Rudolph “Rudy” Pozzatti (1925-2021) was born and raised in Telluride, Colorado. He earned a scholarship to attend the University of Colorado-Boulder to study studio art; however, he was inducted into the Army and forced to halt his studies. Pozzatti was discharged in 1946 and resumed university coursework, earning his BFA in 1948 and MFA in 1950. Upon graduating from his MFA program, Pozzatti was hired as an art instructor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Just six years later, he was hired as a drawing and graphic arts professor at Indiana University-Bloomington, where he went on to make his largest impact in the world of the visual arts and education.
Pozzatti is credited with creating one of the nation’s leading printmaking departments at IU and cofounded an independent fine art print workshop, Echo Press, with fellow printmaker David Keister (a printmaking MFA that studied under Pozzatti). Echo Press operated for 16 years and produced 191 editions, 400 monotypes, and work by 47 artists.
Rudy Pozzatti taught at Yale, Ohio State, and in Florence, Italy, and his work has been displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago and the New York’s Museum of Modern Art. He also received numerous awards and grants including a Fulbright grant (1952), a Ford Foundation grant (1963), a Guggenheim Foundation grant (1963), and was elected in 1981 as a member of the National Academy of Design.
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