EarthlightPress

Earthlight Press

I am a linocut printmaker focused on fine art prints that are inspired by natural phenomena, the seasons, and wildlife, and the interaction between the human and the wild worlds. My art is nurtured by the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, where I live and run a small studio in Portland, OR.

Before settling on printmaking, I worked primarily in scratchboard, acrylic, and digital art based on these media. My work has been featured in interpretive and educational material for various environmental agencies and nonprofits. This has been generally fruitful, but I do my best work in traditional, handmade media, as much for the lack of Ctrl + Z as despite it.

My recent work focuses on making connections between living things and the non-living cycles, objects and processes that together make up the world. It draws on my interest in science and history to break down the separation between the human and natural worlds, and to find connection and poetry in the whole.

Each image begins with a drawing which I transfer to a piece of artist's linoleum (a version of the flooring material). I cut away the white areas with gouges (like small wood chisels but concave) leaving only the areas and lines intended to be black. I then ink the block with a roller and place in a forme, which is a sort of frame that holds the block in proper alignment with the paper to be printed on. I insert the paper or cardstock against the registration tabs, felt blankets are laid on top, and I roll the whole set through my press. The result is a reversed (R-L image of the carved block. Read More