Artwork copyright Glen Alps. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Mandalla, 1980

Glen Alps
American (born 1914, died 1996)

Location: Washington State Arts Commission, Olympia

About the Artwork

Artist Glen Alps created the abstract print Mandalla through a collagraphic printmaking process that he helped develop. The title refers to a spiritual symbol common in Hinduism and Buddhism, which uses circles and geometric patterns to represent the universe. In collagraphic printmaking, various materials and elements are collaged onto a printing plate. This process creates a variety of textures and forms in the print.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Washington State Arts Commission.

About the Artist

Artist and professor Glen Alps (1914-1996) was mainly a printmaker and sculptor. He is credited with developing the collagraph method of printmaking and coining the word "collagraph" in 1956. It was his main art form. He spread and taught the techniques he developed for making collagraphs during his long career as both an artist and a teacher.
Alps received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colorado State College of Education and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1947. He began teaching at the University of Washington while a graduate student and continued teaching until his retirement in 1984. He was honored with a Washington State Governor's Arts and Heritage Award in 1972.