Kirsten Francis

Kirsten Francis is a reduction woodblock printmaker living and working in Cardiff, California. Francis combines the human figure with archetypal symbolism from myth and folklore to express the beauty and brutality of life. Her images are a synthesis of raw creativity and a long, labor intensive process. Her strong sense of design, bold use of color, and gestural line work culminate in timeless images inspired by emotion and personal experience.

She grew up in New England, Mexico City and Toronto. In secondary school, Francis took figure drawing classes, laying the foundation for her interest in the human face and form. She discovered printmaking at Mesa College in San Diego and went on to receive a BFA in Printmaking from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon.

Subsequently, Francis spent many years creating reductive woodblock prints before eventually transitioning to drawing and collage. Many aspects of woodblock printmaking—the carving or cutting, the layering of colors and images—inform her current mixed media work.