Hi!

My name is Irenka Pareto and I am a self-taught printmaker focusing mainly on linocut relief prints that celebrate the wonder and beauty in everyday, ordinary moments.

About the process: Relief printmaking is a beautiful -and slow- handmade process. My work starts in my sketchbook, with lots of observational drawings and sketches. Once happy with a design, I transfer it to a linoleum, wood, or rubber block and I carve the image with gouges and knives, playing with mark making. When the image is carved out in the block (or multiple blocks, depending on the image), I use a roller to ink it and a spoon or a lever press to print each art piece. Because of the highly handmade nature of relief printmaking, each print has often slight variations of color or amount of ink, making them truly unique!

 About me: Originally from Barcelona, Spain, I moved to the Bay Area in 2006 for my graduate studies. After decades of a very fulfilling and successful career as an educator, social scientist, and writer, art came to my life like a revolution: Changing and expanding the way I see the world, making the ordinary extraordinary, and connecting me to people in a deeper way. Initially, art was only my secret passion, something I did after work and parenting, and all the other adult responsibilities. But when the pandemic impacted my job/life I decided to make lemonade out of the pandemic lemons and threw myself fully into printmaking, bringing a renewed sense of joy and focus to my life.  I find myself constantly fascinated by the little things in life and aim to make art that reflects that. Art for the curious, the joyful, the kind, and the constantly wonderstruck. 

Thank you for dropping by, let me know if you have any questions!