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Emily Orzech Associate Professor of Art, Printmaking 484-664-3964 |
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Education
- M.F.A., School of Art and Design, University of Michigan
- B.A., Smith College
Website: www.emilyorzech.com
Teaching Interests
I approach teaching art as a process of experimentation. Students begin my classes by learning a set of skills from the ground up. They are then encouraged to experiment to obtain unexpected results. In my printmaking courses students are introduced to a range of techniques including screenprint, etching, relief, book arts, and sometimes lithography. Printmaking is defined as any process in which one transfers an image from a matrix to another surface using pressure, the most familiar form being a rubber stamp.
One of the most rewarding aspects of teaching in the liberal arts is the creative energy that comes from classes that combine students from all different majors and backgrounds. In an Integrative Learning course that I teach with a historian, students have the opportunity to research a rare book in our library collection and then create a visual response, connecting the past with contemporary issues of race, gender, and class through printmaking.
As a graduate of a liberal arts program myself, I believe that the most meaningful art comes out of a strong intellectual foundation in multiple disciplines. In my teaching I encourage students to bring their interests into classroom to explore through visual art.
Research, Scholarship, and Creative Interests
How do people inhabit public spaces? Where do crowds form? How do people’s actions alter the meaning of that space? Much of my work focuses on urban spaces, such as in a series of cyanotypes (an early form of photography) that documents intersections in Philadelphia and Beijing.
My most recent work moves from the urban environment to interior spaces. Stemming from a personal experience, the work begins with a meditation on physical limitations and the shift between home and medical spaces. In this new work I combine drawing and screenprint on panel as a way to merge photographic documentation with subjective memory. I work with a wide range of media, often testing new non-toxic printmaking techniques and printmaking-digital hybrid processes to introduce to the classroom.
Courses Taught Include
- CUE Senior Studio Seminar: Portfolio Development
- Senior Studio Seminar: Thesis Exhibition
- Printmaking I
- Printmaking II
- Printmaking III
- Printmaking and the Book (Integrative Learning course)
- Digital Foundations
- Drawing I
- Drawing Studio
Recent Publications, Presentations & Abstracts
Solo Show, The Time Being, Oresman Gallery, Smith College, Northampton, MA; Solo Show Rush Hour, 2.04 Gallery, St Petersburg, Russia; works in the Okanagan Print Triennial, Kelowna Art Gallery, British Colombia, Canada; works in the Great Lakes Drawing Biennial, Eastern Michigan University School of Art and Design, Ypsilanti, MI
