Exhibit: I Was Made in Shapes, by Lindsey Frances Jones

"My series of self-portrait printmaking works is inspired by something I said as a young girl to my mother. I told her that “I see shapes.” Rediscovering that phrase of my childhood during the pandemic, a time of great personal change for me, I found myself finally in pursuit of my own visual style—my shapes---through the process of printmaking. 

My journey in printmaking started while alone during the early days of the pandemic and then expanded into the vibrant community of the Teachers College printmaking studio. While in this important studio community, I pursued self-portraits by discovering my shapes across the medium. I found my work serendipitously giving life to certain visual symbols, marks, and themes in this pursuit. One such symbol was the fish, which began hiding and peaking across my work. I saw it as a simple but powerful symbol of both the enduring self and the broader collective intertwined in the process of printmaking. 

This process of discovering my own visual language compelled me to expand my work into community practices through printmaking, too. The goal of this extension of my work is to promote the importance of the printmaking medium as instrumental in promoting one’s own search for self with the guidance of the transformative and resilient power of printmaking communities of practice. "

-- Artist Statement

 Lindsey Frances Jones is a mixed-media visual artist in New York City. She works across illustration, printmaking, painting, poetry, and collage. She is a graduate student in Art and Art Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Lindsey is a 2022 awardee of the Gottesman Libraries' commissioned art, funded through the generosity of the Myers Foundations. I Was Made in Shapes was produced in collaboration with Trisha Barton, Gottesman Libraries' Lead Designer.  

Where: Offit Gallery

When: 12/2/22 - 2/3/23