ARTIST TALK
ARTIST TALK | A Dialogue with Local Printmakers
How do artistic traditions travel across cultures and find new expression in contemporary art? Join us for a curator-led conversation with Lucy Ralph and Mary Ellen Carsley, two artists featured in Impressions of Japan: A Dialogue with Local Printmakers, as they explore how Japanese art and culture have shaped their creative practices.
Drawing on her background in painting, Ralph explores quiet, contemplative moments in nature through intaglio etching, creating intimate black-and-white prints that invite viewers into a moment of stillness. Carsley draws on her research-based practice of traditional Japanese woodblock printing (mokuhanga 木版画), exploring alternative ways to present her prints through formats such as Japanese accordion-style books (orihon 折本).
Through a discussion of their work, techniques, and artistic influences, Ralph and Carsley will share how their individual experiences inform their approaches to printmaking and image-making.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Lucy Ralph
Lucy Ralph is a British multidisciplinary artist whose practice encompasses painting and printmaking. Ralph has exhibited internationally in New York, Paris, London, and South Korea. Her practice has been featured in publications including Architectural Digest, and her awards include the Clyde & Co Art Award and the Altarea Cogedim Art Award.
Predominantly working in oil on canvas, Ralph also pursues an ongoing engagement with printmaking. During a fellowship at The Cooper Union School of Art in New York, she studied Japanese printmaking techniques under Yasuyuki Shibata.
Ralph earned her undergraduate degree from Central Saint Martins School of Art in London and her master’s degree at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Before relocating to Washington, DC, Ralph lived and worked in Paris for eight years. She is currently an affiliate artist of Discover Graphics Atelier at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia.
Mary Ellen Carsley
Mary Ellen Carsley is an artist, former scientific and architectural illustrator, and an educator in both collegiate and museum settings. As a trained architect, Mary Ellen has illustrated eight books and numerous articles for national and international journals and continues to illustrate for museums and cultural institutions. Her works have been included in the collections of the National Building Museum and the Library of Congress.
Working primarily in printmaking, watercolor, and ink, Carsley is inspired by the small universes inhabited by insects, birds, and plants. In her work, Carsley hopes to offer a lens into the intricate beauties of the tiny universes existing within the larger natural world around us. Through her work, she wishes that others can find the same reassurance, delight, and inspiration that, amidst all human endeavors, tiny nature not only perseveres but thrives.
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