Carissa Kalia Heinrichs, USA (1991) is a printmaker, photographer, and interdisciplinary artist currently based out of Florida. She graduated from Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts with a BFA in Intermedia Art in 2014 and recently completed an MFA at University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a Project Assistantship and thesis exhibition at Tandem Press. Carissa is currently an adjunct professor for Printmaking at Pensacola State College. From 2015 to 2016, she was assistant project director to Gallery 224’s ‘Analog Photography: Looking Back and Looking Ahead’ program series for a newly installed public darkroom in Port Washington, WI. In the summer of 2017, Carissa attended the Shiro Oni Artist Residency in Japan and led a public workshop on cyanotype printing. Her work has exhibited in numerous Arizona and Wisconsin galleries, as well as New York, the Gunma Prefecture in Japan, and Berlin. Her processes primarily specialize in experimental printmaking, large-scale etching, alternative photographic processes, and fibers.
When you see how young Carissa is and her apparently fragile appearance, it's really hard to imagine that she is the impressive artist behind the large format prints of her series "Points of Impact" (2018) exhibited in the Art Lofts Gallery, Madison, WI, that I wholeheartedly recommend you check out on her website. Here is an artist who knows what she's doing and where she's going: and I'm sure she'll go far.
It is indeed a privilege to receive the visit of artists such as Carissa Kalia Heinrichs, fascinated by the possibilities of the non-toxic electrolysis etching techniques that we teach in our workshop-residency, up and running in its third year, for two artists under thirty.
Carissa learnt the history and theories of electro-etching, how to set up an electrolytic etching unit, and practised with a few different processes: etching of lines with hard ground, and electrotint (tonal areas) with open bite without using the printmaker's nightmare of toxic rosin or asphalt powders. She then went on to work on electro-etching with graphite ink resist, a versatile technique that produces lines, tonal areas, and soft-ground effects, and she experimented too with Big Red etching ground. She also learnt about semi-dry electrolytic etching and galvanized lines. She also worked on several large prints as is her custom.
I hope that these procedures will open up new routes of experimentation for her and help her to progress in non-toxic graphic expression.
Pictures from the workshop
Carissa Kalia Heinrichs speaks about her experience in the workshop-residency
It was an amazing experience to study electro-etching under Alfonso Crujera. His mastery in the process alongside his enthusiasm for continued experimentation was truly inspiring. He welcomed me into his studio with such a spirit of generosity and patience, which provided the best kind of guidance into electro-etching. These two weeks broadened my scope immensely for what can be done with intaglio. I feel like a door has been opened to the future of printmaking and I am so grateful to have received this foundation.
Electro-etching is especially impressive for its versatility and sustainability in the practice of etching as a whole. I was particularly fascinated by the textural variety gained in the semi-dry approach, as well as the ability to etch and galvanize two plates at once. I’m also amazed by the tonal range with an open-bite, without needing to do an aquatint using any rosin. This workshop offered the best overview of the process, a perfect beginning for developing a full-body practice in electro-etching. I can’t wait to apply this introduction towards installing my own electro unit, continuing experimentations with these approaches, and hopefully sharing with others.
I wish I could spend more time in this awe-inspiring place, in the gracious company of Alfonso, Amparo, and their beautiful family and pets. I am so grateful for all I have learned and how it has transformed my practice. I would recommend studying from Alfonso Crujera to any artist interesting in nontoxic printmaking!
Carissa Kalia Heinrichs's electro-etchings
Carissa Kalia Heinrichs's website