Tsunami Disaster Relief Print

Printsy member Hannah Skoonberg (Skoonberg on Etsy) has created this gorgeous, powerful, effective image to raise money towards the tsunami disaster relief in Japan. Hannah is donating $5 to the Red Cross from each bookmark sold. Please support Hannah's efforts by spreading the word, and maybe by purchasing one of these lovely little prints.

Printsy Interview - Diana Moll

Blog: theqipapapers.blogspot.com
Etsy: www.qipapers.etsy.com

Brief Bio
I've been interested in art since I was small. this alarmed my parents, who really didn't know what to make of it since they were science oriented and so were my brothers. I looked at school as an opportunity to draw, not necessarily a place to learn math. A few times I got in trouble for drawing.


When I first went to college I thought I would be a pre-vet major since I spent much of my life with animals, but in less than a year I dropped out and went backpacking in Europe with a friend for 6 months. On my return I tried to get into the Art Department, you had to petition, and I didn't get in. Now I can see why, but then I was devastated.

I started doing an Independent Major in Illustration and took full year of letterpress printing and started getting hooked on printing. A Life Drawing class got me drawing a bit better and my petition for the Art Major was accepted. I spent lots of time in the Lithography studio inhaling fumes and making prints of toads and lizards. After graduation I did some graphic design and illustration along with various odd jobs. I bottled wine, was an assistant to a composer, DJ'd in a club, worked for years in record stores (when there were records LOL), that sort of thing. I wish Etsy had been around!


Graphics started getting more and computer oriented and I didn't like working on the computer so I went back to school and drew my way through a Masters of Traditional Chinese Medicine degree from Five Branches Institute. Along the way I got married and had a son, got divorced, got involved in Marital Arts (Tai Chi and Ba Gua). A few years ago the alternative medicine business started to get thin so I started teaching art at my son's school. I got hired at the now defunct Santa Cruz Waldorf High School and I started doing more art work because teaching can be very stimulating that way. So here I am, my son is off to college, I have two rabbits, an insomniac boyfriend, and lots of prints that want to be created........


How did you get started in printmaking?
I semi-concentrated in printmaking in college, mostly lithography and letter press. I loved it, but got really burnt out with the chemicals and it just wasn't the sort of thing you could do without a proper studio. That was decades ago. Last year the High School I worked for asked me if I'd teach a relief printing class this year. I hadn't printed in such a long time, then I saw Moku Hanga taught by April Vollmer being offered as a weekend course at the Community College and figured it would be interesting and good way to get back into it. I really liked her work, so I signed up. I fell in love with the Moku Hanga, no really, it was the same feeling.

Describe where you work.
I have a desk in the corner of the bedroom, there's no window, but I have a full spectrum light. Moku Hanga is very adaptable to small spaces!


What's your favourite printmaking process?
I like them all equally for different reasons. By the time I'm satiated with one it's time for the next and it feels like a fresh start. The variety of activities offered by Moku Hanga quite agrees with my need for change.

What's your creative process for any given print? (eg. sketch first? Pre-planned or free-form?)
The initial stimulus can be different. Like for 2 From Nottingham that was a commission and I did a sketch or two then looked at a lot of pictures of my subjects and revised my drawing a few times. For Toad's Eye View I wanted to do a print that used gold leaf and my new tool designed to make circles. In general things start as little sketches, then I'll see different aspects or things I want to try during the day while I'll doing other things.


What do you enjoy most about printmaking?
Seeing lots of fresh prints lined up is so exhilarating. Also printing the block that starts to pull everything together. It can be surprising which one this is, it's not always the key line, sometimes it's a color.

What's your least favorite part of the process?
Clean-up, I work in a small space and every time I start the next step I have to clean and straighten everything, just to have enough room to work.


How has your work changed and evolved since you started?
I've gotten more complex, trying to get some different sorts of textures. Of course I've actually only been doing this sort of printing for less than a year.....

How do you get past creative slumps?
Work in the garden, play with the rabbits. Get some rest, have acupuncture, get the energy back up and harmonized. It's all about Qi and balance.


How do you promote your work?
My Blog, donations, local crafts fair (well one so far and that was a disaster LOL).

Any other comments or advice for others who want to try making hand-pulled prints?
Go make some prints, spread some art. In this age of the digital it is so important to have some things made with hands.

