Carolina’s Print Studio

Carolina’s Print studio started almost a year ago; born out of the pandemic and a fresh-out-of-college mind that was itching to produce and experiment. After finishing college, Carolina M Correia found herself thinking what her next step should be and, not wanting to stay still, she started making prints.

Her first experience with printmaking was during her third year of college, in 2018, in a semester long class: “It was the perfect opportunity to try many different printing mediums and to be introduced to the materials and techniques, such as linocut, wood engraving, dry point and intaglio techniques”. From there, Carolina started exploring a myriad of new graphical languages she could use to express her creativity.

Based in Portugal where she works as an illustrator and printmaker, Carolina’ background is in Natural Science and Biology (high school level). She then complemented this with a university degree in Drawing and Fine Arts from the Fine-Arts Faculty at the University of Lisbon, and additional training in Scientific Illustration and Natural Illustration under the mentorship of prominent Portuguese Scientific Illustrator Pedro Salgado. As such, her education is quite classical and focused on technique and the pictorial representation of Nature and the world around us. Because printmaking has such a detail-oriented nature, and because of the way it so effortlessly translates organic shapes, Carolina felt immediately drawn to it: “I feel that with block printing, I can put my ideas to paper in a much looser way, so it became a technique to complement my scientific illustrations, something that allowed me to be less rigid with composition and subject matter. Intaglio techniques also came very naturally, as they have a very strong resemblance to drawing and they allow for a lot of detail.”

Carolina’s work revolves around nature and her traditions as a Portuguese artist. She’s fascinated by the natural world, the relations between beings and ecosystems, and the beauty and form of nature and the overall peace that it brings her. She enjoys playing around with animals interacting with their habitats’ flora in playful and whimsical compositions, pushing the boundaries of what’s real or plausible, but always trying to be consistent in representing the species within their habitats. “It’s my way of keeping my scientific illustrator’s brain at ease, while allowing myself to be more creative and playful with my subject matter,” describes the printmaker. She also takes inspiration from her roots and the history of her heritage, sharing patterns or stories that have an impact on her. Carolina states; “It’s a way to share a part of my identity that I’m not able to show through any other medium, and I’m happy I can channel it through my blocks”.

As a lover of nature, and conscious of the state of the world around her, Carolina also aims to encapsulate an eco-friendly mentality in her small business practices. All the packaging and production methods strive to be as sustainable as possible. At the moment, Carolina’s Print Studio is being run out of her parents’ basement, printing everything by herself, by hand, with the help of her trusty barens. She has had to limit her printmaking endeavours to block printing for the time being, as she doesn’t have access to a press, which has given her time to explore these mediums and train her technique.

Currently, Carolina is working as a part-time scientific illustrator and a part-time printmaker, taking in a lot of other illustration work and projects to accommodate her “new in the art world” status. She plans on expanding to new printmaking mediums in the future, working to have a solo exhibition, and eventually a proper studio space, with a printing press and space to embrace new projects.

@carolina.m.correia.print
www.carolinamcorreia.com

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