Annie Bissett
Annie Bissett
Annie Bissett began her art career as a freelance digital illustrator, working with clients such as National Geographic Society, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and a wide range of magazines. In 2005, she studied briefly with woodblock artist Matt Brown and soon afterward began pursuing printmaking full time. Her woodblock prints have been exhibited throughout the United States, as well as Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom. Bissett’s work has received critical attention in Printmaking Today, The Stranger and The Washington Post, and her work is featured in April Vollmer’s recent book Japanese Woodblock Print Workshop. She is on the teaching staff at Zea Mays Printmaking, Florence, MA, and occasionally travels to other locations to conduct workshops.
These watercolor woodblock prints are about water. I use a printing technique that relies on water, and I live in a place where the tap water is good and beaches are beautiful. In such a place, it's hard to fully comprehend the tragedies that loom in our climate future: too much water, not enough water, and the extinctions and migrations (both human and animal) that will follow as our climate mutates. It's hard to even begin to understand how much our western way of life impacts the water cycle. What I'm beginning to explore in this series of prints is the notion that much of our relationship with water as human beings lies beneath our awareness. I want to bring that awareness forward.