Printsy Interview - Alfred Stark

Name: Alfred Stark, dakokichidekalb (Japanese for "kite crazy")
Etsy: dakokichidekalb.etsy.com
Flickr: flickr.com/photos/dakokichidekalb

Bio:

I discovered printmaking when I discovered Japanese kites. About five years ago, I finally decided to finish that unrequited fourth grade box kite assignment. Not really knowing how to make a box kite anymore than I did some twenty four years ago, I decided to take a trip to the local library. There I discovered a very influential book titled The Art of the Japanese Kite, by Tal Streeter. In this book I saw the most beautiful, delicate and improbable looking paper kites ranging in size from a small postcard to being several stories high. I was intrigued by their varying size, form and imagery. The images were so graphic and bold. Anyhow, to make a long story much shorter I made a box kite, it flew, and I quickly began trying to figure out how to make and fly Japanese style kites. It wasn't long before I discovered that many of them were block printed. This led me to look up books on Japanese block printing. I found one titled Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints, by Helen Merritt. This book really opened up my eyes and I immediately fell in love with moku hanga. As an added bonus, Helen Merritt turned out to be a regular customer at the local hardware store where i work. Anyhow, I quickly began to buy books on Japanese kites and prints and to experiment making both.

Whats our favorite printmaking process?

I quickly discovered a book on Moku Hanga by Keiko Hiratsuka Moore. This book really laid our the process very well for me and helped my get started. I also take the time to pump Helen Merritt for information at the hardware store whenever I can. Through Mrs. Moore's book and Helen Merritt I was introduced to the work of Unichi Hiratsuka. He was a modern Japanese block print artist who pioneered the whole do it yourself moku hanga techinique throughout most of the twentieth century. His black and white imagery cuts to the core of his subject and is just about the coolest stuff I've ever seen. Anyhow, the strong, yet free flowing black and white style of Unichi really inspires me. Despite what I've heard, I think it's really hard to do black and white prints well. Its hard to simplify and maintain the essence of the subject while making the white of the paper come alive with the black. Right now printing in black and white is what I'm most interested in trying to figure out.

Process-wise I try to keep things simple. For a typical print I either draw from life or use a photo image I have taken myself. This image gets transferred to thin tengucho paper which is then glued down to a maple or cherry block. This image is carved out and printed by hand using a brush or brayer, a baren, water or oil based ink and Japanese paper.


What is your work about?

I try do do prints only from nature. I love to go out and find little images of the natural world which seem to resonate with my somehow. I try not to think about it too much. If I see a particular flower, weed or bird I like I'll do a print of it. Maybe after I do a whole bunch they will start to come together as some sort of narrative, but for now I'm happy just to explore how images from the immediate natural world might translate into black and white prints.

As far as the whole art thing goes, I guess I'm more interested in the process of making nature prints than in wondering if they are art or not. I've heard my kites derided as "craft". I don't care that much, my favorite art magazine is American Craft so I guess it makes sense.

What do you enjoy the most about printmaking?

The thing I like most about printmaking is being able to work and re-work an image many times at the same time or several months apart. It's so cool to be able to use an image which I have carved again and again in several different ways. I can sell a print but I never have to part with the basic piece. I like the idea of being an old man with a lifetime of woodblocks on a shelf somewhere.

What do you like least about printmaking?

I love to share my prints with others. The idea that I can make an image and have several of them all over the country is amazing. I tend not to number my prints as editions. I know this goes against the status quo of the print community, but I feel that if a thousand people want one of my prints then they should get one. If only ten want one then that's fine too. I'm not likely to flood the market with my current income anyhow. I make a few prints, and if I sell them all and I still like the image, I'll make a few more. The idea of a limited edition is a nice one, and seems appropriate for many situations, but for me it just seems silly. It's important to me that I be able to do what I want, as much as I want with any of my prints. I don't want anything "exclusive" about my work. The idea that I'm supposed to limit what I do is somebody else's rule from a completely different world than mine. The fact is I'm really limited as far as the number of prints I can make anyhow because I'm basically poor.

How do you get past creative slumps?

When I can't think of what to do next, I stop trying and go for walks. Having a digital camera helps. I just go out and start taking pictures of whatever. Flickr is a great website for handling creative slumps.

How do you promote your work?

