About the artist 🧑🎨
Hey! I’ve never done one of these - so I figured it’s long overdue!
Hi 👋 my name is Lara (she/her) and here is some Lara-lore. I hail from Minneapolis, Minnesota, born in the snow blizzard of 87’. I was lucky enough to be raised immersed in art and encouraged to be my weird self.
I fell in love with book arts at the age of 16 when I was lucky enough to receive a free year long mentorship at the Minnesota Center of book arts, where I was trained and encouraged to pursue art, my favorite being the large printing presses and the photography darkroom!! My happy place has always been carving linoleum, but I will occasionally dabble with etching (though it’s been far too long since I’ve had access to such facilities).
As a young adult, I was hot mess 😅 hopping trains and hitchhiking back-and-forth across the country and playing in a band in Canada.
I discovered my love for sailboats when someone gave me a sinking wooden sailboat to live on ⛵️
I moved back to the states -to Port Townsend WA and begun learning under a shipwright so I could teach high school girls how to use tools and work on wooden boats. And somehow a place I planned on staying for one year turned into 9-10ish? years. I found working on boats gave me a job i felt pride in! I enjoyed working hard, I enjoyed working outdoors, and with my body. As a very hands-on person, seeing what you did at the end of the day felt good! But admittedly, my art practice had fallen.
around 2018 I got obsessed with sign painting taking classes from two amazing sign painters -one in San Francisco and one in Minnesota. I ventured into opening my own sign business. I had finally found an outlet to be more creative again! And that motivated me to get back into carving new prints. And I have to say coming back into block printing was like putting back on a pair of well-worn gloves!
Oh gawd I guess this is too long according to ig.
Well, if you made it this far, my hat is off to you! The story doesn’t end here, but my rambling does. I look forward to hearing your stories while I tattoo you!
Thank you for all your support -
I appreciate you!
-Lara
❤️🔥❤️🔥❤️🔥
