episode 269 : juliee beyt

This is the last episode in the series of collaborations with Print Austin interviewing their 5 x 5 Exhibition artists. As you’ll hear the exhibition is currently open in the Tin District in Dallas and closes on October 24th. So if you’re any where near than make sure not to miss it!Today on the podcast, Miranda speaks with Austin, Texas–based printmaker and architect Juliee Beyt, whose journey into printmaking is what she calls her second act.After spending decades working in architecture, Juliee found herself confronting an irony that a lot of people in creative professions can relate to: the more successful you become, the further you can find yourself from the actual act of making. For Juliee, printmaking became a way to reconnect with the creativity, experimentation, and joy that had drawn her to design in the first place.In this conversation they talk about the surprising connections between architecture and printmaking, the pleasures of working in a process-driven medium, and why being a beginner can actually be a wonderful place to be.They also get into some of the stranger phenomena of the art market. Why does everyone at a particular art fair seem to want the exact same print? Why do certain images suddenly take over our collective imagination? Remember when everything had an owl on it? And why is everyone making prints of sardines right now?But beyond the technical and the commercial, this conversation moves into something much bigger: why we make things at all. What does it mean to create an object that becomes part of someone else's life? And how does making art allow us to leave a little piece of ourselves behind in the world?It's a really lovely conversation about creativity, curiosity, community, and the immense satisfaction of making things with your hands.Juliee's InstagramPrint Austin 5 x 5Hello, Print Friend Residency in Chiang Mai, ThailandThe World's Largest WoodcutHello, Print FriendHello, Print Friend DocumentariesHello, Print Friend YOUTUBEHello, Print Friend MERCHHello, Print Friend WEBSITEHello, Print Friend INSTAGRAMHello,Print Friend PATREONHello, Print Friend SPONSORSLegion Paper

This week Miranda speaks with Evelyn Escamilla Nichols, a Mexican American graphic designer and printmaker based in Austin, Texas.Evelyn’s path to printmaking winds through Chicago, art school in Monterrey, Mexico, a career in graphic design, and eventually back to the tactile, imperfect, deeply human process of making prints. In our conversation, they talk about the freedom she finds in printmaking after years of designing for clients, the beauty of leaving the artist’s hand visible, and the strange magic that still happens every time you pull a print and reveal the image for the first time.They also talk about print as a tool for resistance and community. Evelyn is part of Protest Printworks, a loosely organized group of Austin printmakers who gather to live-print political imagery on shirts, totes, and posters brought in by the community. They discuss what it means to make political work in a deeply divided moment, the risks that can come with putting those images into the world, and the role artists can play in resisting apathy, creating spaces for connection, and documenting the times they are living through.This is a conversation about making things with your hands, finding the thing you are able to contribute, and the power of an image once it leaves the studio and begins its life in the world.Evelyn's websiteEvelyn's InstagramPrint Austin 5 x 5Hello, Print Friend Residency in Chiang Mai, ThailandThe World's Largest WoodcutHello, Print FriendHello, Print Friend DocumentariesHello, Print Friend YOUTUBEHello, Print Friend MERCHHello, Print Friend WEBSITEHello, Print Friend INSTAGRAMHello,Print Friend PATREONHello, Print Friend SPONSORSLegion Paper

This week Miranda speaks with Elizabeth Williams de Garcia, an artist whose intricate copper line etchings bring together memory, domestic space, nostalgia, and the strange emotional lives of the objects.Elizabeth grew up in Louisiana and Texas and discovered printmaking while studying at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Since then, her life and practice have taken her from the United States to Guatemala, the Netherlands, and back again, with each move requiring her to rebuild not only a home and studio practice, but a relationship to place and community.Her work is extraordinarily rich in texture and detail: patterned fabrics, birds, bodies, flowers, furniture, household objects, and fragments of interiors accumulate into images that feel like memories caught somewhere between the familiar and the uncanny. Working exclusively in copper line etching, Elizabeth builds tone and atmosphere through painstaking networks of drawn lines, often spending months developing a single plate.In their conversation, they talk about the pleasures of slow processes, why she returned to etching after years of painting, the relationship between moving and memory, and what happens when the aesthetics of your childhood begin to disappear. They also talk about the experience of repeatedly being an outsider, the surprising culture shock of returning to the United States, and the way printmaking studios can provide an almost instant point of connection when you arrive somewhere new.They also get into Southern interiors, maximalism, crows bearing less-than-glamorous gifts, and why Elizabeth hopes looking at her prints can simply be, in her words, “a party for your eyes.”Elizabeth's WebsiteElizabeth's InstagramPrint Austin 5 x 5The World's Largest WoodcutHello, Print FriendHello, Print Friend DocumentariesHello, Print Friend Residency in Chiang Mai, ThailandHello, Print Friend YOUTUBEHello, Print Friend MERCHHello, Print Friend WEBSITEHello, Print Friend INSTAGRAMHello,Print Friend PATREONHello, Print Friend SPONSORSLegion Paper

