Prints!

Throughout my practice, I have focused on capturing a sense of place and comfort through print media. The hands-on nature of printmaking lends itself to archiving/chronicling and collection-based works. Because of these qualities, I have been using printmaking to record landmarks, objects, and locations that provide others and myself with feelings of home, place, and connection.

Place and Places Series

The work from this series explores feelings of place and of found home related to specific visual landmarks, architecture, and locations. It is informed by living on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), specifically in so-called “Vancouver”, which is not what most would call a livable city. The prints stem from people’s processes of finding pockets of familiarity and comfort despite the nature of this city. I have gathered the imagery of these relief prints by asking for input from peers and friends on what spaces or landmarks give them a sense of comfort and home as they navigate living in an ever-developing, increasingly unaffordable urban environment.

In this series, I experimented with different carving and mark-making techniques to show the textures present in each environment. While creating these prints, I played with balancing how much visual information I kept accurate to real life, and what I could simplify in the carving process while still getting the image across. With processes ranging from extremely detailed stippling using a hammer and nail to using a carving tool to gouge chunks out of the wood block, I created textures consistent with the locales I was depicting in the prints.

Prints in order:

Kylie, Woodcut relief print on Rives BFK, 7.25×11, 2025

Jules, Woodcut relief print on Rives BFK, 7.25×11, 2025

Frankie, Woodcut relief print on Rives BFK, 11×7.25, 2025

Jesse, Woodcut relief print on Rives BFK, 11×7.25, 2025

Paloma, Woodcut relief print on Rives BFK, 11×7.25, 2025

Emilia, Woodcut relief print on Rives BFK, 7.25×11, 2025

Breezeblock Quilt

My quilt stems from the same themes as my Places and Place print series, but draws from personal feelings of place rather than input from others. I have found solace and comfort in the breezeblock, the textures, imagery, and patterns of each decorative hunk of cement.

I wanted to combine these elements with quilting, as the way the blocks are arranged into grids to form walls is reminiscent of quilt blocks. Quilts are also, in a literal sense, a “comfort object”. I made rubbings of the breezeblocks in my neighborhood, then transformed them into the textures. I screenprinted these rubbings onto fabric, which I sewed into a quilt. I made some movable blocks to lay overtop the quilt and allow folks to interact with and feel comfortable touching the piece.

Breezeblock Quilt, Screenprinted imagery on cotton, 65×80, 2024