Printmaking involves nearly all the senses, from the tactile carving of the wood or linoleum in a relief print, to the sound of the needle working a copper etching, the smell of the studio when mixing up the ink, and of course, the visual revelation as the image slowly emerges layer by layer.
Born in 1965 and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Monique is largely self-taught and began showing her work publicly in 2012. Her favorite facet of printmaking over the last eight years has been reductive linocut relief. She credits her style to being unaware of what the perceived limitations of her medium might be. She has also begun integrating aspects of traditional Japanese Mokuhanga into her work after completing an Artist Residency in Japan in 2019.
Unabashedly nature-inspired, Monique's muse is found in the Sierras, along the dynamic Pacific coastline, or on her travels throughout the West and abroad. Her work imparts an awareness of the importance of wild spaces and an appreciation of species and habitat diversity. Her work is imbued with the feelings of peacefulness, serenity and wonder she experiences when observing the natural world.
Monique’s linocuts and etchings can be found in private collections throughout North America, the United Kingdom, Australia and Europe. Her prints have garnered numerous honors and awards, including the Ironbridge Fine Arts Printmaker Prize at the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers at NOPE2019. You can see her work “Skinny Dipper”at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum’s Birds in Art 2023.
Monique lives and works in Oakhurst, CA in a husband-and-wife-built green home / studio minutes from Yosemite.