and 3D scanning.
“I get really amped about introducing these technologies to just anyone who will listen,” she says. “I also love teaching a 100-level intro class with zero technology. Most of my students are from Central Pennsylvania, and their art viewing experience may be limited to the Altoona area. So you’re their museum, and you get to bring them everything! It’s so exciting to be their resource.”
She says she wants to have the lab play a role in her year as laureate. She also, as one of the responsibilities in her position as laureate, will visit all 20 commonwealth campuses and hold various forms of talks, presentations, and exhibits. She also plans to reach out to different demographics.
“I’m going to do a course for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute,” she says. “Much of the laureate role will consist of speaking engagements, but because I’m a maker, I look forward to facilitating other kinds of presentation forms. I’m really excited about outreach events. I love working with people who have little or no experience with 3D modeling on the computer. It is inspiring to see someone get excited about what I have to share. In a short amount of time, we can make something together and then I can 3D print it back at The CAMP at Penn State Altoona. It’ll be very cool for them to get their piece back in the mail. That’s what this is really about — demonstrating what we do and connecting new ideas.”
