Suzy Chen ’14: Episcopal is a school flourishing with artistic and literary talent; Epolitan, the school’s literary magazine, serves to encourage these gifted artists to exhibit both their creative writing and visual artwork.
Each year, Epolitan compiles student work, ranging from 2-D and 3-D visual art to photography to poetry and short stories.
Timothy Pope ’13, one of the magazine’s editors stated, “We feel that arts at EA are not represented too well. Epolitan showcases the art of those at EA to those students who don’t normally have a chance to see what’s going on inside the arts studios.”
Epolitan plays an important role in the community not only by displaying works, but also by compiling the work of students in one publication.
Paige Dunlap ’14, a member of Epolitan, commented, “I joined Epolitan because I liked the idea of being able to display my work in something I could keep.”
Caroline Purtill ’14, an Epolitan contributor, echoed Dunlap’s sentiment, commenting “I feel proud that my artwork gets to be published.”
Another Epolitan member, Clellie Merchant ’14, emphasized that Epolitan helps to strengthen the spirits of EA artists. She noted, “Students’ work is archived and lauded, giving aspiring artists in the EA community a level of accomplishment to aspire to.”
Epolitan not only publishes students’ work, but also provides artists with inspiration. According to Pope, the club meets every Thursday at lunch to do “fun art exercises,” which inspire students.
Pope added, “We try to motivate students to think creatively. For example, last year, Mr. Sigel let the students do something with mirror. You could draw, write, or use your own way of expression to conduct the idea. We can learn and gain experience from activities such as these.”
When it comes time to lay out the magazine, Epolitan doesn’t accept just any piece of writing or artwork. Pope noted, “As an editor, I can easily recognize if they put in effort or not. You can’t just submit your homework from creative writing class; it has to go above and beyond.” Each piece of work in the magazine should reflect the inspiration, spirit, and diligence of its artist.
In past years, Epolitan gathered submissions from students and faculty, compiling the best works in the annual issue released in the spring. However, this year Epolitan’s Editors-in-Chief, Julia Lake ’13 and Julia Fay ’13, have proposed printing one smaller issue in the winter in addition to the traditional end-of-year issue.
David Sigel, Chair of Visual Arts and Epolitan’s faculty advisor, believed that the addition of this issue would help “celebrate the winter term’s creations as well as the spring’s.”
He added, “Having two issues will allow us to display the work from the winter gallery that normally could not be included in the single annual issue of Epolitan.”
Pope agreed with Sigel, explaining, “We receive so much artwork at the end of the year, and I believe that two issues would fit more of them in. We simply want to show off the EA arts more.”
However, as an editor, Pope also acknowledged the challenges that printing one more issue would entail.
“Editing requires a lot of work,” he elaborated. “We need to set up the plan, start early and collect enough pieces.”
Dunlap predicted that more pieces would be submitted if a second issue was added. She stated, “Deadlines always seem to get people to submit more work, so maybe if we have two, we will get even more submissions.”
Epolitan not only collects and publishes a sample of the best literary and art work of students, but it also celebrates the great artistic talents at Episcoal. The magazine hopes to continue to foster the development of arts and literature, particularly by the proposed addition of a winter edition.
However, the success of Epolitan can only be successful if student writers and artists contribute their work.
Merchant encouraged “everyone who has a piece of literature or artwork or even a promising idea, to submit their work to Epolitan.”

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