Etsy is my primary means of promoting my work. I feel so lucky to have found a place to put my work where so many people from so many different backgrounds will see my work. I honestly feel like I wouldn't be doing block prints any longer if I hadn't discovered Etsy and Flickr. I mean, having the chance to share work with others is a huge incentive. I don't rely on the feedback so much, it's just nice to know someone saw something. If they like it that's cool, if they think it sucks that's fine too.

I have to say the best thing so far about Etsy is finding other artists out there who do block prints. There are some very, very good printmakers on Etsy who blow me away with their work. I've noticed that some of my favorites are right here on Printsy! Thanks to Etsy, my wife and I have a house full of original art work that we'd never have been able to afford otherwise.

Inspirations:
John Porcellino, king-cat.net
The poetry of Mary Olliver
Unichi Hiratsuka, modern master
Tal Streeter, The Art of the Japanese Kite
Onchi Koshiro
Thich Nhat Hahn
Henry David Thoreau
John James Audubon
Thanks, Al, for the great interview, and for introducing us to the art and craft of the Japanese kite!

Printsy Interview - Celia Hart

Interviewed by mariannjohansenellis

Web site: www.celiahart.co.uk
Blog: purplepoddedpeas.blogspot.com
Etsy shop: www.magiccochin.etsy.com
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/magiccochin

I had a look at Celia’s work on the internet, part on her etsy shop, and also on her web site, from which you can access her great blog with all kinds of wonderful links. I was very impressed with the images that Celia makes in lino. Having had a look at her blog also, I especially would love to see the purple pods up close. They look just great.

Celia, you work as a full time artist and illustrator in Great Britain, tell us a bit about what that is like? Where you work, if Brits are supportive of art, and what is your normal workday like?

There are so many niche markets for art and illustration that it’s impossible to generalise, so I can just tell you about my own experience:

After leaving Brighton College of Art and Design with a degree in ‘Visual Communication’ (that’s graphic design, illustration, typography, photography, advertising, information design, packaging, etc) I did some freelance page layout design and illustration work for Cambridge University Press. I was ‘passed on’ to another big name in educational publishing, Longmans (now swallowed up by the vast media group, Pearson plc). A full time job soon became available for Longman Education and for the following eight years I designed and commissioned illustrations for books for UK schools. I also learnt to use desk top publishing – from it’s birth! Starting with a Mac in 1985. I was involved with producing the first textbooks using dtp rather than conventional typesetting and page make-up. Whole sectors of the publishing and printing industry were wiped out over the following five years.

Waves of redundancies are commonplace in UK publishing houses, and in 1991 I found myself unemployed, but with a sizable redundancy payment and a plan – it had been obvious for a number of years that remaining ‘in-house’ as a designer meant management rather than hands-on designing, so this was my chance to set up a studio and work freelance.

My next challenge was to convince editors that I could supply both page layout designs and illustrations – once you get pigeon-holed it’s very hard to escape! I submitted samples of illustrations for projects and after they had been approved, I admitted that I had done them myself. I built up a list of clients who needed illustrations integrated with design – illustrated diagrams, maps, worksheets and teachers’ material. I enjoy the research that such projects require and attention to detail.

Nine years ago I moved, with my husband, to a small village just east of Cambridge (my ‘home town’), just over the county boundary in Suffolk. With a studio at home I could now work on my own creative projects side by side with my publishing projects and after years of being a chameleon adapting to each new commission, I found my own ‘voice’. I could also indulge in my passion for gardening, in particular growing heritage vegetables. I joined Cambridge Open Studios and enjoy opening my studio to the public, taking part in the joint exhibitions and getting to know the other artists. The historic university city of Cambridge attracts knowledgeable art lovers who enthusiastically support local artists.

My working day depends on whether I have an on-going publishing project – these arrive out of the blue (or rather, attached to an email) so my workload can change from light to overload in a click! I usually go into my studio attached to our house, at about 8.30am and work until late morning either at my computer or at a large drawing board in my studio overlooking the garden. Then I try to take a lengthy break which includes lunch and a ‘gardening work-out’ or a walk along the footpaths around the village. I’m back in the studio at about 2pm and work until about 5pm when the cats (my studio assistants) remind that it’s time to get the evening meal prepared. If I have a looming deadline I’ll get back to work while supper cooks and sometimes return to work after eating, if work is under control I can relax.


