Self-taught artist Emilee Sheldon is currently based in Berlin where she creates linocuts from as small as A5, to as big as A1. Taking inspiration from japanese woodcuts, tattoo, folk art, as well as music and literature, Emilee also often prints side by side on larger paper, for example in the form of a triptych, or in a set of four, as tessellations. She enjoys experimenting with printing on different materials as well, or working collaboratively, such as screen printing on textiles, or using her small Boston Tiegel letterpress to print stickers and greeting or business cards.
Emilee first learnt about printmaking at high school, but never properly studied art. She tells us; “I didn’t have any relevant work experience until the last year or so, helping in a small screen print atelier run by friends of mine, where I also print, as well as now in industry printing.”
Her print designs usually begin as visualisations in her head which she draws straight onto lino, or as a rough sketch to work out a composition. Emilee explains; “Generally they just depict something that is running loops in my brain, similar to heaving a song stuck in your head. Anything from a memory, to a daydream, to just a stupid idea that I wonder how it would look if it were real.” She continues; “I genuinely look at things in the reverse anyway, maybe a left-handed trait, so drawing and carving ‘the negative’ comes fairly naturally to me. I like using big bold negative space in combination with thoughtful and detailed linework. I am additionally a big fan of the solid black background, also known to art teachers as ‘floating in space’.”
Emilee prints either by hand-burnishing, or up to size A3 on her etching press, depending on the look she is aiming for and the paper she is printing on. For anything larger she uses the floor and make-shift cardboard registration systems, spoons, rolling pins, and beer bottles! Emilee’s single colour prints remain as open editions, and when working with multiple colours and layers she leans towards reduction process printing. These are the only closed editions she prints, but Emilee will usually make multiple colour variations of each design.
One day, Emilee hopes to offer her designs for album or poster art; “I love music but lack talent in that department, so it would be nice if these two interests could somehow symbiotically intertwine”.
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