About the Artist

Nicole Rawlins is a printmaker and painter. She runs the printmaking department and the adult visual art program at the Multnomah Arts Center in Portland, Oregon. Nicole predominantly works in intaglio printmaking, which includes etching, mezzotints, spit bite and drypoint. Her work is represented by the RiverSea Gallery (Astoria, OR), the Rental Sales Gallery (Portland,OR), and Print Arts Northwest (Portland, OR.) Her work can also be found at Guardino Gallery (Portland, OR) and Augen Gallery (Portland, OR.) Her work is in the collections of Oregon State University, The Hallie Ford Museum – Willamette University, and the Portland Art Museum’s Gilkey Center. Nicole currently works from her home studio, Pandora Press Art Studio.

Artist statement

My art focuses on people and relationships, from both actual and mythical subjects. I work from life, sketches and photographs, creating a personal narrative. Most recently, my work has been influenced by religious art from the early Renaissance, particularly Flemish works by artists such as Fra Angelico. Studies of the human hand are combined with tarot and astrological symbols, alchemical patterns and images from the natural world to show a different facet of human existence.

Notes about the prints

The dominant medium I work with is intaglio (etching). I enjoy the sculptural quality of the etched plates. Each plate contains the memory of every mark that is etched into it – even when the marks are scraped away, there is often evidence of lines and tones left behind.

Spit bite is a favorite technique I use in my etchings to create delicate washy tones and dark inky blacks. It actually involves using spit, which is used as a vehicle for the nitric acid which is then painted directly on to the plate to create the lights and darks.