Artist Profile: Rebecca Boraz

How did you get involved with the IPRC? 

I first went to the IPRC on Division with a friend who partook in the comics certificate program. From there, I took a letterpress class (which somehow I got my job to pay for!). Eventually I started coming to the current location for the letter writing group.

What is your favorite medium to work in? 

Etching! I have been printmaking since I was 16 and my high school art teacher, who I still keep in touch with, was a printmaker.

What draws you to the materials that you utilize in your work? 

Honestly, knowledge and practice. I’ve been doing printmaking for over half my life now. It’s like a language I’m fluent in. I can speak it without thinking too hard.

As a printmaker who makes a lot of etchings and relief prints, what do you like about process-based work? 

I wouldn’t say my work is process based. It is very much about the final product and saying what I want to say. I like that this particular medium lets me create multiples. When my work sells I like to imagine all the different homes and venues that the story I had to say is being told.

Where do you draw subject matter from?

I would classify my work as figurative narrative, drawing on my own lived experiences. However- I often name my work off of oxymorons because I like representing two opposing emotions at the same time- for example “Remembering the Future, Caught Free, etc”.

When you sit down to make artwork, where do you like to start? Can you walk us through your process a bit? 

I usually draw out my images first on paper. I then prep a copper plate and go to town. The etching always starts with hardground and lines and then I work the tones in with aquatint and softground. I usually run about 6 proofs before I edition.

You’ve lived, worked, and learned in a variety of places across the world. What drew you to the Portland art community, and what keeps you here? 

Not to give him too much credit but I met (my now ex) husband at a print shop (Andrew Auble). He’s a great artist and we certainly learned a lot and grew together artistically!  So for those seven years we were together that’s was what kept me in Portland and more engaged in the art scene. Now Portland is home- the connections, good food, job, skiing, and ocean. It’s about the work-life balance that Portland affords me.

Are you working on any projects right now? 

Always. No matter what I’m doing I’ll always be an artist. Currently, I’m continuing on the “Remembering the Future” series, some woodblocks, and learning textile design.

How has your involvement with the IPRC influenced or changed the way that you create?

I don’t think it has influenced my art so much but it influences and feeds my soul. The IPRC has always been about a community that centers around art. As a licensed art therapist, I believe that such places need and have to exist. I have a private studio where I create my images since etching isn’t something the IPRC offers, but happily serve on the board so that the community and myself can have a space to form connections and meet other artists.

Website: http://www.reboraz.com/

All images used with permission of the artist
Interview by Mazey Hoffman