Artist statement:

Since I was a little girl, my family has had a cabin in northern Minnesota that we frequently visit. A charming log cabin deep in the woods, and just a few miles away from the workshop of the famous Minnesotan printer, Betsy Bowen. As a child I would visit her often, captivated by her books and their unique woodblock illustrations and enchanted by her ceilings covered in her old printing blocks. I would draw her pictures which she hung on her press, and told myself I wanted to be just like her someday. Through this program, I have realised my desire to follow in Bowen’s footsteps, and explore my love of printmaking in a myriad of ways- discovering a passion for the vibrant colors of screen prints and the organic contours of relief. In my pieces, I try and highlight my love for the outdoors found through my upbringing on the north shore and numerous canoeing and backpacking trips through YMCA Camp Menogyn. Themes of community, of environmentalism, of connection to and appreciation of the natural world that surrounds us pervade my work. It is a celebration of the wildness within, between, and surrounding us.