Printmaking in general, and for you linocut in particular, how did you discover it, and why did you choose lino?

I did some of printmaking at art school and particularly enjoyed the technical side and mix of precision with chance. From time to time I did small prints at home for Christmas cards. I love lino because I particularly enjoy carving the blocks, I use tools made for me by my late father who was a master joiner. In the past year I’ve started to experiment with woodcut and taking prints from wood grain to combine with linocut. I’m learning to be more experimental, years of working fast and accurately to deadlines have trained the ‘just for play’ side of creativity out of me and I need to rediscover it!

What do you print with? Do you have a press? Do you prefer water-based or oil-based inks? Do you have any favorite papers?

I don’t have a press, my prints are literally hand pressed. I use either a Japanese baren or a large wooden spoon! Sometimes for a lighter impression I’ll just use my hands. I’ve developed my own system of registering the prints, which works for me (it’s something I think every printmaker needs to sort out for themselves rather than following a prescribed technique). I used water based inks until 2007, and still like the chalky opacity they have; after a course at the Gainsborough House Print Workshop in Sudbury where we used oil based ink which is cleaned up using vegetable oil, I invested in some inks from Intaglio Printer in London. I like to add extender to give the pigments a translucent quality. I usually use BFK Rives printmaking paper, which has a lovely velvety finish. I also love using Japanese paper – the thin strong papers are so easy to print onto by hand. I discovered some vivid coloured Indian khadi paper in a local art supplies shop which I print with overall decorative patterns which I use as end-papers in hand bound journals.

Do you have any tips for printmakers who have not tried lino before?

I’d say have a go and don’t worry if that you don’t have a press or exactly the ‘right’ tools – improvise! But always use warm lino (you’ll get to know what is just the right temperature) and always take care to cut away from you so you don’t stab yourself.

I see on your blog that you transfer images you have changed in size on your computer, to your lino block, can you tell us a bit about how that is done?

I used to trace down the designs with either carbon paper or chalk on the back of tracing paper. I then discovered that you can transfer the design from a photocopy or laserprint (it has to be printed with powder toner not ink) by painting paint-stripper gel onto the reverse side of the paper and burnishing it down onto the lino. As I usually finalise my designs in Photoshop it’s easy to print out the design for each plate as a black laserprint and then transfer this to the blocks. No worries about remembering to do the design in reverse as this process handles it for you!

You have some absolutely lovely Christmas ornaments on your blog, how did you make them, and will we be able to buy them on Etsy for Christmas?

I sometimes have a stall at local Art & Craft Fairs and while it attracts attention having some large framed pictures, it is the small relatively cheap gifts that sell. I had bought some cute animal felt cut-out tree decorations when I visited New England, I love getting them out each Christmas and also like that they can be used as decorations at any time of year. So I devised these – the image was printed on bright colour khadi paper glued onto card. I then printed scraps of silk fabric with my pattern lino blocks and stuck the silk on the reverse of the card with a ribbon to loop for hanging. They sold very quickly, I was so surprised when people made a beeline for my stall and announced they wanted the tree decorations they’d seen on my blog! Yes there will be more this year – and not only the bears, angels and hens, there will be some new designs too.
Working as an illustrator, which involves a lot of digital work, do you think traditional printmaking has a future in the face of digital printmaking?

In the last couple of years I’ve seen lino and woodcut feature on book jackets, packaging and in editorial illustrations more and more. There is so much interest in 1950s and 60s design – a time when printmaking was also popular and I think this has had a great influence on today’s illustrators. I think a lot of illustrators like to combine the traditional techniques with digital work – and afterall, most clients will require a digital file as finished artwork.

There is a problem of definition for printmaking and ‘limited edition’ or ‘original prints’. Most people don’t understand the technical printing processes and therefore find it confusing when some prints are priced much higher than others. At my last studio open days I pinned up a display showing the sequence of printing one of my designs – people commented on the amount of work involved! And they then spent longer looking at the prints.

Do you have any tips for Etsy printmakers and other Etsy sellers on how to market yourself as an artist?

I’m an Etsy novice, so I’m only just learning the ropes myself. I’ve found that my blog has been the best marketing tool, I’ve put a direct link from my main web site to my shop (i.e. my Etsy shop). Visiting other etsy shops and blogs gets people coming across you and your art.

