Big Oak Press is the work of Eric A. Johnson, an artist who has been printmaking for nearly 20 years. His experience spans all types of printmaking, but his focus has been on creating block prints with a single block for all the colors in the image. His work is colorful and intricate, and the imagery is both organic and full of energy. We are amazed by the amount of color and detail in each print, and his process of creating is an art form in itself.
Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Eric A. Johnson, I am an artist/ printmaker from the Fargo, ND area.
Although I create with and teach different areas of art, my primary focus has been printmaking for the last nearly 20 years. There are four main areas of printmaking; relief, screen print, intaglio, and lithography. I work mostly in relief focusing in on something called the reduction or reductive process of creating color images. The process uses one block to print all the colors instead of a block for each color being printed.
What was your first memory of making something?
My first memories of making something was as a child drawing on the floor with one of our cats on my back. I was probably about four or five years old.
What has been your favorite moment since creating your business?
I don’t know if I have one specific moment! In general something I’ve found to be great is having people come back years later and commenting on how much they still like something they’ve purchased from me.
Where do you see your business in 3 years?
Well my five year goal was to have a home studio set up; and while this was a great thing to shoot for, it didn’t quite happen so I would love to make it happen between now and three years from now!
Where did your business name come from?
“Big Oak” Press comes from a print I made of a tree (the sketch for it is now my logo and chop mark) in which I wanted to include something in Norwegian. My Mother came to North Dakota when she was 16 and we still have a lot of family there. I had just planted some Bur Oak trees on the family farm so I was thinking of Oak trees and thought it would be a cool name for my press (even though at the time it was still a long term goal to have my own press). So in this print I included “Stor Eik” (Big Oak) at the top.
Check out more of Eric's work online, and be sure to stop by his booth at the Minneapolis Gift & Art Expo, November 3-5, 2017 at the Minneapolis Convention Center!