Glen Alps (1914-1996) was an artist and art professor. He was born in Colorado and moved to Seattle to attend graduate school at the University of Washington (UW), graduating in 1947. He began teaching at UW while a student, became a full professor in 1962, and stayed at UW until his retirement in 1984. Alps’ primary artistic medium was printmaking, and he is best known for introducing the process of collagraphy, which involves gluing materials (such as sandpaper, fabric, leaves, string, etc.) to a rigid substrate and inking this plate to produce a print. Because the printing surface is very textured, the process can result in vivid colors and unique patterns.

Edwin Essex (1924-2013) was an artist specializing in printmaking, and an art educator. After serving in World War II, he attended the University of Iowa and moved to Seattle in 1953. Essex taught art education at Washington Junior High School and continued to teach at Seattle Public Schools until 1981. Essex’s preferred medium was linoleum block printing.

This image shows Glen Alps (left) working on a half-scale model of a fountain for Seattle City Hall, with assistance from Edwin Essex. Alps and Essex met and became friends during Essex’s time at the University of Iowa, when Alps traveled to Iowa to study with one of the printmaking professors there. Alps' fountain was installed on the 5th Avenue Plaze of the new City Hall building in October 1962.

Caption information source: "Glen Earl Alps, biography," the Annex Galleries, retrieved from https://www.annexgalleries.com/artists/biography/37/Alps/Glen
Caption information source: "Ed Essex: a Sixty Year Print Retrospective", by Meredith Essex, Gallery SX, retrieved from https://gallerysx.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/essexcatweb2.pdf
Caption information source: "Alps' work grows from perception," by Thelma Lehmann, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, September 10, 1961, Pictorial Review section page 8.