Reduction Through Relief
with Monica James
Saturday, November 14
9 am - 12 pm
Intermediate - Advanced
Observational + Conceptual Relief Printing
Students distill a complex subject (object, figure, or photograph) into a highly reduced relief print that prioritizes structure, value hierarchy, and essential form.
This is about subtraction as decision-making.
Why it works for serious artists:
It emphasizes editing, clarity, and intentional reduction rather than decoration or novelty.
Class Flow:
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20 min: choose an observational reference (object or photo)
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40 min: reduction sketching (focus on value groups, not detail)
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60 min: carve a simplified relief block
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60 min: controlled print exploration
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focus on value range (light/medium/dark inks or wiping)
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intentional cropping and composition adjustments
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20 min: final resolved print selection + critique
Outcome:
A restrained, high-clarity relief print emphasizing form, structure, and visual hierarchy.
Meet Your Instructor: Monica James
Monica Lynn James is an art educator and interdisciplinary artist whose practice moves between abstraction and narrative, engaging histories of land, memory, and collective responsibility. Her work is informed by Indigenous American histories and the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade, with a focus on how these narratives continue to shape contemporary relationships to place and power.
Recent bodies of work were prompted by forest fires in California that threatened ancient sequoias, raising questions about land sovereignty, stewardship, and environmental loss. Working primarily on canvas, James employs an intuitive, research-driven process that treats painting as an act of listening rather than control. Layers of gesture, texture, and mark-making function as traces of inquiry, mapping both personal and collective histories.
James holds an MFA in Painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design and a BFA in Printmaking from Tyler School of Art. She has exhibited and taught nationally and currently serves as Professor of Art and Program Lead for Art, where her studio practice and pedagogy remain closely intertwined.