Exploring the magic inherent in our world
Lindsey Reyes creates10 prints during Cellar Press residency
Reyes and workshop participants display colorful relief-printed bookmarks created during a community class at Cellar Press. (Photo by Olivia Haggerty)
A vibrant collection of multi-layer relief prints and bookmarks from the workshop. (Photo by Olivia Haggerty)
Printmaker and October artist-in-residence Lindsey Reyes holds up an 18-by-24-inch board alongside a smaller study block at Cellar Press inside The Grand Center for Arts and Culture to show how large the prototype will be when it is done. (Photo by Amy Zents)
Carving tools and pencil sketches rest on a reduction block in progress. (Photo by Amy Zents)
Reyes and workshop participants display colorful relief-printed bookmarks created during a community class at Cellar Press. (Photo by Olivia Haggerty)
A vibrant collection of multi-layer relief prints and bookmarks from the workshop. (Photo by Olivia Haggerty)
Printmaker and October artist-in-residence Lindsey Reyes holds up an 18-by-24-inch board alongside a smaller study block at Cellar Press inside The Grand Center for Arts and Culture to show how large the prototype will be when it is done. (Photo by Amy Zents)
Carving tools and pencil sketches rest on a reduction block in progress. (Photo by Amy Zents)
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NEW ULM-- Minnesota printmaker Lindsey Reyes is spending October as the artist-in-residence at Cellar Press in the basement of The Grand Center for Arts & Culture in New Ulm, creating an edition of 10 reduction block prints, each measuring 18 inches by 24 inches.
Reyes discovered the opportunity through Springboard for the Arts.
Growing up in Minnesota, she said participating in a local residency has been a primary professional goal.
“It’s always been a goal of mine to do a residency in a printmaking studio, and Cellar Press has equipment that makes printing larger projects much easier than printing them by hand,” Reyes said. “Being able to participate in a residency in my home state is very special to me.”
A 2023 graduate of Iowa State University with a degree in integrated studio arts, Reyes is based in Jamestown, North Dakota, where she is undertaking a year-long artist residency teaching kindergarten through fifth-grade art across five elementary schools.
She coordinated a month-long break from her Jamestown schedule to complete her residency at Cellar Press. Previously, she served with Artist Year through AmeriCorps during the 2023-2024 school year to enrich elementary arts programs in North Carolina.
During her residency in New Ulm, she is exploring “the magic inherent in our world” through relief printmaking, the practice of carving a design onto a block, rolling ink over the surface, and transferring it to paper under pressure. For this project, she is utilizing reduction printing, a multi-layer technique executed on a single block.
“To do this, you print a layer, continue to carve on the block, and print another layer with a new color,” Reyes said. “This reduces how much of the block is left after each layer while gradually building a multi-layer design.”
Traveling with a single block is logistically easier than managing multiple ones, but the method carries a deeper weight. Because the block changes irreversibly with every step, Reyes must commit to an idea and then let it go.
“Working with only one block that changes irreversibly with every layer forces me to bring an idea to life and then let it go through the cathartic process of printing and carving it away,” she said. “It’s another means of teaching myself to embrace mistakes. The process itself is also very meditative, and I feel more connected to the piece as I manipulate and carve the block that will print it onto paper.”
Drawing inspiration from Art Nouveau movements and artists like Alphonse Mucha, Reyes uses natural forms as a visual anchor and source of metaphors.
The resulting series will depict leaves, apples, and other botanicals to evoke a sense of overflowing abundance and mystical undercurrents.
“Nature has always inspired my art. It influences the design fundamentals I am drawn to, the way I construct compositions, and the color schemes I use,” Reyes said. “This series of prints will depict leaves, apples, and other plants to create the feeling of overflowing abundance.”
Once completed, the dense foliage will obscure a central figure in the composition, symbolizing humanity’s complex relationship with fantasy and art.
“This edition of prints uses nature as a symbol of fantasy to communicate how it feels to be lost within one,” Reyes said. “At its best, fiction can create shifts in perspective, inspire its viewers, and reflect the human experience in visceral, important ways.”
At the same time, she warns that total immersion can double as a trap.
“This immersion, both enchanting and addicting, can also be a trap,” Reyes said. “It can lead to isolation, driven by the desire to escape current affairs and personal grief. Art can be a great tool for comfort, change, and inspiration; it also allows dependence on fantasy to escape and numb detachment from the outside world.”
Reflecting on human history, Reyes sees artistic creation as an essential human requirement, drawing a line from prehistoric cave drawings and ancient oral traditions to modern creations.
“Since we as humans had the power to think, we have been composing music, telling stories, and creating visual art,” she said. “The fiction we create and the reality we reflect back at ourselves have been fundamental to us as the human race. We will always need art, but the way we engage with it changes depending on the societal landscape.”
Her experience teaching young students has shaped her perspective on perfectionism in the arts. She observed that students and adults alike frequently become paralyzed by the fear of making mistakes or deviating from a model example.
“Through that experience, and through teaching a range of ages since then, I’ve learned that people are afraid of making something less than perfect,” Reyes said. “People can internalize a fear of failure that leads them to believe mistakes ruin a piece of art, or that making a bad piece of art means they aren’t capable of making anything better.”
That realization shifted her teaching methods and artistic mindset.
“This has taught me to focus more on the process itself while I’m teaching, instead of insisting on a specific end product,” she said. “It has also helped me to be less harsh on my own art. I have to remind myself that making mistakes is part of an artist’s growth.”
As part of her community engagement in New Ulm, Reyes hosted a bookmark-printing workshop earlier this month at Cellar Press. While the main 18-by-24-inch print edition is still in its early developmental stages, Reyes hopes viewers will look past the physical representation of plants and sense an underlying current of magic.
“I hope that a viewer will see a figure being swallowed by many mystical, alluring plants and be able to interpret that the artist holds a deep appreciation for nature,” Reyes said. “I also hope they come away with the feeling that the prints are communicating something beyond the physical reality of plants filling a space, like there is an undercurrent of magic flowing throughout the work.”
The Grand will keep at least one piece on display for visitors, and Reyes plans to return next year for an artist showcase.