Caitlin Penny

Caitlin Penny
Wichita, Kansas

Caitlin Penny is a printmaker and aspiring author currently living and working in Wichita, Kansas. Caitlin spent her early childhood in the south London village of Chislehurst, Kent. As well as leaving her with a faint cockney accent, it also left an indelible mark on her later creative career. Inspired by the wild woods and thickets that grew just beyond her garden gate and the whimsical art and stories of Beatrix Potter, Caitlin grew up with a love for both the natural world and the fantastical world of literature.

After earning her Master of Fine Arts Degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Caitlin chose to combine her passion for literature and her skills as a relief printmaker. Her latest landscape prints are a visual extension of her current literary project. But what began as a visual outlet for some of her literary ideas has since evolved into a dynamic relationship between the art and literature, with the art directly inspiring the writing and visa versa. The landscapes she creates, however, are not strictly narrative nor are they accurate representations of reality. Instead, they represent that moment when the barrier between imagination and reality becomes thin.

Caitlin’s creative process uses a combination of traditional printmaking techniques with the aid of modern technology. After drawing her image directly onto the woodblock used to create a relief print, she carves it with chisels and a dremel tool. The utilization of the dremel tool allows Caitlin to achieve a level of detail in her prints that would otherwise be impossible or exceedingly difficult with traditional chisels alone. Using several woodblocks printed together allows Caitlin to achieve a painterly look in her work.