Twenty Years of Marais Press: Imprinting a Campus and Collection
Marais Press
(Joel L. Fletcher Hall - UL Lafayette Department of Visual Arts)
Marais Press is an editioning press housed in the UL Lafayette Department of Visual Arts. The mission of Marais Press is to raise funds for student art scholarships through the sales of prints, to encourage the experimentation, and foster artist/student collaborations in the printmaking medium within an atmosphere that is free from the pressures of a commercial atelier and to affect students and the public through contact with professional artists and the eloquence of their art.
Each year 5 to 12 artists are invited to Marais Press for the production of print editions. During their time at Marais Press, the artists collaborate with the printmaking students in the Department of Visual Arts in the production of printed editions, typically 1 to 2 editions, as well as present printmaking demonstrations and/or lectures for the faculty and students in the department and University, as well as members of the general public.
Marais Press maintains a standard policy of collaboration. The printmaking shop is an extension of the artist’s studio. It is a hospitable place in which to work and a place that promotes artistic risk-taking and also embraces technology in order to take advantage of the full range of possibilities that the printmaking media provides, both traditionally and alternatively. Marais Press has collaborated with more then 200 artists, published 100 editions, and involved more then 100 students in printmaking projects.