Print Exchange Mania

Print exchanges have been an important part of my art practice.  When I was first starting out, Melanie Yazzie invited me to be in a print exchange.  I made a 5 color reduction linocut - a major effort I since learned and because I put so much into it, I got invited to another, and another, and another.  And so on.  In a print exchange you create an edition which you send off and in return you get a print from the other artists participating.  I now have an amazing collection of prints from artists all over the world.  Another benefit is that the print exchanges are almost always exhibited somewhere, galleries, universities, and with Melanie's exchanges, the prints become part of major collections.  These are nice resume items for sure.  By participating in these exchanges, I have learned about some fantastic artists all over the country, and they have learned about me.  It is so fun to cement this knowledge with Facebook friendship and come March, even meeting some face to face at the Southern Graphics Council Conference in San Francisco! 

I recently completed a print for a Melanie Yazzie exchange called Birds and Animals of My Land.  This time (whatever was I thinking) I did a 7 color reduction.  But I really loved doing it. 

 

And now I am working on yet another M.Y. exchange - Animal Mammas and Their Babies.  I printed the first of TWO colors and am happily carving away (my favorite part of the process) in preparation of printing this weekend.

I will post the final version when it is finished.