Edward Armen Stasack (1929-2023) was a printmaker, painter, sculptor, educator, and amateur archeologist. A Chicago native, Stasack earned his B.F.A. and M.F.A. at the University of Illinois at Urbana, focusing on painting and printmaking. He then went on to teach at the University of Hawaii at Honolulu's art department, where he eventually became chairman (1969-1973) and program chairman in printmaking (1973-1986). Stasack was an early experimenter with the collagraph and is often credited with the invention of the Masonite-intaglio process. His method of creating his collographs is described on pages 322 and 323 of Fritz Eichenberg's informative book on the history of printmaking, The Art of the Print. Stasack has also worked as a sculptor, including working with precast concrete murals and wood.
After a profound experience while hiking the King’s Highway on the Big Island of Hawaii in the late 1950s, Stasack fell in love with the Islands and began a life-long love affair with its Petroglyphs. Once retired from teaching, he dedicated his life to the preservation and recording of Hawaiian Petroglyphs. In partnership with his wife, Diane Stasack, they devoted their time and resources to producing many detailed archeological reports of petroglyph sites, ensuring that the enduring legacy of Hawaiian Rock Art will be preserved. Throughout his life, he saw himself as an explorer, seeker, and above all an adventurer.
He received the Tiffany Foundation Fellowship in 1958 and 1962; the Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in 1959; and the Hawaii State and U.S. Bicentennial Commissions Fellowship in 1975, as well as prizes from the California Society of Etchers, the Northwest Printmakers, and the Society of American Graphic Artists, among others.
Stasack has held numerous one-man exhibitions in the United States and abroad, including at the Honolulu Academy of Arts (1961, '69, '76, and 1987); Downtown Gallery, New York (1965); Cleveland Institute of Art (1976); exhibitions in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, and Bucharest (1976); Amfac Center, Honolulu (1979); among others. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; New York Public Library; the Brooklyn Museum; Library of Congress; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and several others.
