About me
Hello! My name is China, and I am a Printmaker based in Pittsburgh, PA.
I graduated from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco with a BFA in Illustration in 2014. Upon graduation I enrolled in an extension course at City College of SF and learned various printmaking techniques, including etching and relief linocut printmaking.
I gravitated towards linocut printmaking for its meditative and experimental process, one of the beauties of printmaking is you can’t fix mistakes as easily, which allows me to embrace imperfections in my prints. My work is often inspired by my experiences in nature; while infusing whimsical qualities that remind us nature isn’t perfect. I like to show our collective connection to the environment by infusing different types of wildlife I see; Lately I’ve been bird watching and use that as inspiration in my prints. I think it’s cool that I can link my hobbies of the outdoors with linocut printmaking.
When I'm not drawing you can find me hiking in nature, watching movies or playing some tunes on my guitar.
Process
My process involves first making various sketches of the subject I want to depict. To ensure accuracy I do lots of studies before making the final image, including color studies. Once my drawing is finalized, I then transfer it to a linoleum block (A hard rubber surface traditionally used for flooring).
I then carve away the areas of the block that will appear white or show the color underneath. Once my block is clean and carved, I apply ink to the surface with an ink roller. Once the ink is applied, I set down the paper and roll it through my tabletop press! The parts of the image that are raised show the ink and the carved areas show the layer or paper tone underneath. The multi-color prints that you see are either made from one block using a reductive process where the block is carved away after each layer is printed, leaving the block completely carved away at the end. I will also carve multiple blocks for my 2-3 color layer prints and layer them on top of each other. All my prints are printed on %100 cotton rag paper, with non-toxic oil-based printmaking inks.