Do you find Etsy and Printsy to be useful for you in your working life? Would you like to change anything?

Looking at other printmakers work via Etsy and Printsy is so exciting – how else would I have come across their work apart from looking in galleries on trips abroad? I think there’s a great opportunity there to get my work known outside my niche in publishing or in Cambridge and to see what’s going on creatively around the world.

I decided to use my blogging name ‘Magic Cochin’ for my shop’s name; the name is now evolving into a ‘brand’ for the gift items I sell at Craft Fairs – watch out for more from Magic Cochin next year! (The original ‘Magic Cochin’ was one of my first hens – a wonderful Black Cochin hen who we named Queen Victoria.)

Getting back to your work, I can see where the inspiration for the plants and animals come from living in English countryside, but the Japanese prints, tell us a bit more about them?

I’ve been fascinated by Japanese prints from schooldays. ‘The Great Japan Exhibition’ in London in 1981 was a huge influence. More recently a major Hokusai exhibition in 1992 and Hiroshiga in 1997 renewed my enthusiasm for Japanese printmakers. In 2003 we spent two weeks travelling round Japan, staying in ryoken and eating traditional Japanese food. I loved every moment of the trip from the frenzy of the Ginza district of Tokyo to the temples of Takayama. I came home with luggage stuffed with Japanese paper and full of inspiration for block prints. I used some of the Japanese paper for a series of prints ‘Memories of Japan’. The two that are in my Etsy shop are ‘Karaoke Bar in Yudanaka’ which is from a sketch from memory of an evening spent watching a group of businessmen unwind in a bar! And ‘Sumo Training’ another image saved to my ‘mind’s eye’ after visiting a sumo stable in the backstreets of Tokyo, to watch a training session.

Since then I’ve been trying to learn more about individual Japanese printmakers – the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge has an amazing collection, the exhibition of prints by Yoshitoshi in 2005 was outstanding, he uses all sorts of virtuoso techniques like blind embossing and burnishing the black pigment to give a high polish (both effects that do not reproduce well in catalogues). You can now view the exhibition online. Last year I was lucky to buy a print in a local auction and spent many happy hours researching the printmaker – Hirosada, and the subject – the hare from the animals of the Japanese zodiac.

You are a member of Cambridge Open Studios, tell us a bit about being part of a community like that?

Cambridge Open Studios was formed over 30 years ago by a handful of artists, I joined in 2000. Now there are over 300 members and this year 275 of them opened their studios for free to the public during four weekends in July. We (the artists) used to ‘run’ the organisation ourselves but it’s a full time job to organise so many people and such a large scale event plus Christmas shows and various exhibitions. We now pay a part time administrator and rent an office/gallery which shows members work. Members must do their bit to help run the organisation and can only opt out and pay an extra fee instead after three years membership. Tasks range from organising hanging the Launch Exhibition at the end of June to stuffing envelopes, so all skills are catered for! At first the fact that I was ‘commercial’ set me apart, there’s a degree of snobbery in the art world. But once I’d become a regular participant I felt part of a lively group and it’s fascinating to take time out to visit fellow artist’s studios each year and to swap experiences after the open days.

And - It looks on your blog like you are an avid gardener, and cook, any favorite recipe you would like to share with us?

I think that’s an understatement! Gardening is in my genes, I helped my grandparents grow flowers and fruit to sent to markets, before I went to school. I started my own vegetable garden twenty years ago when many traditional vegetable varieties were still available and one of my favourites was the Purple Podded pea. When we moved to our present house which has a large area perfect for growing vegetables and fruit I wanted to grow those purple peas again, but I discovered that new legislation meant that the varieties I could buy had dramatically reduced and Purple Podded peas were no longer available. I joined the Heritage Seed Library and now grow and save seed for some unusual peas and beans, this year these include four varieties of pea with purple pods! Hence the name of my blog.

After finishing work in my studio I love to be able to walk out to the garden to pick fresh vegetables and herbs. There’s a
favourite muffin recipe on my blog.

And last , - if you could take one piece of art with you to your deserted island, what would that piece be?

What an impossible question! Just one – there are so many to choose from! Could I be cheeky and ask for the full set of Yoshitoshi’s ‘Hundred Aspects of the Moon’, I haven’t seen all of them yet, but the ones in the Fitzwilliam Museum’s collections are awesome.

