Residency at La Ceiba Grafica
This past spring, I had the honor of participating in a residency at La Ceiba Gráfica in Veracruz, Mexico. La Ceiba Gráfica is a traditional printmaking atelier focused on etching, linocut, lithography, and papermaking. They are most well known for their amazing paper - which they produce in small batches and distribute both locally and across Mexico. I spent 7 days printing (sun up to sun down!) and made 100 monotypes using a variety of materials I found onsite and in the local mercado.
Per, the founder of La Ceiba, came over from Switzerland 50 years ago to teach lithography at the University of Veracruz. He saw they didn’t have presses, litho stones, inks or paper without importing them from the US or Europe with a high price tag. So, he decided to design and build his own presses from scratch. And why stop there? He worked with a factory in Mexico to produce printing inks, and began to build a paper production house. He worked with a small team to source Kozo seeds from Japan and cleaned up a nearby trash filled lot to begin cultivating the plant to use for paper making. Five years later, they have a small yet thriving Kozo farm and some beautiful Kozo paper to show for it.
I was truly blown away by the resourcefulness of Per and the team at La Ceiba. They are so dedicated to the craft of printmaking and the mission of making it accessible to the artists of Mexico. The Hacienda was filled with stunning work made by residents over the last ten years - I was so inspired by their processes, subject matter and results. I would love nothing more than to return here and continue to practice, play and grow.
This experience was a dream come true for me, and I am so excited to share the work I created in upcoming shows.