Freedom Phoenix

Linocut on white paper

on brown paper

on dark brown paper

the final inked plate

Freedom Phoenix Poster

This idea started in early 2016, and resurfaced fully for the transformative year of 2020. This body of work and the very physical nature of making it has been a whole-body prayer. Like a mandala, the image was laid and then gradually carved away. As I drew, carved, inked, and printed for each poster, I prayed for freedom of expression and freedom to love - and I imagined a beautiful freedom away from fear for everybody. I hope you'll join me in that vision too.

Follow the full process of the Freedom Phoenix below.

About the Posters:
18 x 24
Reductive linocut (see info below)
8 plates
14 hand pressings (total times of ink pressed to paper: 2254)
7 water-soluble inks
161 copies
Freely distributed to anyone who wanted one

DRAWINGS

What is a Reductive Linocut?

A reductive print uses just one block to make many plates. You print from light to dark and gradually carve out the colors that you printed to show underneath layers as you go. For this project, I carved out for the paper to show through first. Then I printed the background in yellow with 4 other colors around the edges. Next, I carved out everything I want to stay yellow. Each plate was then hand inked in the spots where I want the next color and the paper went on top for the pressing. I used a bamboo baren to apply pressure. That's what prints it to the paper. After each full pressing, I carved away what I wanted to stay in the color that had been printed - and repeated the process. By the time I finished, I pressed ink onto paper by hand more than 2000 times. This whole project was done by hand leaving my trusty computer aside.