Printmaking
BFA in Printmaking, Keene StateIn printmaking you prepare meticulously, then humidity, temperature, and pressure change your mind for you. That's where the magic happens.
Lithographs
Grease, acid, gum arabic, ink, pressure, time, blood, sweat, and tears.
I've explored several forms of lithography since college. The flora-wrapped tarot reader (Intuition) and the red moth (Atlas) are Pronto plate lithos, a lighter and more accessible alternative to traditional limestone blocks.
The others are stone lithographs. Each one is drawn on heavy limestone, printed, then ground back down with abrasive grit until the surface is level and blank again, erased to make room for the next piece. I work with image transfers, grease washes, and grease pencils to build high-contrast compositions, but the process is delicate. Even breathing on the stone can leave unwanted marks.
After drawing, the stone goes through a series of chemical treatments with gum arabic, citric acid, and tree resins. Rolling on the first layer of ink is the moment weeks of work becomes visible. Printing itself is about pressure. The stone rolls through the press under careful layers of paper, plexiglass, and grease, and a single edition might repeat hundreds of times.
Three of a five-piece stone lithography series about losing my grandfather.
There's a belief that a person dies twice: once when the body goes, and again the last time their name is spoken.
We built model trains together, and that's still how we connect.
-
01
The dream.
Waiting is where it always starts.
Vaulted glass, iron ribs overhead, a figure standing at the edge of the tracks.
Model trains were what we bonded over, so this is where I'll meet him first,
In the architecture he knew by heart. -
02
Wheels, steam, steel.
His energy never really left.
He's still here if I need him,
Showing up in dreams right when grief gets loud,
Proof that losing someone doesn't mean losing what they gave you. -
03
Grief.
And then he's here,
Guiding.
A figure emerges through the machinery, steam and light.
His lessons didn't leave when he did.
He's still with me, still supporting me through.
Linocuts
Plan, prepare, carve, test, carve, test, print, repeat.
I trained in stone lithography, but a home studio does not come with a limestone slab and thousands of dollars of presses and toxic chemicals. Linocuts are how I keep printmaking in my life. Same instincts, different tools.
A reductive linocut starts with a single linoleum block, and you carve away layers for each color, printing between every carving session. Once you carve away material for a color, it's gone forever.
The darkest, most detailed parts get carved last, sculpting in reverse and in time, from lightest to darkest. Every cut closes a door.
The commitment shows up in every print in the edition.
Running with Scissors is an ongoing series of reductive linocuts. Every bird carries a pair of scissor beaks, and every scene puts them somewhere they probably shouldn't be. The series is about danger, freedom, and balance, and about the small thrill of holding something sharp while trying to stay still.
Precarious Flamingo
She's balancing on top of a broken system, pretending everything's fine. That clock is going to slip eventually, and when it does, she's supposed to topple. But she's a flamingo. She can fly. There was never anything to actually be afraid of.
Sunbird Saboteur
A play on justice. She threatens to pop the balloon, and for a second you wonder if she'll actually do it. But popping it changes nothing. The scales stay exactly as balanced as they were. All that threat, and nothing was ever really at stake.
More birds in the series, coming soon