Although the inventor of the process is not known, Alps made collagraphy his primary art form and coined the word "collagraph" in 1956.
[citation needed] After graduation he worked as an art instructor in the Greeley County school system until 1942, when he took a job in the publishing department of Culver Aircraft Factory in Wichita.
A favorite abstract motif was the circle in a square which, according to arts reviewer John Voorhees, became a type of "trademark" for the artist that he often used in his work.
In 1947 the chairman of the department, Walter F. Jacobs, invited Alps to teach classes in watercolor and design as an acting associate of the school.
1919) and Spencer Moseley (1936–1998); modernist jewelry designer and craftsman, Ruth Pennington (1905–1998) [6] and sculptor George Tsutakawa (1910–1997).
Artists who predated Alps in the use of this concept include the Norwegian Rolf Nesch and the Americans Boris Margo (1902–1995), Edmond Casarella (1920–1996) and Roland Ginzel (b.
[16] Alps began working in the technique in the fall of 1956, when he was an associate professor in the School of Art at the University of Washington.
He was investigating art techniques that would stimulate creativity and, as he wrote, "...dramatically release the inner-most quality of being" of the artist.
[19] A respected professor of art, Alps personally taught collagraphy to hundreds of students during his tenure at the University of Washington.
Alps asserted that "...the first concern of the printmaker is the development of the plate, where the individuality of the artist has its chance to take form.
"[22] For the collagraph's substrate Alps recommended inexpensive, readily-available construction materials, at that time plywood, Upsom board and Masonite.
The collage materials were likewise cheap and easy to find, and included (but were not limited to) polymer glue, modeling paste, auto putty, plastic wood, ground walnut shells, wood shavings, brush bristles, string and assortments of paper, cardboard and cloth.
Therefore, Alps said, collagraphy was the ideal technique for contemporary graphics because it allowed the artist to work spontaneously and to fully realize visual ideas in a relatively short time.
Assisted by Littleton's printer at the time, David Wharton, Alps created a vitreograph titled "Pilchuck Summer.
Glen Alps married Ruby Surber, a fellow student at Colorado State College of Education, in 1939.