Invited to "test drive" a new intaglio press prototype in development for Speedball Art Products headquartered in Statesville, NC

The exhibition, Interrogation, is the culmination of creative work made by twelve graphic design and studio art students at Appalachian State University during a short-term study abroad program in the Netherlands. Directed by faculty leaders Scott Ludwig, Printmaking and Tricia Treacy, Graphic Design, the experience was centered upon the study of hybrid print + design. Based in Amsterdam, the group worked intensively and collaboratively during hands-on workshops at Amsterdam Grafisch Atelier (AGA Lab) and Grafisch Werkcentrum Amsterdam (GWA), two outstanding, well-equipped print shops in the heart of this creatively vibrant, capital city. Using the prompt, interrogation, as a conceptual springboard for their work and as a personal reflection upon cultural happenings here and abroad, students developed prints, zines and a collaborative book using letterpress, photopolymer gravure, woodcut, risography and digital processes.

An article regarding this exhibition can be found here in the Appalachian online.

In the autumn of 2015, I completed a two-month residency in the Depertment of Art and Design at CNU; activities included a solo exhibition, entitled, The Printed Image and the Written Word, a new installation, An Offering to Those Unnamed, an introduction to relief printmaking workshop for elementary Art Educators from Tibet, a photo-screenprinting workshop for members of P8 art space, and a monotype workshop for local artists and designers. I also completed an edition of 38, multi-layered, intaglio/relief prints for the exchange portfolio and exhibition, Editional Tools, that opens January 28, 2016 at SUNY Oneonta, Oneonta, NY.

Repurposed materials, including discarded calligraphy exercises, along with student and faculty participation, formed the basis of the piece, An Offering to Those Unnamed (Ode to Li Shang-Yin) at Changsha Normal University's Gallery of Art and Design

This workshop introduced local artists and designers to the creative potential creating one-of-a-kind monoprints using various inking techniques. Working with readymade and found materials, participants each created 3-5 prints over the course of the three hour workshop.

For this unique printmaking workshop, I worked with a group of 40 elementary art educators from Tibet. Using found, natural  materials and simple, relief inking techniques, participants created prints of their own and two, larger-scale, collaborative works.

In June of 2014, I completed a residency at La Ceiba Grafica (laceibagrafica.org). Creative research included participation in a sustainable, Moku Hanga wooduct workshop and production of hybrid prints using moku hanga combined with digital, and other traditional, "western", relief printmaking processes.

In 2012 and 2014, I co-directed short-term, study-abroad programs in Cuba. Working with various contacts, we were able to develop a vibrant itinerary, both culturally and creatively.

The Cuba curriculum provided printmaking and photography experiences at various institutions and locations. Centered in Havana for the first several days of a seventeen-day trip, workshops were arranged with the Taller Experimental de Grafica (TEG) and the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA).

A core activity involved a five-day relief and collagraph printmaking workshop at TEG. This renowned printmaking workshop, founded in 1962, is co-directed by Yamilys Britto and Octavio Hernandez, who are also faculty members at ISA.

Here, engaged by master printers, apprentices, and the directors, the students developed portfolios of woodcuts and collagraphs. Working in this environment is 
like stepping into the past as the studio is brimming with large presses and lithographic stones, still emblazoned with ornate, cigar label designs.

Throughout the day, students had opportunities to interact with other Cuban and international artists at work. This experience is most affecting and completely alters their perspective of what its like to be a part of a bustling, collaborative, multi-cultural, studio environment; seemingly, a world away from the USA.

During the 2014 workshop at Taller Experimental de Grafica in Cuba, I set aside some creative time for myself, taking a break from assisting students. Here, I created my largest, mixed-media collagraph to date: a 32x44 matrix constructed from materials scavenged from the streets while walking to the print shop. The final prints incorporate lithographic, chine colle elements from early 20th century stones that I discovered in the shop, still emblazoned with cigar label designs. Assisted by master printers, four artist's proofs were produced.

In 2013, I was selected for a residency at Kala Art Institute (KAI) in Berkeley, CA. Kala is one of the leading printmaking studios in the USA to embrace the use of low-toxic, sustainable printmaking processes, including photopolymer, digital, and low-impact, soy and citrus-based solvents. It retains a stellar reputation that allows for the generation of large format, contemporary works on paper, using all of the aforementioned printmaking processes. With these methods at the forefront of my research over the past several years, KAI was a natural choice for proposing a residency project.

The hybrid prints I produced employed digital processes combined with photopolymer, helio-relief and vitreography. Due to its technical nature of this process, one that involves the sandblasting of wood or glass through a photo-resist, this endeavor required collaboration with glass artist and craftsman, Steve Kersey of Kersey’s Glass Works in Hayward, CA. Working with Steve, I was able to produce several, large format, glass and wood matrices that were transported and printed at Kala's print shop.

