Elica Sue

Elica Sue is a block printer based on the west coast of the United States in Southern California. With no formal training in the visual arts, Elica is a self-taught printmaker who has learned from following other artists on social media. Her academic training is in linguistics (Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees) with some doctoral-level education in Education where she also taught Academic Writing to undergraduate students.

Currently, Elica works as a college essay specialist, working with high school students and transfer students applying to four-year universities. She tells us; “I love helping my students be creative in crafting stories to present to universities”. Elica started block printing at the beginning of 2021. Having always enjoyed writing letters to friends and family, she started to write letters more frequently when her grandma moved back to Japan and when COVID hit. Wanting a way to decorate her letters, Elica started creating her own stamps with the Speedball Speedy Carve blocks to print on multiple pieces of letter paper.

From there, she started creating cards and bookmarks – functional pieces that could double as artwork. Her cards were inspired by her love of sending mail, and the bookmarks were inspired by her passion for reading.

Inspiration for Elica’s designs comes from all corners of her life, but what inspires her most is nature, vibrant colours, and her upbringing as a Japanese American. She has also turned her pets (lovebird and Italian greyhounds) into blocks! “As a new artist, I hope to pull inspiration from various different things in the future,” says the printmaker.

Elica chose to post and create a shop (currently an Etsy shop that sells to the rest of the United States) under the name ‘Foldy Pigeon’ because pigeon in Japanese is hato, while (a version of the word) heart is haato. She states; “I felt that sending handwritten letters and cards to loved ones was a bit like sending a piece of your heart to them (and delivered by a pigeon, of course). The name combines my love of language (and word play), nature (pigeon), aspects of Japanese language and culture (foldy/folded – like origami) and connection through art (heart).”

@foldypigeon

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