Elizabeth Busey

Printmaker Elizabeth Busey likes to exploit the deliberate nature of printmaking as a way to meditate on parts of the world that fascinate her. Daily encounters with towering billows of clouds as well as expansive topographies and microscopic illuminations are translated into large, colorful reduction linocuts and detailed, rhythmic monoprint collages. From a distance, Busey’s monoprint collages often resemble quilts or mosaics. Colorful elements are carefully cut and placed into matrices reminiscent of mathematical or scientific principles. When considered up-close, vintage maps, personal cyanotypes and colorful monotypes keep the viewer’s eye moving from element to element. 

Busey’s reduction linocuts are influenced by her location in the Ohio River Watershed of the American Midwest, as well as her travels around the world. Inspiration can come from an airplane window or a forest hike. Busey uses the labor-intensive, non-digital technique of reduction printmaking to coax colorful representations of patterns in nature from a single block of linoleum.

“I gather my inspiration with the assistance of science and technology. The materials and techniques I choose are surprisingly simple in stark contrast to my methods for gathering inspiration. I see the images I create as modern-day messages. In the past, humans chose to express their community values through stone carvings or churches with stained glass.” – Elizabeth Busey