This project was made possible through a University Research Council grant through Appalachian Stte University. Special thanks to Steve and Mary at Kersey's Glass Works. Check out their amazing work here: Kersey's Glass Works.

Three month residency at AGA, now located in West Amsterdam. AGA has everything I need: great staff including volunteers, digital studio and a massive space for intaglio, relief screenprinting and litho!

>2017 Highlights:

- "3rd Global Print 2017": International, invitational exhibition, Museu de Douro, Portugal and other regional venues - August 1st – September 30th, 2017

- "PRINT": Jured exhibition at San Joaquin Delta College, Stockton, CA - February 23 – March 17, 2017 (deltacollege.edu)

- "Inexplorado": a print portfolio; artists and exhibition dates TBA...

>2016 Highlights:

- EXHIBITION OPENING - OCTOBER 2016: new woodcuts selected into the international exhibition, "1st Xuyuan International Print Biennial" at Jinan Art Museum, CN

- EXHIBITION OPENING - SEPTEMBER 2016: a new woodcut was selected into the international exhibition, "Neo Print Prize 2016" at Neo Gallery in Bolton, UK

- Curated, group portfolio and exhibition, "Edditional Tools: Digital-Traditional Printmaking" at SUNY Oneonta Project Space Gallery through March 4, 2016.

- Residency at Art Print Residence, Arenys de Munt, España - January (see blog link below for pics)

>2015 Highlights:

- Residency, Polymer Workshop, and Artist Talk at Print Art Research Center, Seoul, Korea - December

- "Xiaoxiang Exhibition of International Printmaking" at the Meilun Museum of Art, Changsha, China- November

- Solo exhibition, "The Printed Image and the Written Word", at Changsha Normal University (CNU), Changsha, China - November (see blog link below for pics)

- Residency at Xiaoxiang International Printmaking Center, Changsha Normal University (CNU), Changsha, China - October through November (see blog link below for pics)

- Group exhibition, "Sections from BIG INK: A Portfolio of Large Woodcut Prints" at Seoul National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea through September.

- IMPACT9 Printmaking Conference, Hangzhou, China - September

- Residency at Amsterdam's Grafisch Atelier (AGA Lab) Amsterdam, NL - July through September

- Online exhibition, "Fusion", at Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA - May through June (Fusion Gallery)

- BIG INK!: AS220 Printshop, Providence, RI - April 2015 (BIG INK! event pics at AS220 Printshop, Providence, RI)

- BIG INK!: Press Notes (lyellcastonguay.com/2015/04/helio-relief-the-woodcut-process-you-have-probably-never-heard-of.html)

>2014:

- PRINTWORK 2014, jured exhibition at AIR Project Space, Pittsburgh, PA - December 5, 2014 – February 2, 2015 (artistsimageresource.org), (Blog/Images of Exhibit)

- Post-Photgraphy: Beyond the Print, jured exhibition at Target Gallery (Torpedo Factory), Alexandria, VA - November, 2014 (torpedofactory.org)

- ArtGemni Prize Exhibition at TriSpace Gallery, London, UK - October, 2014 (artgeminiprize.com)

- Residency at La Ceiba Grafica, Coatepec, Veracruz, Mexico - June, 2014 (laceibagrafica.org)

- Co-Director of Student Travel to Cuba and Residency at Taller Experimental de Grafica, Havana, Cuba - May, 2014 (Taller Experimental de Grafica)

>2013 and earlier:

- Solo Exhibition, 'of a Transient Nature' at ArtSpace, Richmond, VA-September 27-October 20, 2013 (artspacegallery.org)

- June Artist Residency at Kala Art Institute (kala.org)

- 2013 Mid America Print Council Member's Exhibition at McDonough Museum, Youngstown, OH (MAPC.org)

- Average Path Length Portfolio at the 2013 Southern Graphics Council International Conference in Milwaukee, WI (sgcinternational.org)

- Printmaking 2013, juried exhibition at SUNY Geneseo, NY

- BOUNDLESS Project Amsterdam

- BOUNDLESS exhibition at CBK Amsterdam

- Creative Research Award

- Reflections on Costa Rica

- Innovations at SUNY-Cortland

- BFA Studio Exhibition at Catherine Smith Gallery

- Beijing Studio Center

- Print Summit 2010 at East Carolina University

- Delaware State University

- 20/20 Vision-2nd Ed: The Art of Contemporary University Printmaking

- Goldwell Open Air Museum Residency

- Residency/Workshop at Robert College, Istanbul, Turkey

- Print! Pow! Wow! Exhibition

- 2006 Works on Paper Invitational at University of Hawai'i-Hilo