Mission

Student-Centered Program + Community Outreach

At the heart of the EPI program lies student participation and learning. We provide assistantships and EXCEL scholar positions to Lafayette students and internships to all students of the Lehigh Valley. These positions provide professional experience in producing artist’s work, archiving and sales. This is valuable experience for students looking for employment in the art world post-graduation. Throughout the academic year all Lafayette students are welcome to visit the printshop, watch projects unfold and meet the artists.

Working within a small community, outreach is important to EPI. Workshops are offered for students, artists, school groups, and the local community of Easton, Pa. We participate in fundraising projects for local schools, work with organizations that support people with disabilities and collaborate with not-for-profits locally and nationally. These are all valuable experiences that we share with the students of Lafayette.  (Please look under Institutional Partnerships for more about these organizations)

For more information please contact – barbeitp@lafayette.edu

History

EPI was created by Curlee Holton in the summer of 1996 with the visit of noted New York artist Juan Sanchez, our first visiting artist. This weekend artist residency was made possible with the support of longtime arts patrons of Lafayette College.

A member of the Lafayette College Board of Trustees took a special interest in printmaking and student-based collaborations with artists and the local community. EPI’s visiting artist and artist-in-residence programs have since introduced students to artists from diverse cultural and social backgrounds, providing them with talented, well-educated, and ambitious role models.

Over the past 20 years, EPI has produced over 100 editions by over 80 different artists. Many of these artists are some of America’s most acclaimed such as Faith Ringgold, Richard Anuszkiewicz, David Driskell, Grace Hartigan, and Sam Gilliam. We have established a unique printmaking laboratory that enables students to work hand in hand with professional artists (with the support of patrons and Lafayette College). The results of these collaborations have been included in museum collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as within the permanent collections of various colleges and universities.

In the Fall of 2017, with the retirement of Curlee Holton, Pedro Barbeito became director of EPI.