In 1955 Virginia Myers first arrived in Iowa City with $150 in her pocket. When she stepped off the train, she had no place to live and no job. She hadn’t even been in touch with the University of Iowa about enrolling in classes, even though that was the reason she came to Iowa in the first place.
She held a Master’s of Fine Arts degree in painting but wanted to study printmaking with Professor Mauricio Lansansky. “When I first got here… I didn’t even know there was a river until we crossed it. I didn’t even know where the art building was."
Today, she’s known for her the foil imaging technique she invented and the Iowa Foil Printer, a machine she created with Dan Wenman of North Liberty, Iowa that made the foil technique easier.
Myers talks with Talk of Iowa host Charity Nebbe about her art and about this year’s 24th Annual Foil Imaging Workshop being held June 9-13 and 16-20 in Iowa City. Deanne Wortman, a printmaker and a student of Myers who now teaches printmaking at the University of Iowa also joins the conversation.
