Alex Flower is a Tattoo Artist and Printmaker living in Birmingham, England. Alex has always been artistic, which led her to a career as a creative Pastry Chef in her 20s, and then to her “ultimate goal” of Tattooing at 30. After her health took a turn for the worse in 2020, she unfortunately had to put a pause on her tattooing career and find a new medium to work with from home; this led her to Printmaking.
After receiving a lino carving kit for her birthday in 2020 it lit a passion, and Alex instantly fell in love with the whole process. She is a self-taught printmaker, learning through the process of trial and error with different tools, inks, and papers to find her preferences. For example, her favourite papers to work with include Awagami Washi and Lokta, which are thinner handmade papers that work better with her hand burnishing technique.
Once she felt comfortable working with Lino, Alex moved onto teaching herself wood engraving, and now alternates her work between the two. She tells us; “I love working with both surfaces, but really love detail work, and there is something really fun and challenging about engraving a small block of wood. I find there are a lot of crossovers from Tattooing and Lino carving/Wood engraving; the concentration and precision required especially.”
Alex’s work is heavily influenced by nature and her surroundings, with her subjects often being florals, animals, and insects. “I have a real fondness for Bees and how important they are to the world, and feel they will always be a part of my work in some way. I am also a very keen gardener and hope to be able to use my own garden as reference for future pieces,” says the printmaker.
Working from her small home studio, Alex looks out over her garden with her cats and Gerbil by her side. She states; “I am incredibly appreciative of my studio space being at home as it means I can work on pieces at any point that I am well enough, and don’t have to travel. I feel I need to acknowledge my health, which is very complex and does limit my art practice. I have a number of chronic illnesses and struggle with my health daily; my symptoms fluctuate heavily and I have limited amounts of energy. This means I have to be very careful with how long I spend carving and printing which can sometimes lead to projects taking me longer to finish than I would like.”
For Alex, her artwork and, in particular, carving and engraving, is more than the act of creating itself. Printmaking has given her so much and allows moments of peace and calm in life; “From the meditativeness of carving to the excitement/anxiety of pulling that first print, I love every second”.
Due to her own experience, Alex is also very passionate about creating charity prints to raise awareness and money for various causes close to her heart. For the last 2 years she has created specific prints for M.E/CFS Awareness. This year, she plans to create another M.E/CFS print in May, as well as a print for Endometriosis Awareness in March.
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