Our April artist is Kristin Vantrease and we are so excited to have her! We haven’t had anything quite like this up at the shop and we think it fits perfectly in our space. Kristin grew up in Homer “with a true disdain for Anchorage,” as she put it. She credits her life in Alaska to her grandfather, who moved up from Oklahoma to be a commercial salmon fisherman in Bristol Bay. Kristin explained, “Legend has it that my grandma relentlessly picked fish next to my grandpa without gloves on. My father wielded this family legend over me anytime I dared to complain about cold hands on our fishing boat, the F/V Ruby.”
Kristin hasn’t fished for the past few summers, as she shifted her summertime focus to making art and exploring on land. She has been in Anchorage 12 years and “wouldn’t trade the trails, mountains or water for anything (except for maybe a desert mountain bike vacation).”
All of her pieces are original linocut prints inspired by photographs she has taken while camping, running, or skiing. “This collection was inspired by trips close to home, including Peters Creek, Roundtop Ridge and Harp mountain in Eagle River, the Crow Pass hut out of Girdwood, and the Devil's Pass cabin on the Resurrection trail,” Kristin said. Linocut is “essentially the process of carving out and inking my own (big!) rubber stamps. Each one has its own unique imperfections and details.”
Kristin is a self-taught printmaker, constantly inspired by the complex landscape around her. She chose to focus on recognizable landscapes and huts that people feel a connection to. Her favorite Wild Scoops flavors include matcha, anything with rhubarb, and our lineup of floral flavors (rose mochi, spiced hibiscus sorbet, etc.).
Her work will be up all month long at the Midtown shop. You can find her on instagram @adriftprints and on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/AdriftPrints. If you’re interested in purchasing a piece from this show, you can do so in the shop, via her QR code.