Jeff Sippel, a professor in UMSL’s Department of Art and Design, is a renowned printmaker who specializes in lithography. He was recently named a Featured Artist of the Missouri Arts Council for June 2025. (Photo by August Jennewein)
Jeff Sippel’s art has taken him around the world – he’s participated in exhibitions and shared safer techniques for lithographic printing in Serbia, Colombia, South Africa, Venezuela, Bulgaria, Argentina, Canada and Mexico, just to name a few. But his most recent recognition hits a little closer to home.
Sippel, a professor in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, was named a Featured Artist of the Missouri Arts Council for June 2025.
Founded in 2020, the Missouri Arts Council’s Featured Artists Program highlights makers across the state, including painters, pencil artists, sculptors, dancers, singers, instrumental musicians, poets, novelists, filmmakers, ceramicists, jewelry artists and glass artists. Each month, four artists are spotlighted – they’re promoted through the homepage of the Missouri Arts Council website, the Featured Artists page, a monthly email, social media and links to the artists’ websites, and they also receive a $500 stipend to feature their work online. Sippel was encouraged to apply for the program by Bob Madden, an UMSL alum now working as the Missouri Arts Council’s special initiatives coordinator.
“It’s a highlight for me to be recognized in my home state, along with other very accomplished artists in all areas,” Sippel said.
In addition to being a renowned printmaker in his own right, Sippel has devoted much of his career to revolutionizing safer practices for lithographic printing. Last week, he returned to Making Art Safely in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to share some alternatives to more traditional stone lithography.
Sippel was also invited by the LeRoy Neiman Foundation to participate in a major international exhibition from April 29 through Sept. 17 at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Santiago, Chile. During the exhibition’s opening weekend, he presented his research on mokulito, a Japanese printmaking method that uses a wooden plate, at Taller 99, the premier print studio in Chile. Sippel said lithography has evolved tremendously during his career as artists seek out safer, healthier practices, such as wearing gloves, ensuring proper ventilation and using acrylics and other water-based materials instead of oil-based materials.
