When the Arts Council of Princeton opened our new Paul Robeson Center for the Arts in 2008, one of the very first people to volunteer at the front desk was neighbor and artist Trudy Glucksberg. Every Thursday, Trudy would walk up Wiggins Street from her home on Jefferson, brown lunch bag in hand for her shift of answering the very busy phone at the ACP. Trudy would settle in to take messages, transfer calls, greet guests, and read her New York Times if time allowed. 

For more than 12 years, Glucksberg was a consistent presence at the Arts Council. “Our staff was well informed not only about who was calling but also about world events as we would all be tempted to hang out for a few minutes with Trudy”, shares Maria Evans, ACP Artistic Director. “As she ate her sandwich, she would share travel articles or fashion advice from the paper or tell us about her latest trip to Chicago or Maine to visit her children. Trudy was also a regular in our Monday night life drawing group, making many friends who would join her for dinner and partake in her famous soups.”  

Trudy Glucksberg was an accomplished artist, working as a graphic designer for the Princeton Press for many years. She was an active member of a printmaking class organized and taught by artist Judith K. Brodsky in the 1970s that went on to become a group of women master printmakers known as the Queenston Press, including the likes of Maggie Johnson, Marie Sturken, Joan Needham, and many others. This notable group was spotlighted in 2014 when artists Ilene Dube and Kate Somers curated the Concentric Circles of Influence: Queenston Press exhibitions, a multi-venue show including the ACP’s Taplin Gallery, the Historical Society of Princeton, and Princeton Public Library. In later years, Glucksberg’s attic became her studio and housed her press where she would keep creating prints, paintings, and drawings for many more years. 

After her sudden and unexpected death in May 2021, Glucksberg’s family contacted the Arts Council to see about donating her press, along with a financial contribution that would allow the ACP to open a dedicated printmaking studio.   

What was once the photography darkroom and later a textile studio had, in recent years, become an underutilized space in the Arts Council’s multidiscipline Paul Robeson Center for the Arts and therefore, the perfect home for this new print studio. While Glucksberg’s original press was not well suited for teaching, the sentiment remains: the Arts Council will celebrate the launch of the Glucksberg Printing Project this September with a custom press built just for the space. Regular classes, workshops, exhibitions, and even artist residencies will usher in a new era of printmaking in honor of Trudy’s long-lasting impact.  

Evans remarks on how special this process has been for the Arts Council. “Setting up this studio has been a labor of love and we are so thankful to the Glucksberg family and friends of Trudy’s for their generous contributions and support. Not only do we now have a popular medium to further explore with our art-making community, but we get to think of Trudy often and her dedication to the Arts Council. We hope you can visit our new print studio in September and see our new press, lovingly nicknamed ‘Trudy’, which already feels like an old friend.” 

The public is invited to an Opening Celebration on Saturday, September 17 during the ACP’s Opening Reception for Women on the Wall from 3-5pm. The event is free and open to the public. Artist demonstrations on the new press will take place throughout the event. We look forward to seeing you there!