Valerie Dibble

Professor of Art | Printmaking
MFA, University of Florida
BFA, Arizona State University

Biographical Information
As a printmaker and photographer, Valerie Dibble has served the School of Art and Design since 1996. She has a background in printmaking, papermaking, and photography and was trained at Arizona State University and the University of Florida.

Under Valerie's supervision the printmaking area strives to stay current with the most contemporary non-toxic techniques. In the Fall of 2020, we moved into a new studio space that is approximately 7900 square feet and has dedicated spaces for etching, lithography, silkscreen, letterpress, bookarts and papermaking. We have a separate beater room to house our Hollander beater. With the addition of this new space, we are able to showcase our extensive collection of restored, historic presses and printmaking ephemera. Two of our most prominent presses are a Columbian Iron hand Press from 1888 and a Reliance Iron hand press from 1880 – both of which are fully restored. We also have two new Takach presses that are approximately 4x8'.
We continue to stay current with the most contemporary non-toxic techniques. We cover all traditional processes as well as new processes that incorporate the most recent technology. We have a Digital Darkroom equipped with Macintosh computers, photo quality scanners and large format archival printers. Our large letterpress area houses a large collection of wood type and antique line cuts. 
Our studio houses a darkroom and flip top exposing unit so we can incorporate photo processes for printmakers in the advanced courses. We engage in alternative processes and will experiment with any new process we hear about! We actively engage with the art community around us in Atlanta. Our studios are as environmentally friendly as we can possibly make them, and we continue to look for the highest industry standards for our students in that area. We are proud to offer a comprehensive Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in printmaking and prepare our students for their professional lives.

Educational Philosophy
I find the inspiration for my art in things close to home, or especially dear to me. Within each of our lives there are universal experiences, common yet set apart, ordinary while consummately extraordinary, mundane while sacred. These kinds of ordinary experiences that have such simplistic beauty make up the majority of my existence. The role of caregiver is central to my life and my art. This is the most important thing I do. My intent for my art is to visually examine my intellectual and emotional responses to the experience of being a homemaker, wife, mother and teacher-the server rather than the served. I also address formal issues that center around the play of light on forms. Through the manipulation of light I strive for an equilibrium between representation and abstraction. The relationship between light and shadow is the focus of this manipulation. The still life of ordinary household objects is often my choice for this expression. I choose to use still-life subjects with which I interact several times a day and therefore have the opportunity to observe throughout that daily cycle of light. Also by using everyday common objects as the subject of my work, I hope to bring awareness and honor to the role of caregiver. Caregiving is often unpaid labor that our society does not value. My work is an attempt to open the viewers' eyes to see the ordinary as extraordinary. My choice for medium is almost always something in the printmaking field, but I often incorporate other mediums as well such as the computer, photography or hand coloring.

Another very important area of my work has been with print organizations such as Southern Graphics Council international (SGCi), American Print Alliance, Atlanta Printmakers Studio and North American Hand Papermakers.  These relationships have great benefit to our students.