This episode is part of our ongoing collaboration with PrintAustin and its 2026 5 × 5 Exhibition. This week Miranda speaks with Andi Newberry, an interdisciplinary artist, printmaker, writer, and educator originally from North Texas.Andi’s work tangles memory, storytelling, and imagination through screenprint, lithography, monotype, collage, textiles, and writing. In their conversation, they talk about the ways both prints and memories are transformed through translation and retelling; how photographs, cinema, dreams, and family stories shape our sense of self; and why a good title can offer another doorway into an artwork.They also discuss the badass women printmakers who inspired Andi’s path, the relationship between teaching and maintaining a creative practice, and her wonderfully inventive Do Not Disturb print exchange, which uses the familiar form of the hotel door hanger to explore privacy, surveillance, security, isolation, and community.Andi's WebsiteAndi's InstagramPrint Austin 5 x 5The World's Largest WoodcutHello, Print FriendHello, Print Friend DocumentariesHello, Print Friend Residency in Chiang Mai, ThailandHello, Print Friend YOUTUBEHello, Print Friend MERCHHello, Print Friend WEBSITEHello, Print Friend INSTAGRAMHello,Print Friend PATREONHello, Print Friend SPONSORSLegion Paper

This week Miranda speaks with artist, educator, and all-around print friend Vanessa Jo Bahr.Vanessa is the founder of Scavenger Studios in Ashland, Oregon, where she runs a community print studio and artist residency, alongside teaching printmaking at Southern Oregon University and maintaining her own incredibly rich studio practice.Vanessa is a scavenger in a very real sense of the word. She collects objects from the natural world, works with reclaimed copper plates, makes inks and pigments from plants and other materials, makes paper from studio scraps, tans hides, and follows materials all the way back to their origins. Her work asks what happens when, instead of constantly looking for something new, we pay close attention to what is already around us.They talk about running artist residencies, the particular magic of spending long days in the studio with other printmakers, and why sometimes the best work happens when it’s late, you’re running on fumes, something has gone completely wrong, and you just have to figure out what to do next.This is a conversation about printmaking, but it’s also about curiosity, resourcefulness, and finding ways to live a little closer to the materials and landscapes that make our work possible.Vanessa's WebsiteVanessa on InstagramThe World's Largest WoodcutHello, Print Friend DocumentariesHello, Print Friend Residency in Chiang Mai, ThailandHello, Print Friend YOUTUBEHello, Print Friend MERCHHello, Print Friend WEBSITEHello, Print Friend INSTAGRAMHello,Print Friend PATREONHello, Print Friend SPONSORSLegion Paper

This week Miranda speaks with journalist and author Holly E. J. Black to talk about her wonderful new book, The Story of Printmaking: A Global History of Art.If you've ever wished there were a single book that told the story of printmaking, from its origins in East Asia to the contemporary artists pushing the medium forward today, this is that book. Holly manages to tell thousands of years of history without losing sight of what makes printmaking so compelling in the first place: the people, the processes, and the stories behind the prints.Holly isn't just an art historian or an author. She trained as a printmaker herself, and that practical knowledge comes through on every page. They talk about why printmaking is so difficult to define, the forgotten printers and publishers who shaped art history, Renaissance lawsuits over copied prints, propaganda, politics, Paula Rego, Robert Blackburn, Atelier 17, and why understanding how a print is made is often just as important as understanding why it was made.They also end up taking a detour into AI, journalism, and why there's something deeply satisfying about reading a book written by someone who clearly spent years in libraries, archives, and print studios rather than asking a chatbot to summarize the internet.Holly's SubstackHolly's WebsiteHolly's InstagramBuy The Story of PrintmakingThe World's Largest WoodcutHello, Print Friend DocumentariesHello, Print Friend Residency in Chiang Mai, ThailandHello, Print Friend YOUTUBEHello, Print Friend MERCHHello, Print Friend WEBSITEHello, Print Friend INSTAGRAMHello,Print Friend PATREONHello, Print Friend SPONSORSLegion Paper

This week Miranda speaks with artist, educator, community-builder, and all-around creative force Ben Beres.Ben first joined the podcast way back on episode six of Hello, Print Friend (née Pine | Copper | Lime), and in this episode sits down face-to-face in Chiang Mai, Thailand with Miranda while he was here for a residency at Hello Print Friend Studios.A lot has happened since 2019. A global pandemic, major shifts in the art world, the loss of loved ones, new creative obsessions, and the inevitable perspective that comes with getting older and staying committed to a life in the arts.They discuss growing up as the son of a pastor, building community through art, teaching the next generation of artists, and what it means to keep making work when art is no longer just something you do, but something that has become the fabric of your life. They dive into his recent fascination with paper marbling and vitreography, the evolution of his practice over the last several years, and the role that travel, experimentation, and collaboration continue to play in his creative life.They also talk about his time in Thailand, the prints he created during his residency, finding inspiration in unfamiliar places, and the ways different cultures can challenge our assumptions about how life is supposed to be lived.This is a conversation about art, grief, curiosity, aging, friendship, and the strange privilege of getting to spend decades doing the thing you love.Ben Beres' WebsiteBen Beres' InstagramThe World's Largest WoodcutHello, Print Friend DocumentariesHello, Print Friend Residency in Chiang Mai, ThailandHello, Print Friend YOUTUBEHello, Print Friend MERCHHello, Print Friend WEBSITEHello, Print Friend INSTAGRAMHello,Print Friend PATREONHello, Print Friend SPONSORSLegion Paper