If you make me choose just one it would be ‘Moon and Smoke’

Thanks for a great interview!

Etsy Printmaker Interview: Bird Nerd

Name
Chelsea Groves

Website
http://chelsea.sevorg.org/ and http://birdnerd.etsy.com/

Brief Bio
I'm 26 years old and married to a software engineer. We've lived in the San Francisco bay area for a little over a year, but I am originally from South Carolina. We have a dog named Delilah, who is my constant companion during the day.

What printmaking medium do you most often work in?
Linocut block prints

How did you get started in printmaking?
I learned linocut printmaking in high school, starting in the 10th grade and learned more in the 12th grade.

I noticed that from your website that you do art full time. How did you make the decision to become a full-time artist?
I was working as a graphic designer part-time when I began making art for fun. I felt I had to constantly curb and compromise my creativity in my job, and I wanted to make something just for me, something that wasn't on a computer screen, that I could actually hold in my hands. I decided to try selling my creations and it worked out much better than I had hoped. I began making more and more art, and it consumed most of my time. At that point, I was going to my graphic design job only when I was absolutely needed for projects. My husband got a new job in San Francisco, which took me away from graphic design for good. I've been making art full-time since March of 2007.

Describe where you work.
I work in my home in the room which is technically our den. It's one of the largest rooms in the house and has the most windows. It has two desks, one for art, and one for computing. The computer desk also has a sewing machine underneath, which I can pull up when I need it. I tend not to sit at desks, so I also have a daybed in the room, which I sit/lay on while I draw and paint. My prints are made on my dining room table, which is in the adjacent room.

What's your creative process for any given print? (eg. sketch first? Pre-planned or free-form?)
I sketch first, then make a clean, finalized drawing. I then take the drawing and transfer it to my block using contact paper. My prints tend to be very graphic and with clean, bold lines, so I plan it all carefully before I begin carving the linoleum.

What do you enjoy most about printmaking?
I'm not sure exactly what it is about it, but I remember being thrilled after making my first print. In an age where everything is digital and made perfectly by machines, it is so refreshing it carve something with your hands and be able to produce an image. No two prints are exactly alike, and it can be fun to see the small variations.

What's your least favorite part of the process?
When I put too much ink on a block and the print comes out blurry and I have to just sigh and put it in the trash. I guess I don't like the fact that once I've made a mistake, there's nothing I can do to fix it.

What are your inspirations (other artists, people, places, events, etc.)?
I am mainly inspired by art nouveau and Japanese design. Nature is also HUGE for me. I see certain flowers, leaves, or forms in my everyday life and feel compelled to make a print.

How has your work changed and evolved since you started?
I used to make more multi-layer prints, but now I prefer the simplicity of single-layer prints. I think I used to think that if something was more complicated and more difficult to make, it automatically made it better. I have definitely learned that this is not the case.

I've also learned chine-colle, which I've just started to incorporate in my work and look forward to doing more. The most recent thing I've learned is screen-printing, which I use to print on fabric and make bird stuffies and sachets.

How do you get past creative slumps?
I don't really have slumps. Sometimes I find that I have too many ideas floating in my head and I feel like I can't execute them the way I want to, which can be really frustrating. In those instances, I force myself to take a break for a few days. When I return to my work, I am usually more clear-headed and can make things the way I want to.

How do you promote your work?
I don't do very much for promotion. I am on a few sites like Flickr, Indiepublic, and Trunkt. I try to list something on Etsy every day to keep my visibility up.

Any other comments or advice for others who want to try making hand-pulled prints?
My advice is to learn one printmaking technique thoroughly first, and then to move onto other areas you are interested in. There are so many different printing techniques that I think it can be a little confusing or discouraging to try to tackle it all. Once I felt I'd mastered linocut printing, I felt confident to move to screen-printing because I had a good grasp on the basics and what I was trying to accomplish.

Thanks to Chelsea for sharing her life as an artist. It was a pleasure to interview her.

Etsy Printmaker Interview : Fustian

Name
Marissa Buschow in the real world, fustian in the internet world.

