Bee Grissinger may have graduated less than a month ago from Pennsylvania College of Art & Design with their BFA degree in Fine Art — but it’s been quite a few weeks.

Grissinger is spending the summer working with Second State Press, a Philadelphia-based communal printmaking studio, in exchange for unlimited access to the studio and its resources. 

Then, when August comes, it’s on to the next adventure:

Grissinger recently was selected for Millersville University’s Emerging Artist Residency, and will take over that position in August. They’re the second PCA&D Fine Art graduate to step into the role, following 2022 Fine Art alumna Aubrey Maurer. In the residency, Grissinger will be working with Prof. Brant Schuller in the printmaking department, and have the opportunity to interact with the students there in addition to time and space to pursue personal work. 

 

“I definitely want to continue working with fabrics similar to the way I was during senior year,” Grissinger said, “but I will also like to experiment with some other forms of printing and see how they translate to sculpture as well.”

Grissinger said they heard about the residency through Prof. Becky Blosser, Chair of the Fine Art Department, as well as through Henry Gepfer, a PCA&D adjunct professor whose work focuses heavily on printmaking. “I was interested in getting to know other artists who share a similar interest in printmaking as well as (the opportunity to) have a dedicated time and space to continue to work on my own projects,” they said.

And Grissinger said their time at PCA&D helped prepare them for this residency in several ways. 

Especially during senior year, “my time at PCA&D … prepared me by allowing me to have a dedicated work space such as the senior studios, as well as I learned to work under time requirements to have new work completed for the critiques. It forced me to work on my own projects every day and come up with new ideas quicker than I had been before in my other classes.”

In addition, they said, Prof. Blosser “was incredibly helpful in this aspect of mentoring and pushing the seniors to work to their fullest potential.

“I was also able to focus on preparing for what comes after graduation, such as applying to shows and residencies, finding spaces to be able to work on creating and still having a community of artists to engage with.”

And the Emerging Artist Residency, Grissinger said, is a great opportunity to bridge that experience of graduating from art and design school and launching into the next phase. 

“I am looking forward to having the opportunity to work on my personal projects in a less time-restricted environment and still have that school-like experience of having a shop and mentors to work with,” they said.