My name is Savannah Bustillo and I am a queer Latinx printmaker, book artist, and papermaker originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico. I received a BFA in studio art with a concentration in printmaking from Washington University in St. Louis, and have spent time working with different art non-profit spaces like Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in D.C, the Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and Women’s Studio Workshop. Currently, in addition to being a part of the Highpoint community, I also work with the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Fireweed Community Woodshop, and the Walker Art Center.
I moved to the Twin Cities in 2019 because of the amazing printmaking and book arts scene that’s here. Highpoint is such a pillar of the printmaking scene, both in the Twin Cities and beyond, so finding a way to be a part of the community was something I wanted from the beginning.
Highpoint, like so many print shops I have been fortunate to be a part of, does such incredible things but is a relatively small operation. It’s approachable as a community space in that regard - I love walking into the studio and knowing the staff and other community members. While I was featured in a show at Highpoint in 2020, I really got to know the community through a 2021 Jerome Early Career Printmakers Residency, and have continued on as a co-op member since then.
I feel very strongly about the fellowships, scholarships, and residencies that Highpoint uses to support emerging artists and people that have been historically underrepresented in the print shop. So often printmakers will talk about the democratic origins and abilities printmaking has to reach large groups of people. However, printmaking cannot endure as a discipline and claim to still be connected to those values if we don’t remember in equal measure that it takes effort to support new generations of emerging printmakers and those that are too often excluded from the printshop. As a community member I am proud to see Highpoint support emerging artists with the Jerome Residency, and the new Full-Color print fellowship and scholarships. These are key first steps in working towards creating an even stronger and more vibrant community.
It is difficult to convey how formative the Jerome Residency was for me. As an emerging artist, studio space, especially as a printmaker, is hard to come by and a difficult stretch financially. Not only was having that space for 9 months so key to continue making, but gaining a whole community of support - my fellow residents, Highpoint staff, meeting other artists in the studio regularly, having designated critiques — all of these aspects were fundamental to pushing my studio practice forward.
I began my residency focusing heavily on research and writing, and I was a little slow to get into the studio for the actual printing if I’m honest. Josh was particularly encouraging in that respect — and reminded me that output is not the point. The critiques were also key; our conversations, like all good conversations, stayed with me and helped me focus the body of work I wanted to create for our show. That mindset - of using this residency as an opportunity to create a completely new body of work, with each piece being slowly developed in tandem with the other works - was a new way of working for me. I had never had the time or resources to make work at that pace and so holistically before. I wanted the work I created for the show to all focus on the different visceral aspects of language - how language is spoken, pronounced, attached to smells, flavors, reading, scribbling. My work has been exploring histories of language for a while, but using more emotive and visceral responses in the work was a key change to make it more approachable for viewers. I feel that everything I produced was really an extension of the efforts, conversations, and support of the community around me, and that is special. I’ll never forget that.
You can find more of Savannah’s work here.