Printmaking | Spring 2026 | Weeks 1-2

For the spring 2026 semester of printmaking at UAA, I plan on making new work building on my past series “Family Birds” (more birds here and here) and exploring monoprints as collage and papercut materials. The final products will be:

Panels with layered collaged materials and laser cut wood (tempered hardboard and plywood panels reused from past projects)
Framed multimedia artworks
A digital library of vector texture patterns to be cut from paper, wood or acrylic
Project documentation in a hand-bound book with sketches, experiments, samples, notes, reading, and final products

January 12-25

To begin this project, I spent two weeks sketching and gathering graphic ideas, textures, and color palettes. Thanks to the WinterSpace residency program at Bunnell Street Arts Center, I was able to spend a solitary week in Homer, Alaska immersed in the quiet winter natural environment of the Kenai Peninsula.

1. Nine 4×4″ mini panels

As a warmup, I designed some cat shapes on a grid to be laser cut and paired with a 4×4″ piece of plywood wrapped in a monotype. Mockups really help me visualize and plan color schemes and textures before, so I paired the digital design with some past print textures.

2. Four 20×20″ square panels

As another exercise in layering and papercutting that would be technically very difficult without the help of a laser, I developed sunburst artwork for four 20×20″ tempered hardboard panels, each with a background color and 5+ layers of paper and wood. Making multiples using digital cutting techniques allows me to work through different variations on color and pattern: AP versions of the same print. This design was also part of a rejected logo design campaign given another chance at real-world use.

3. 20×60″ vertical panel

A new item in my ongoing series of bird panels, this design will be mounted to a 20×60″ plywood panel and echo the curves of parenthesis. I wanted an asymmetrical design that still forms a satisfying shape when rotated 180° and retained a very narrow negative space, an exploration of the graphic qualities I love in the work of Robert Davidson and Ellsworth Kelly. Sketching with some kids’ Mr. Sketch markers provided satisfying color overlapping similar to screenprinting; I’d be interested to explore monoprinting on transparent material to see if I can get a third color at the overlaps.

4. Additional panels & sketches

I added sketches for bird and botanical panel designs to my informal library: more to come in how these will be integrated in larger panel designs and smaller framed pieces: