Valley printmaker honored in naming of ASU Art Museum’s Print Study Room

TEMPE, Ariz. - The Herberger College of Fine Arts and its ASU Art Museum will honor Valley resident Jules Heller in October, when the museum's Print Study Room is named after the former dean, author and printmaker.

Heller was dean of the College of Fine Arts at ASU from 1976 to 1985, and a professor in the school of art from 1976 to 1990. He is also a well-known and respected printmaker in his own right and has written seminal books on printmaking that are used in art schools across the United States.

Dean of the Herberger College J. Robert Wills said he believes it is important to honor Heller for his impact in the printmaking and teaching fields, and on ASU's College of Fine Arts.

"During his tenure as dean of the college, Heller built the School of Art's printmaking program to national status. He also helped accumulate the excellent print collection that is housed in the ASU Art Museum's state-of-the-art Print Study Room. Now that room will bear his name," Wills said.

Heller's expansive career began with art studies at Arizona State University during the depression. At ASU he received his B.A. in 1939. In 1940 he received an M.A. from Columbia University, New York City. In 1948, he received a doctorate from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, where he was a professor from 1946-61.

From 1961-68, Heller was director of the school of art, Pennsylvania State University; and from 1968-76, founding dean of the faculty of fine arts, York University, Toronto.

In 1995, Heller received the Distinguished Teaching of Art Award from the national College Art Association and several years later he was awarded the Southern Graphics Council Printmaker Emeritus Award in acknowledgment of his "outstanding accomplishment and contributions to the art of printmaking."

Director of the ASU Art Museum Marilyn Zeitlin said that she and museum staff were delighted to have the Print Study Room bear Heller's name.

"It is such an honor for us at the museum to carry Jules Heller's name in conjunction with our print collection and Print Study Room," Zeitlin said. "His contributions as an artist, scholar and writer reflect a life committed to quality."

Print curator at the ASU Art Museum, Jean Makin, said that Heller's early book on printmaking was considered "the handbook" on the subject when she was studying for her B.F.A. in printmaking.

"Jules' importance to printmaking and teaching is not just local but national - and possibly even international - in scope," Makin said.

Heller will be honored at a private event to name the Print Study Room on Oct. 8. For more information, contact Jennifer Pringle at (480) 965-2787.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Pringle
480-965-8795
jennifer.pringle@asu.edu