Kreg Yingst

I became interested in the woodcut and linocut twenty years ago when I stumbled upon the woodcut novels of Lynd Ward and Frans Masereel – wordless books that transcend language with one image per page presented in stark black and white. There is a slow, meditative process to printmaking that appeals to my temperament. Though I draw inspiration from different sources, my recent ideas stem from lyric and poetry. Unlike Ward and Masereel, I combine text and imagery, using letters and words both their visual shape and meaning. My process is simply to draw out my ideas, transfer them backwards to the block of wood or linoleum, carve away the negative space, ink the block, and with paper on the surface, hand crank the work through an antique sign press. I like the immediacy of creating an image in this way. There are times when I use multiple blocks or reduction printing or watercolor to apply color to the image.