Block Printing Experiments

Hey, it’s been a tough week but a productive one for sure, I wanted to show you some of the progress I’ve been making in my printmaking class:

We started out the semester with an accordian book project! It was a fun challenge for me to figure out how I’d like to configure it and what things I thought worked and what didn’t. All of the prints are reduction prints which was a bit of a challenge because of the multiple prints but also I have a printing press at home to ensure the best printing of the image so it was all done by wooden spoon. Honestly, it was quite fun just to play around with it and layer it. I did 4 layers of transparent black to create this lovely image of my window throughout the summer. It reminds me of hopefulness, the sun’s warmth and prosperity but then I displace it by adding these heavy contrast image of what the world looked like to me in the realm of social issues. This for me hopefully questions the complicated feelings that come about as one makes choices about what emotion they choose to honor or acknowledge.

As much as i love how it came out, there are some major things I would change about it:

1. Better images for the photographs - These are super badly printed images of places I had experienced during the summer while still under quaratine. (I only travelled to D.C. which you can check out in this post)

2. Better glueing or generally different medium - I feel like this would make much better for a zine if I were to document other peoples spaces and the particular issues that they are concerned with

3. A whole new selection of poetry: Yeah, I’m not much of a poet but I love prose. I’d love to find some poetry or some writing that compliments the message a bit better or that illuminates the issues that arise with the image. I might rewrite them but I feel like choosing a work that moves me might be more fun even though it takes more time.

I feel like so much has happened since this project, it felt refreshing to start another print making project. I spent the past 3-4 weeks working on 2 print projects one of which I would also really love to do as a book. This one was the real experiment because while making it I really changed the way that I saw my own actions while working on it. It’s narrative, it’s simple and colorful but still dark and goes through a transformation that I feel in a way everyone has had to go through this year.

Focused on Opportunity

I’m feeling surprisingly motivated and attentive as I feel out what I want to do with my time. From joining a lovely skate group to going to my first protest, some new opportunities have presented themselves to me in ways I could never imagine. I’ve decided that they are still a secret but I also want to speak them into existence. There’s nothing wrong with being passionate about many things, that applies to life and to art as well.

I went out to the Raynham Flea Market and I was able to score some expired 120 Kodak film from WW2. I desperately want to play with and share to explore whatever I get and work it into a collage or some other project that yields itself to me. Other projects I’m working on is making gifs for instagram for playing around on my stories and for others to use if they like. It’s underrated and fun. It’s also a good step in the right direction if animation is my next goal in the digital area. Block printing is still on my radar though so I went ahead and redecorated some stained jeans with the stamps I made. It was relaxing and made me aware of the fact I could design prints in that way for myself without a manufacturer. The hands on process is the most important part to me or else it feels like it’s not my work.

I’m focused on building myself and those around me and now’s time before it gets too cold, before people lose steam (though many have already), before it’s not our biggest issue anymore. I’m taking a lesson from my cat to just do, and ask questions later or as I go along. He gets in trouble for it way more often than I do but it’s paying off. I’m considering it personal and professional development. Anyway,

Hoping for greatness ahead for all of us,

Erica ✌🏾

Going Outside of My Comfort Zone

Creating Content and Opening Opportunity

I just want to say thank you to those who have been keeping tabs on me during quarantine, I appreciate it and I see you. Being able to stay inside and just restructure my life and my attitude towards reaching my goals has helped me tremedously and improved my creative process in a lot of ways:

1. I learned how to schedule myself AND not overbook myself

   This for me was hard because I’ve had a very regimned life. I grew up going to private school and eventually public school with multiple extra-curricular activites. Even going to college I spent my freshman year in a transistions program with a very small group and they created our schedules for us to relieve us of some of the hassle of having to choose.

   By getting an empty dotted notebook in a beautiful sunshine yellow, I was able to set up my planner almost like bullet journal and gave myself 4 slots per day to assign major tasks, appointments and due dates. This worked for me because it forced me to have to take the time to see and write down my month’s plans, my week by week per page and each day’s goals. (If you want to know more about how I organize my week, let me know and I’ll run through it in my next post!) it keeps me from trying to do too much at once and overwhelming myself but I can also see 2 weeks at a time, what am I doing and how much am I doing all at once.

