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Linda Robinson Sokolowski student print collection

 Collection
Identifier: BUA-0028

Scope and Contents

The Linda Robinson Sokolowski student print collection contains student prints from Linda Robinson Sokolowski’s printmaking classes at Binghamton University. All of the prints are from Sokolowski's art classes, and some of these prints are included in her 2021 book, What’s The Problem? Enigmas for the Visual Arts Studio, and were included to show how her methods of artistic problem-solving can energize art students. While some prints from the book are included in this collection, not every single print from Sokolowski's book is included, and some prints in this collection do not appear in her book.

A description of the book from Sokolowski’s website: “There have been major publications for several decades questioning whether studio art and creative writing can be taught. Problem-based teaching, though proven to work in many other fields, seems to remain questioned by some in the visual fine arts. My experiences as a young undergrad at Rhode Island School of Design, and certainly as a professor of drawing and printmaking, have proven to me (and to those whom I mentored for thirty-five years of college teaching) that unique, open-ended assigned problems in series provide complicated, serious games which bright students of the visual arts crave. They begin to search for animated objects, mysterious enclosures and human interactions which they had never considered as subject matter. They also begin to accept the accumulated discoveries as a vital part of their being, and thus, seldom open a bare closet when searching for intriguing worthwhile subjects and spaces.”

The types of prints in this collection include etching, etching and aquatint, etching with soft ground texture, woodcut, collagraph, monotype, hard ground etching and engraving, double printed etching, drypoint, etching with scraping, etching with viscosity painting, sugar lift ground, spirit ground aquatint, etching with scraping and burnishing, double printed hard ground etching, and reductive woodcut.

The prints themselves appear in a variety of sizes, ranging from 5 ¾” x 5” to 28 ¾” x 29 ¼”.

Dates

  • Creation: 1970 - 2008

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection has been reviewed for restrictions and is open for research.

Biographical Note

Linda Robinson Sokolowski is a painter and printmaker, Professor Emerita of art, and was the head of printmaking at Binghamton University.

She received her BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1965, going on to receive a master’s degree in printmaking from the University of Iowa. Sokolowski was invited to teach summer drawing classes at the University of Iowa in 1971 after years as James Lechay’s assistant. She received a full-time Department of Art faculty position within Harpur College at Binghamton University. Sokolowski later became the head of printmaking at Binghamton University.

Sokolowski released her self-published book, What’s the Problem? Enigmas for the Visual Arts Studio, in 2021. Her book features various student prints from her time as a professor of Art at Binghamton University.

Sokolowski now lives in Bethel, New York, and continues to spend time painting and printmaking.

Extent

1 Linear Feet (2 boxes and 1 map case drawer)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The Linda Robinson Sokolowski student print collection contains student prints from Linda Robinson Sokolowski’s printmaking classes at Binghamton University. A majority of these prints are included in her 2021 book, What’s The Problem? Enigmas for the Visual Arts Studio, and were included to show how her methods of artistic problem-solving can energize art students.

Arrangement

Prints are arranged in alphabetical order by the artist’s last name.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The collection was gifted by Linda Robinson Sokolowski in 2021.

Processing Information

This collection was processed in 2023 by Emma Connolly (Student Assistant). To preserve the prints, Connolly removed them from their original box and placed each print in an archival viewing folder or mylar sleeve. Prints were then placed in an archival box or map case and reorganized in alphabetical order by the student artist’s last name.

Title
Guide to the Linda Robinson Sokolowski student print collection
Status
Completed
Author
Emma Connolly (Student Assistant)
Date
2023
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Binghamton NY 13902 USA