By Grace Monteith, Graduate Class of 2027

By the time Edward Marecak became a DU alumnus – receiving his teaching certificate
from the university in 1955 – he had already established a prominent artistic career and
educational history. Born to immigrant parents from Slovakia, Marecak grew up near
Cleveland, Ohio, before spending much of his adult life and creative career in Colorado.
Marecak studied on a full scholarship at the Cleveland Institute of Art until he was drafted
into the military. Following his discharge, Marecak continued his training at the Colorado
Springs Fine Arts Center, before returning to the Cleveland Institute of Art to complete his
Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree. With the help of Vance Kirkland, who was then head of DU’s
art department, Marecak got a teaching position with Denver Public Schools, where he
taught art for twenty-five years.

Marecak’s body of work is incredibly diverse, ranging from Singer Sargent-esque
watercolors to ceramics, but he is especially well known for his dramatic use of color and
meticulous attention to detail. Even though Marecak chose to stay in the Centennial State, unlike many other Colorado artists, Marecak didn’t draw upon Colorado subject matter for
his work, instead returning to Midwestern imagery and Slovakian folklore, with a splash of
Greek mythology thrown in.

Drawing on this, Marecak’s lithograph, Thanksgiving Turkey, which is one in a set of eight lithographs, shows a man and woman dressed in Grecian-style clothing with a turkey between them