Websites
fustian.etsy.com
flickr.com/photos/fustian
fustianed.blogspot.com

Brief Bio
I was born and raised in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in Texas. After a brief episode of floundering about without direction at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, I moved to Lawrence, Kansas, and got my B.F.A. in printmaking from the University of Kansas. And no, I have no idea why I picked Kansas (why do people always ask me that?). Unfortunately I'm not very good at art classes, so that experience was a rather frustrating one, especially as I became more and more interested in birds and biology. I left Kansas, annoyed with art and artists, and returned to Texas where I quickly discovered that, hey, art can be WAY more fun on your own! Especially when you make it about whatever you please! Who'd have thought? In any case, through some mysterious turn of events, I am now living in Auburn, Alabama, where I work for the university's biology department and mess with bluebirds all day. This fall I'll be banding birds while living in a tent in Idaho (no electricity! no internet!! aaaaarrgh!), and past that? No idea.

What printmaking medium do you most often work in?
Almost always I work in relief, especially woodblock. I don't have the facilities for any other kind of printmaking - though I have fantasies! The traditional Japanese style of woodblock printmaking, moku hanga, is certainly my favorite, if only because of its flexibility and portability.

How did you get started in printmaking?
It occurs to me that museums should probably use my example as a success story to get more funding: I wandered into the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, where they had a room full of woodblock prints from artists in Provincetown in the early 20th century (not that I knew what I was looking at at the time). They were so ludicrously pretty that I got a hankerin' to try it myself. As soon as I could, I signed up for a woodblock printmaking class at Smith College and, well, discovered my passion.













Describe where you work
I'm rather poor these days, so I work on a coffee table or, if I need more space, a fold-up plastic table. I have to watch out, though, because my pet lovebird likes to chew up paper.

What's your creative process for any given print? (e.g. sketch first? Pre-planned or free-form?)
I'm one of "those" people: I work from photographs. Most of my prints are about specific species found in the wild, so I want to be as accurate as possible within the limits of the medium. Oftentimes I'll encounter an animal or a bird for the first time and simply become obsessed with it. In order to get it out of my system, I have to make art about it. Other times I use printmaking as a learning process; for example, my sparrow series is my way of cementing tricky identification problems (as any birder knows, sparrows are damn hard to tell apart!). Occasionally I'll work from an unplanned sketch, but those are few and far between.

What do you enjoy most about printmaking?
Getting lots of copies! Isn't that why everyone else does it?
In all seriousness, though, it's because the way I work translates easily to the medium: I'm a fan of intensive, planned pieces, in which 90% of the enjoyment is in the process, not the result. I love losing an afternoon to a block or having to spend hours how to fit all my colors and layers together. If only I got paid hourly!

What's your least favorite part of the process?
Registration. I loathe registration - because I'm awful at it.

What are your inspirations (other artists, people, places, events, etc.)?
In the art world, any and all relief printmakers, especially those that work a lot with nature (if we're dropping names here: Mary Brodbeck, Sherrie York, the people at Tugboat Printshop, a dozen more folks on etsy; dead people: Frances Gearhart, Utamaro, Hiroshige, any of those old school New Englanders). Also, I look a lot at scientific illustration, especially from 18th and 19th century naturalists (the notorious Audubon springs to mind).
In the non-art world, wildlife. There are innumerable beautiful animals out there that go largely unnoticed, whether because so many people stay indoors and in cities, or because they haven't been raised to notice such things. Without that whole "nature" thing, I have no idea what I'd do with myself.

How has your work changed and evolved since you started?
Honestly, I made a lot of crap in school. I blame it on my teachers. Since I don't like to think about that phase of my art-making, I will say that in my art since then I've become much more ambitious with color and I use a lot less negative space. I think it's because I'm getting better at the technicalities of moku hanga, so I'm not as timid as I once was.

How do you get past creative slumps?
I wait it out. Probably not a good thing to do, either. I'm not one of those people who make masterpieces during their bad times, so if my life is going through a rough period, the art's just gotta wait 'til things settle down.

How do you promote your work?
Hmm.... I don't? I'm really bad at that.

Any other comments or advice for others who want to try making hand-pulled prints?
My first printmaking teacher told the class, "Don't worry, your first print is going to be crap." I would have to agree with that - the first half dozen, even! There's so many technical tricks to learn in printmaking that it often frustrates those who want instant art, instant success. Patience! Practice!

Thank you to Marissa for allowing us to take a peek into her life as an artist. It was a pleasure for me to interview her.