This week Miranda speaks with Elizabeth Hawley, owner and director of Gallery No. 85 in Seattle, Washington.Gallery No. 85 now occupies the historic home of Davidson Galleries, one of the most influential print-focused galleries in North America. After fifty years under the stewardship of founder Sam Davidson, the gallery has entered a new chapter, and Elizabeth is the person carrying that legacy forward while building a vision entirely her own.Elizabeth's path into the print world is anything but conventional. Trained as an art historian and working professionally as an attorney, she brings a deep appreciation for the stories that surround works of art: their creation, collection, preservation, and eventual place in history. In this conversation they discuss everything from her graduate research on world’s fairs and to art law, estate collections, and the emotional relationships people form with the objects they live alongside.They also talk about the unique challenges and joys of selling contemporary prints, the educational role galleries play, and what it means to inherit a respected institution while trying to build something new. Throughout the conversation, Elizabeth returns to a simple but powerful idea: that art is ultimately about connection: between artists and audiences, objects and histories, and people and one another.Gallery No. 85 WebsiteGallery No. 85 InstagramThe World's Largest WoodcutHello, Print Friend DocumentariesHello, Print Friend Residency in Chiang Mai, ThailandHello, Print Friend YOUTUBEHello, Print Friend MERCHHello, Print Friend WEBSITEHello, Print Friend INSTAGRAMHello,Print Friend PATREONHello, Print Friend SPONSORSLegion Paper

This week Miranda speaks with David Barker of the Muban Education Trust, an organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, researching, and exhibiting contemporary Chinese woodblock prints.David is a researcher, writer, former professor of printmaking, and one of the leading English-language scholars working on Chinese printmaking today, having contributed to a number of books published by The British Library, The British Museum and The China National Academy of Fine Arts contributing regularly to the journal Printmaking Today. He joins the podcast today in his role as the Senior Research Fellow at the Muban Educational Trust weeks before the trust was to show at the London Original Print Fair. In this conversation, they discuss the history of the Trust, how a small London-based institution became one of the most important collections of contemporary Chinese woodblock prints outside of China, and the relationships they’ve built with artists and academies across the country over the last three decades.They talk about the continuing importance of woodblock printing in China, the role of institutions like the Central Academy and Hangzhou Academy in preserving traditional techniques while fostering contemporary experimentation, and why woodblock remains such a vital and evolving medium for young artists today. David also reflects on the educational mission of the Trust, the challenges of collecting and exhibiting contemporary Chinese prints internationally, and the fascinating lineage that connects today’s artists back to some of the earliest print traditions in the world.The Muban Education TrustLondon Original Print FairHello, Print Friend DocumentariesHello, Print Friend Residency in Chiang Mai, ThailandHello, Print Friend YOUTUBEHello, Print Friend MERCHHello, Print Friend WEBSITEHello, Print Friend INSTAGRAMHello,Print Friend PATREONHello, Print Friend SPONSORSLegion Paper

This week Miranda coming to you from El Barrio Artsspace in New York City, where we recently screened Impresiones de Resistencia: Printmaking in Puerto Rico at the Rafael Tufiño Printmaking Workshop.This conversation was recorded on-site, and Miranda was joined by artist Oliver Rios, a printmaker and filmmaker who documents the stories of the Puerto Rican diaspora in the city. He helped guide this interview, so a big thank you to Oliver for being part of this moment.Our guest is Nitza Tufiño, an artist, educator, and one of the key figures behind the workshop itself. As the daughter of legendary printmaker Rafael Tufiño, her life and work are deeply rooted in the history of Puerto Rican printmaking and the cultural movement of El Barrio.In this conversation, Nitza shares what it means to build and sustain a collective space for artists: one grounded in community, education, and cultural memory. We talk about the role of printmaking as a tool for connection and resistance, the importance of creating spaces where people can see themselves reflected, and the responsibility artists have to carry history forward.This episode is about more than printmaking. It’s about community, resilience, and the power of art to bring people together.Nitza's WebsiteRafael Tufiño Printmaking WorkshopHello, Print Friend Residency in Chiang Mai, ThailandHello, Print Friend DocumentariesHello, Print Friend YOUTUBEHello, Print Friend MERCHHello, Print Friend WEBSITEHello, Print Friend INSTAGRAMHello,Print Friend PATREONHello, Print Friend SPONSORSLegion Paper