My City September 2022

A Passion for Printmaking Meet Artist JaniceMcCoy

BY CHERYL DENNISON PHOTOS COURTESY OF BUCKHAM GALLERY

F or local artist Janice McCoy, making art is as necessary and natural as breathing or drinking water. She loves to draw and paint but works primarily in linoleum printmaking. “I’ve loved making things since early in my childhood,” she shares. Her fondest memories are of drawing in kindergarten and di erent elementary school art class projects. She also took art classes in middle school and high school but was never really encouraged to look at art as a viable career option. Linoleum printing (or linocut) is a relief print making technique in which you plan and carve out an image, McCoy explains. “ e ink is then rolled onto that carving and you can then create multiple im pressions of that image. It’s like a large stamp.” Because

she was in the education program in college, she had to learn how to work with many di erent art mediums. “After taking a printmaking course, I was hooked,” she says. “I still love painting, but print making is just such a cool process. I love the idea of multiples and the potential for experimentation with ink, papers and layers.” McCoy grew up in the small town of Leonard in northern Oakland Coun ty. She moved to Flint to attend the University of Michigan-Flint and grad uated in 2018. “I originally went to college to study biology,” she shares. But after taking a ne art class, she decided to pursue an art minor, which turned into two art degrees and a minor in art history. “Mak ing art has always been a 

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