Sophie Smith is the artist/printmaker behind Sophie Printmaking, working from her beautiful 10X10’ shed studio behind her family home in Richmond, VA. Having grown up in Richmond, Sophie has recently been making art featuring all of her favourite places within her hometown.
She dove deeper into linocut printmaking during the beginning of the Covid Pandemic, using the time she had at home to make printmaking her full time job. She describes; “During that time I was missing all of my favourite bars, restaurants, and neighbourhoods, as everything in Richmond, VA at the time was closed to help fight Covid-19. With that on my mind, making prints of my favourite places, the places I was missing most desperately, just made sense! I figured if I missed them, the people around me in my hometown would be missing them too.”
Lately, with more businesses open and more time spent out of her home, Sophie has been feeling more inspired by what she actually has in her home. Her latest print, Gila Monsters, is inspired by her partner’s business; “He is a venomous reptile breeder and we have a whole room in our house, and a large warehouse space devoted to the care and keeping of these creatures. Gila monsters are one of my favourite species, and I find them so beautiful. Its been a nice way to diversify my portfolio while still using real life influences and things I see every day!” Through the print, Sophie is also helping educate people online about these beautiful and dangerous lizards, people that might not know about them otherwise.
Feeling further inspired by this print, Sophie is planning on doing a whole series reptile prints. She intends to donate 20% of all profits to reptile conservation groups. Their creation will also enable her to work more with colour, taking a step outside her usual print aesthetic. “My plan is to sell an unlimited edition of black on white paper of these prints, as well as a very limited edition of hand coloured, or multicoloured reduction print version. This way it allows me to sell these prints at a variety of accessible price points,” says the printmaker.
Sophie’s journey with printmaking started in high school, where she was introduced to the world of linocut and other relief printmaking techniques. She loved it so much that she decided to go to college and study the subject. She spent her first year of school at The Maryland Institute College of art studying Relief Printmaking, and the years after back home in Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University. At VCU, Sophie veered away from printmaking as the university itself didn’t have a major specialising in Printmaking alone. Thus, at the end of her college years she graduated with a degree in Painting & Printmaking, with a minor in Craft and Materials Studies. She states; “I loved the excuse to experiment with new ways to express my art, and I think it made me a better maker overall to have experience with other means to express myself”.
Last year, Sophie grew her business by taking on as many commissions as possible; “This was an amazing experience- I learned how to work with customers more successfully, to find beauty in buildings and places I had never seen before, and learned how to manage my time with multiple projects at a time!” However, this pulled her away from working on prints that she found meaning and self expression in, and this year she intends to fully immerse herself in projects of her own selection and imagination, making more nature prints, more prints inspired by every day life, and more of the creatures and people all around her.
@sophie.printmaking
www.sophieprintmaking.com
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