As a printmaker, I’ve always had Tacoma’s annual Wayzgoose festival on my radar. My first time attending, just a few years out of my college printmaking program, was back in 2014. But life started happening, I fell away from my art practice, I got busy, had a kid, and never made it back to another Wayzgoose event. Then, at the end of 2023 I started slowly returning to my art making practice and made a promise to myself to fully give myself over to my art making, and to actually apply for art opportunities— especially local ones.
The first thing I did was apply for Wayzgoose, to be one of the steamroller print artists. When I got the email that they accepted me, I had to read the email like 10 times to make sure I read it right. I was so excited prior to even getting that email that I made a mini version of my steamroller print as a proof of concept.
Wayzgoose is such a perfect event that represents so much about what I love about Tacoma. It’s interactive by design and as a printmaker, I love that it gives a community hands-on introduction to printmaking as an art form. I was only introduced to printmaking in college and once I discovered it, I fell wholly in love and ended up focusing my BA in Art on Printmaking. So for other folks to have this event to potentially discover the magic of printmaking without having to go to a whole 4 year art program, is really incredible.
And beyond that, there’s such a beautiful, thriving community of letterpress and printmaking artists here in Tacoma. I love that this longstanding event celebrates that community every year. And I’m crossing my fingers that I’ll get to be a part of it again next year!
If you’re interested in purchasing one of my Wayzgoose prints, you can shop the full size limited edition steamroller relief print, the giclée reproduction, and the mini relief print below!
