Remembering Valerie Wheeler

Valerie Wheeler

Professor Mark Emerson telling the tale of his friendship with
Wheeler and the many different stories she would share

Majority of the printmaking fam

Live music in the gallery, jazz tribute from Wheeler's son

I left for two seconds and come back to this...
freaking torching the print bed...

A dear printmaker, teacher, and friend, the wonderful Valerie Wheeler was well remembered for her outstanding knowledge and love of learning. She was a phenomenal teacher and would always help me and many students understand the etching process and the wonders of intaglio printing. She passed away on January 16, 2017. The show in the Else Gallery from February 27-March 3 showed her exemplary work in photogravure which is a photo-mechanical process where a copper plate is coated with a light sensitive gel and exposed to a film positive and then etched. Photogravure became a dying art with the introduction of digital printing. Wheeler would spend hours in the dark room exposing images onto plates. She would come in early some mornings and pull a few prints, explaining to us about what went wrong with the prints she was unhappy with. Wheeler's images were very architectural, high contrast images of buildings, landscapes, people, and flowers. Her influence on the printmaking lab in Kadema hall will resonate with all of us students who had the honor to work with her and her presence remains there forever.

Beginning/Advanced Printmaking's Annual Field Trip to
Crown Point Press 2016