Elvia Perrin, a professor at Texas State’s School of Art and Design, was featured in IMPRINT, a gallery exhibition celebrating the printmaking medium, alongside seven other talented printmakers.

IMPRINT made its debut on Nov. 21 at ARTSPACE in Wimberley, curating works from eight printmakers to highlight understated aspects of printmaking, such as its inherently sculptural and collage-like process. The exhibit was created by projectART in collaboration with Flatbed Press.

“IMPRINT was born from the idea that our space is a teaching gallery, and we wanted to show examples of different kinds of printmaking and the story in the process behind the prints,” Heather Carter, a founder and member of the board of directors at projectART, said. “[Creating a two-dimensional print]’s actually a very sculptural process, and I’m a sculptor, not a printmaker or a painter, so I’m really interested in the 3D aspect of printmaking.”

Carter approached Perrin to be featured in the exhibit and was permitted to select pieces from Flatbed Press’s inventory for display. Perrin’s pieces are along the front side wall, immediately catching one’s eye when entering the exhibit.

Perrin created her crafted works displayed at IMPRINT with many different artistic processes. Some used intaglio printmaking to capture wood textures onto copper plates. Others were collage pieces made on hand-cut Plexi plates, with Akua carborundum gel used for the design and texture. Perrin said all her works explore the relationship between material, surface and form.

Perrin’s pieces featured in this exhibition include “Engram,” “Efface,” “Tidal” and “Bridge.” These pieces utilize a monochromatic color palette and bold shapes to create simple yet sophisticated designs.

“I cut copper plates and paper to construct the abstracted fields of paper to balance the serendipitous and often unpredictable process of printmaking,” Perrin said. “My work finds order in the layering of textures and traces of patterns with a quiet minimalist approach.”

Perrin first began her printmaking journey when she was attending UT Austin. She enjoyed the mix of drawing and sculptural elements.

“The repetition and the overcomplication of the process really appealed to me as an artist and has always kept me curious and coming back for more,” Perrin said.

Founded in 2019, projectART is a nonprofit organization with a mission to provide more creative opportunities to the people of Wimberley, particularly students. It also hosts classes for people of all ages at its gallery, ARTSPACE.

Flatbed Press, a gallery and printmaking studio in Austin, provided the artworks for the exhibition. It was founded in 1989 by Katherine Brimberry and Mark Lesly Smith.

“I had bought a press for myself, and I wanted to share it with people,” Brimberry said. “Smith approached me with the idea of us creating Flatbed, which we could both share with people. We could also invite artists in to create fine art prints with us and basically publish those prints for the artist. And that’s what we’ve been doing ever since.”

Another artist featured in the show is Sandra Fernandez, a self-employed business owner and artist. Her pieces, “Her Majesty” and “Cruzado (Settled In),” which are etchings on a copper plate, were selected by Carter to be featured in the exhibit. Fernandez first created a thread drawing by stitching the image onto a piece of mylar, a polyester resin film that’s known for its heat resistance, before transferring it onto a copper plate. She also utilizes chine collé, a printmaking technique that involves layering a thin paper onto a thicker support paper that is run through the printing press.

Fernandez implemented unique text elements into her work and carefully crafted each piece to convey a clear narrative to the audience. In “Her Majesty,” she used text from an 18th-century book of crimes and misdemeanors to create the skirt of the figure.

“In ‘Her Majesty,’ I wanted to talk about the female presence as a matriarch,” Fernandez said. “‘Her Majesty’is a woman being portrayed as somebody with power that is imposing her sector of the world.”

In “Cruzado (Settled In),” she used text from both an 18th-century English book as well as an 18th-century Spanish Catholicism book. Additionally, the print has an embossment — an impressed, raised design created with a stamp-like printing process — which includes text from the Codex Mendoza, a manuscript from colonial times.

“I was thinking about migration, the borders and the ideologies behind the division of the north and the south,” Fernandez said. “That’s why I used text in English and Spanish. The Codex Mendoza, being a document that talks about indigenous life back in the 1400s … I’m bringing it into the print to talk about colonization, not only back then but also in present times in a way.”

Fernandez’s use of carefully selected historical texts and her sharp and scratchy linework helps elicit a strong emotional reaction out of the audience and encourages discussion about the story of each piece.

“We’re very pleased to be able to show the work we’ve done to a new audience here in Wimberley. I know a lot of people in Wimberley may not know about Flatbed Press, so we’re glad to be able to do this,” Brimberry said.

IMPRINT will be available to view until Jan. 24, 2026, at ARTSPACE 111 River Road, Suite 100 in Wimberley.