
Meet the linocut printmaker interview - Carolina Linoleum
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This week on Meet the printmaker, we have a wonderful printmaker from Chile... Carolina Linoleum.
I have followed Carolina since the start of my own printmaking journey. Her unique geological prints were like nothing I'd ever seen done and she inspired me to think outside the box with my printmaking. I'm thrilled she has agreed to be featured today so let's get started.

Have you been printmaking for a long time? What first attracted you to linocut?
My linocut journey began in June of last year. I was visiting my boyfriend in the UK for a few months and had a lot of free time, so took the time to learn. Before that I had never experienced any type of printmaking, at school art was only oil painting. I think my love started watching reveal peel videos on social media, it was like seeing a mirror and magic at the same time.
You know how much I love your geology prints, they are so unique and brilliant! What first gave you the idea to start making geology linocuts?
It is a part of my life! I am lucky enough to live surrounded by volcanoes in the south of Chile, South America. They are an important part of the structure of the Andes, seeing them change the landscape so quickly has always fascinated me. They are alive inside! During my university thesis I read a massive geology book, it had these amazing illustrations of different processes of the earth.
What influences and inspires your linocuts now? Is it where you are living or have travelled to?
If I see all my prints made to date, they are all born from my little obsessions. Some more repetitive like geology and others more disperse. At this moment, it’s movies that somehow have touched me. The Truman Show was the first film that had that effect on me.
Your most recent prints have gorgeous soft pastel colours, is this a new direction for you?
Maybe. I started using only black, and now learning reduction prints has given me the freedom to use more than just one colour and play more with mixing them. I have a preference for bright pastel colours especially pink!
Do you have a favourite part of the printmaking process?
When I started it was carving, but now I really enjoy a print day. To mix colours and use the roller gives me so much joy.
Do you always use a wooden spoon to print? Do you prefer this to using a press?
I would love to have a press, but for the last few years I’ve been living between Chile and the UK without a settled workspace, so as long as I’m moving and travelling my wooden spoon and a cheap Japanese bamboo baren are my buddies for the duty.
What is your next big printmaking challenge? What are you working towards now?
First, to have a settled workspace just for printmaking. That would be the dream! Second to continue learning and creating more ideas, maybe bigger prints! No limits.
Quick fire questions
Favourite carving tool?
Pfeil 15/2
Favourite printmaking paper?
At the moment Somerset paper, would love to try some Japanese ones
Man-made or nature scenes for your prints?
Nature
If you could only print using one colour forevermore, which colour would it be?
Back to black
If you could meet any artist (alive or dead) who would it be?
Difficult one, alive Stanley Donwood. And dead, Roberto Matta Chilean painter
A huge thank you to Carolina for her time today and giving such interesting insights into her art. You can find her on Instagram as Carolina.Linoleum and her Etsy shop is here.