Helping students find an artistic path
By Laura Pohl, Contributing Writer
Communicating the importance of art in the world today—that’s one of the key tenets of the teaching of Gretchen Jankowski, Associate Professor in the Division of Arts and Letters at Governors State University (GovState).
“Art affects our daily lives,” Jankowski said. “Humans have gravitated to and surrounded themselves with personal adornment and design for thousands of years, whether it be about surrounding yourself with nostalgia and memorabilia, or about setting a mood or statement that you live by.”
Jankowski’s expertise lies in printmaking, a passion she discovered as an undergraduate at Columbia College Chicago. “I fell in love with the precision of the process and the potential in using a repeatable matrix in my practice of art making,” she said. “Printmaking is one of the most ancient forms of making art. In early western culture, printmaking originally came about as a means of communication.”
In her teaching, she enjoys guiding students in bringing their ideas to fruition. She incorporates her own expertise as a professional artist and researches the interaction of printmaking with other fine art media. She has exhibited her work throughout the Chicago area and Illinois, as well as Miami and Ontario.
Jankowski earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from Columbia College Chicago in Studio Arts and her Master in Fine Arts (MFA) in Printmaking from California State University, Long Beach. She was granted tenure after 12 years of teaching at GovState, including three years of teaching, research and publishing as a Unit A faculty member at GovState.
GovState Newsroom: What motivated you to pursue your field of study?
Jankowski: After I took my first printmaking class at Columbia College Chicago, I started working as a lab assistant in the experimental photography and printmaking labs at Columbia. I was able to hone my skills and figure out the complexities of each of the four processes of printmaking. This allowed me to experiment with how these processes interacted with other media and the potential of this interaction within the mixed media realm of fine art.
GovState Newsroom: What are some of the topics of study you have presented in the classroom?
Jankowski: In my beginning level classes, students are usually busy learning the fundamentals and rules/processes of printmaking, whether that be carving a relief block, making stencils for screen printing, or etching an intaglio plate. They have distinctly different processes to follow in order to make a successful print. When students have grasped the basics, that’s when it’s time to experiment. This is usually when I begin introducing my own research into the mix...showing how they can combine processes together to create a unique edition of images and combine printing processes with sculpture, ceramics, and painting.
GovState Newsroom: How is your teaching and research relevant to what’s happening in the world today?
Jankowski: In the fine art realm, there are many paths that an artist can take. You can find yourself making pots or posters to sell that create a following of collectors. You could find yourself making large scale public sculptures, like the ones in the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park or maybe you make paintings that hang in a museum or gallery. The path that an artist takes might dictate a little more to the relevance of their work today.
GovState Newsroom: What motivates you as a faculty member?
Jankowski: I find much joy in helping students make their ideas come to fruition.
GovState Newsroom: What is your favorite book? Streaming show on television?
Jankowski: Favorite book would be “The Ice Storm.” For streaming show, “The Bear.”
GovState Newsroom: What do you love most about GovState?
Jankowski: My fellow colleagues and my students! One of the hardest and yet most exciting things about teaching is watching my students evolve into thoughtful, motivated art makers throughout their time here, and then seeing them take flight and share their skill with the world.