Prints

Visual Arts faculty member Kris Philipps has a history of showing her students the link between art and activism. In fall 2005 she and two students traveled to Nicaragua on a trip sponsored by the Office of Community Partnerships, where they taught bookbinding to a women's papermaking co-op in a rural farming community (“The Art of Paper,” Spring 2006). The craftswomen now use these skills to sell books of their work in the capital city of Managua.

In the spring, members of Philipps' printmaking and artist-books classes sold a semester's worth of their silkscreen prints, T-shirts, and one-of-a-kind books to help bring the art of printmaking to Honduras. The proceeds of the one-day art sale were enough to buy and ship a press to Honduran artist, teacher, and activist Xenia Mejia and her students.

“This printmaking press will have a productive and artistic effect on the community and this is only because of your help—all of you,” Mejia wrote in a thank-you letter translated by Philipps. “We will now have workshops for students with very low incomes. These students will be able to express themselves in a way they have not been able to do before.

“I want you to know that you are also contributing to the development of art in Honduras and Central America,” Mejia added. “You and I together will make history in Honduras. I will be the first woman artist in our country to make prints in an independent way.”

—Joseph Caputo '07

Housewarming

Sarah Lawrence celebrated the opening of a new building this spring. Known by its address, 45 Wrexham, the building is located behind Kober House at the corner of Wilgarth Road.

The large manor house, formerly a diplomatic residence for the Rwandan government, is now home to the Center for Continuing Education, the Joan H. Marks Graduate Program in Human Genetics, the Health Advocacy Program, the Office of Special Programs, and the Writing Institute.

In addition to modern classrooms and offices, 45 Wrexham houses the Viking teaching kitchen, sponsored by the cookware company. The well-appointed kitchen is used to host non-credit cooking and baking classes for adults.

—JC