SAGE STORIESA Conversation with Ana Inciardi
Interview by Bella Brodsky
Shot by Helen Tuchmann
Instagram Website
Hi, Ana! Let’s begin with a little introduction: tell me who you are, the place you call home, and the space you work within!
Hiya! My name is Anastasia Inciardi and I am a printmaker. I grew up in Brooklyn, NY and recently moved to Portland, Maine. I live with my partner, Addison, and our cat, Coupon. I carve linocuts out of linoleum, ink them up, and print them with my miniature etching press in my home studio or the community printshop I am now a part of, Pickwick Independent Press.
Let’s dive into a bit of backstory! Tell me a bit about your experiences with art growing up and how those shaped the work you are doing now.
Growing up in BK with parents both in the arts I was lucky enough to be visiting museums often. In high school I was very into interning at all of the NYC museums. (I have a small obsession with the Metropolitan Museum of Art still.) This led me to start off at Kenyon College studying art history. My sophomore year I took the “History of Printmaking”, with professor Jill Greenwood. Before then I had never really paid attention to the medium of printmaking. In that class I carved my first print, (a hideous one of me cutting my hair, which was a weekly activity for me back then), which really sparked my interest! From there I started carving prints in my dorm room then in classrooms and now studios.
Tell me about your printmaking business! What art are you creating and what does the system of your business look like?
I started considering what I do, a business in April of 2020. I was about to make the move from living with my parents in Brooklyn to my own apartment with my partner in Maine in the middle of pandemic. I was kind of looking for jobs but then realized one day that I really already had a job that I loved. And it was somehow possible for me to survive off my little business. Since then my print company has grown and I can confidently call myself a small business owner. I feel very lucky! I now sell my prints on my website, inciardiprints.com and navigate the wild world of instagram!
Where do you draw inspiration from for your prints?
My body of work really took shape during my senior thesis in college. I carved 100 linocuts of objects that close friends or family members had a special relationship with. Together I created my own cabinet of curiosities of those objects. Today I draw inspiration from objects from everyday life! I come from a very food obsessed family. So that was always a topic of conversation which has heavily influenced my content!
Let’s talk about making and creating with your hands! What has that experience been like for you? And what value do you see in that process?
Carving prints is a very physical and enjoyable process. My flexcut palm tools make carving linoleum smooth and glossy. Depending on the cut, I sometimes put my face inches away from the block to pay close attention to details. The linoleum is grey on grey so it is slightly hard to tell what the image looks like until the big reveal: when you ink it up for the first time. The high of the image revealing itself is what brings me to carve everyday. Once I ink the matrix up I put it through my press with a piece of paper. When I peel the paper off you see the reverse image for the first time and your hard work has paid off. Not really knowing what it will look like until the end always reminds me of the dark room photography process. The reveal from all that hard labor is worth hours of grueling work, finger slices, inky outfits, and hundreds of linoleum burrs everywhere.
What does a day in the life of being a printmaker look like?
Typically I wake up and pack orders for a few hours over coffee and podcasts in the morning. I then walk to the post office and get a little bit of exercise in. I then divide the rest of my day up by what needs the most attention, what I need to print, carve, post, or organize. A majority of the week is afternoon printing. I tend to print specific colors one at a time. I don’t have a lot of room to roll out ink so I tend to print for example, my olives, olive oils, kales, ferns, and tabascos all at the same time because they are variations of green!
How has your experience as a queer woman been navigating this space? How do you feel as though identity has/still does shape(d) your experience?
Most of the printmakers I am around are queer. When I just started out and my style wasn’t as object based, a lot of my work was queer related. The artist community in general is so accepting or queer itself so I often feel energized my showing my queer art. I have been researching for a print project that combines my interests of art history and queerness for about a year now. I can’t wait to show everyone what I’ve been working on!
Top 3 books on your bookshelf at the moment.
Food Anatomy by Julia Rothman, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, Tools: Extending Our Reach by Cooper Hewitt.
You open your music streaming platform. What are you clicking on to listen to?
Lots of Pinegrove, Taylor Swift, Brandi Carlile, and my sister Alex Inciardi!
Thank you so much for chatting with me, Ana! Lastly, for those looking to follow along with your content and support you,
where can they find you?
@inciard and inciardiprints.com! You are so cool Bella! Xoxox
Since this interview was published, Ana has gone on to move into a new studio and create a new project of mini print vending machines! Find her on Instagram to learn more.
