Arts @ Wells College

Wells College and the Wells Book Arts Center are happy to announce that Jenna Rodriguez has been named the eighth Victor Hammer Fellow in the Book Arts. Ms. Rodriguez received the MFA in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts from Columbia College in Chicago in 2013. While at Columbia, she taught letterpress printing, was an installation assistant and held a Print Production Fellowship in offset printing. Since then she has been a Teaching Artist at Chicago’s Spudnick Press teaching letterpress, relief printing, and polymer plate making; has been a graphic designer and print production output technician at Fisher Printing in Bridgeview, Il.; and has been a private art instructor at the Academy for Urban School Leadership, teaching graphic arts, design and bookmaking to children grades 6, 7 and 8. In the summer of 2012, Ms. Rodriguez was an intern at the Wells Book Arts Summer Institute.

The Victor Hammer Fellowship was established in 1998 and honors Victor Hammer, who taught at Wells in the 1940’s. An internationally known and respected printer, book designer, artist and typographer, Hammer is perhaps best known for designing the medieval-looking typeface American Uncial. The two-year Hammer Fellowship brings emerging book artists to Wells to teach, help in the various printing projects of the Book Arts Center, and develop their art.

We are happy to welcome Ms. Rodriguez to Wells, where she will teach Hand Bookbinding, Art on the Press and perhaps an introductory Graphic Arts course.