2. I started treating myself better during quarantine because I had to (I wanted too but I NEEDED to too)

   As someone who works in the beauty industry, it’s crazy to me that I didn’t take care of my body the way that I should have been but let me tell you, I almost ran out of masks during all of this mess. Hair masks, Feet masks, Face masks, body scrubs, all of it and MORE! I took the time to eat better knowing that I didn’t have to leave my house. I had all the time in the world to cook and now is as good a time as any to whip myself into shape. Chloe Ting and skating in my kitchen also whipped me into shape too! 😂 When you are in more harmonious mind set, everything feels more intentional and prescise. I realized that my internal body and external body weren’t on the same level and things needed to be balanced differently.

3. My creative self felt free to pursue more as I adjusted into who I want to become.

   This is still ongoing but I want to acknowledge the changes that I’ve made to my art as time passes and how I’m choosing to expand myself. One of my goals is to become a creative director, to design and model products, and to create whatever I envision and that includes the content on here. All of us have dreams to do and be more than what we are at the moment and that takes time. I’ve grown so much since this year has started from learning my boundaries with myself and others but also trying new things from modeling for local brands to really making sure my website and things I sell are of high quality. I’m working on making that even better and even more consistent but for the time being I hope I’m doing alright by y’all.

   Over the past few months, I’ve really challenged myself to become a new person with an even higher work ethic than I’ve had in the past and really filling a void in myself and the world around me.

   How will you challenge yourself to be an even better you?

Allow me to introduce myself

My name is Erica. mentally plays “Jay-Z - Public Announcement” Corny? Yes. A classic? Also yes. I feel like the best way to get to know me is through my humor and the little things I take joy and pride in everyday. I was born in Staten Island, New York, which I take a lot of pride in even though I didn’t live there long but visited often to see my grandmother. I still managed to pick up the style and the attitude so there’s always that.

I spent my younger years growing up in the museums and private schools of New Bedford, Massachusetts. It was interesting having access to things I didn’t even realize would greatly impact my life to this day. Through the Weekly Compass, a free black-owned and ran newspaper in New Bedford that my mom was working at the time, I was able to spend my time in museums and the art studios of locals and make friends with the mayor. At one of their annual silent auctions, I kept trying to bet against the mayor’s wife for this beautiful beaded purse. Super 2000’s. It was that cute, teen girl trying to look like Lizzie McGuire, salmon pink, seafoam green and cobalt blue glass and iridescent seed beads. Growing with those experiences and going to the museum in New York with my family, helped to fuel my opportunities to expand the idea of what I am capable of.

My medium changes as often as I have had access to these types of higher institutions and resources. When I attended an all girls school, I had access to screen printing and the option to cut out life-sized versions of myself to adorn as I saw fit. I had the space to expand in a way I would yet realize is important to the way that I learned how to make and do art. When I moved to Boston, I was cut away a place I spent most of my time playing and exploring for unknown territory. I’ll admit I wasn’t on board at first but I learned to appreciate and experience the city. It was another breath of fresh air into exploring space and my interests.

I had to grow into my blackness a bit to fully embrace some things i have learned to distance myself from. There are many problems all around the world and especially being black, and a woman, and young, and not wealthy you are at a disadvantage to speak and be heard or be seen and understood in the ways that you choose to see the world. I’m an optimist or at least I try. I’d like to believe that my voice as, soft as it can be especially with a mask on, that it matters and it should be heard. That my mind should be explored for ideas and inventions and phycological concepts of thought.

It becomes clearer and clearer to me that it is within my power to control the atmosphere of a room by will. I want people to see my work the way that I see myself and how I experience Black livelihood. Physically and spiritually through experience. Textures, and sounds carry a memory and feeling through it and can transport one through space and time. This is one of the reason why music is an integral part of my life and how it influences my illustration and design making for fashion accessories I make. (check the shop)

I want this to be a digitally free space so I thought, why not start off with a little casual reflection on how I got to where I am and how I got here. It’s a place for us to share and connect a bit. I’d love to get to know you! I’d love to hear a funny childhood story or let me know where you are from! 🥰