Today we’d like to introduce you to Maggie Lomeli.
Maggie, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
My story as a Printmaker started in school at Otis College of Art and Design where my focus was set on abstract painting. At that time, I was taking Printmaking classes and found that it offered me more authentic outlets than I was realizing in my relationship with painting; the structured process of Printmaking felt like a relief to me compared to the subjective painting work I was doing. I loved to experiment, I loved to problem solve, and I loved being able to master a skill.
All this led to my decision to attend Tamarind Institute of Lithography, an intimate year-long program in Albuquerque that trains Printmakers to work collaboratively with other artists on a professional level. The program had a specific and intense focus on the process of lithography; while somewhat esoteric, I took this training to heart and have applied it to all of the collaborative printmaking approaches I do now.
When I returned home to Los Angeles after completing my tenure at Tamarind in 2009, I was contacted by an artist who needed to find a way to reconstruct her collaged vinyl drawings in a more archival way. Through several tests, we determined to screenprint the large-scale paintings, which resulted in several hundred-layer prints, and this was the start into my foray as a collaborative printer: working with artists and designers to produce their work through screenprint, and lithography.
Artists find me strictly by word of mouth under my moniker Gray Area Print, and I am so lucky to say that I have worked with fine artists, animators, writers, conceptual artists, painters, photographers, designers, people in fashion, people from Los Angeles, and people from other countries. I have been collaborating with artists for the last 10+ years and I have gotten to be a part of so many facets of the art world I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Artists connect with me to produce their work in a printed format. This may mean that they are interested in producing an edition of prints—which means in the multiple— and some are looking to make work that is singular in nature but needs the more precise touch of being printed, like on a painting or object, etc.
I approach the process in a very pragmatic way: they are the artist, and I am the printer. I see myself as being in a special position within art-making because my job as a collaborator is to make stronger work that is informed from a different perspective. My technical role is to translate an artist’s idea into a media they may not be familiar with. My focus on the technical aspects—color mixing, layering, curating, surface quality, troubleshooting and intuition—frees up the artist to focus on their aesthetic role.
The most fulfilling part of my role as the printer is that I am working in service to the work that couldn’t be realized otherwise.
Do current events, local or global, affect your work and what you are focused on?
All that is happening around us is informing who we are as people everyday, and it should. I have committed my artistic intentions to others for a very long time. Since being in quarantine with my family (my husband and two children), I have had the opportunity to reset my focus to a more personal level. I’m getting back into making my own work, which is manifesting itself as printed fabrics for sewing. I work by myself, listening to all I can find about the corona virus, about the Black Lives Matter movement, about the treatment ofLGBTQ people in our society, and overall, the struggles we are all facing with a bleak outlook for our immediate future.
I love the hustle and flow I experience working and teaching and meeting deadlines. At this moment in time, my form of social protest of the injustices in this country is to first and foremost, step back and listen, to honor space to amplify the voices of historically marginalized people. I feel it is important to listen carefully to how I can bring strength, love and Optimism in a time of great pain by taking care of my family, my neighbors, and my greater community members.
I see the fabrics I am making as having a correlation to the American protest quilt genre. Many people are getting back to basics, exploring the handmade arts through sewing which provides a deeper connection to their homes and families. I am also inspired by the bright colors and vibrancy of Finland’s fabric textile brand Marimekko, whose patterns offered visions of hope and joy in the years after World War II. As an artist, making this work feels like my most caring contribution.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
You can see more of the work I do on my website, grayareaprint.com and through Instagram, @grayareaprint.
There are prints I have published with artists on my site, which is an excellent and affordable way to collect art! I am looking forward to continuing collaborative work within the art world, and believe strongly in amplifying the voices and spotlighting the work of those who may not always receive the attention they should, including women, people of color, and LGBTQ artists. Please stay tuned as my husband David Lomeli and I will be publishing an edition of prints with 100% of the proceeds going to a local organization in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Contact Info:
- Website: grayareaprint.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @grayareaprint.com
Image Credit:
David Lomeli
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