For this art professor, 3D printing is opening new doors

Featured on college.usatoday.com

A recent Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce study showed that while employment prospects have gotten slightly better for Arts majors, finding work can still be a challenge. A technology that has been on the rise over the last five years is offering students and professors in the arts renewed hope: 3D printing.

The practice, which has been around in one form or another for many years, has been increasingly present in consumer markets.

Darlene Farris-LaBar, associate professor of Art and design at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, is shipping her artwork around the world in the next few months, thanks to a little bit of courage and a broader acceptance of the expanding world of 3D printing.

Last month, Farris-LaBar ignored her nerves, shut her eyes and clicked submit — sending her work to 3D PRINTSHOW, a company that showcases 3D printed artwork around the world.

“It’s an incredible feeling to be offered this opportunity,” she said. “I am still in shock and pinching myself to make sure it’s really happening.”

Farris-LaBar took full advantage of the printing labs East Stroudsburg to share her passion for the environment.

“I have always had a fascination for the vulnerable, beautiful little species that are throughout our land,” she said. “3D printing has allowed me to capture that and give people a documentation of plants and flowers that may one day not be around.”

How does 3D printing work?

The most popular form of 3D printing is the additive manufacturing process where a material, such as plastic, is fed through the machine and comes out through a nozzle that heats the plastic turning it into liquid, and then it is deposited onto a platform, building up layer by layer to create a wall into a form, according to Farris-LaBar.

She believes this new technology will open doors for creative people around the world just like it did for her.

And though she’s reaching new heights in her career, Farris-LaBar continues to push her students at ESU to succeed.

“I tell my students every day not to give up,” she said. “I think endurance is success when it comes to being a great artist and having a great career.”

Click here to watch the video interview.