https://www.jodiericksen.com/art-dementia daily 0.75 2025-12-16 https://www.jodiericksen.com/art-dementia/blog-post-title-four-a9laa monthly 0.5 2025-12-16 https://www.jodiericksen.com/home daily 1.0 2025-12-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e0b682c2f5d33867608e97/b75c1693-46cf-4ad4-8056-1c37addc7ca8/IMG_0223.jpg Home - Art speaks from and to the placed within us without words… https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e0b682c2f5d33867608e97/abc5ef4f-4c2e-48f5-822e-80ba97135197/IMG_0745.jpeg Home - Make it stand out I use vegetable oil-based inks, which offer high-quality finishes free of chemicals and solvents for cleanup. The result is a beautiful, lasting color—without the smell or adverse health effects. It’s a win-win! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e0b682c2f5d33867608e97/26fbcbb4-95fe-468b-a74e-d3fccef79d0a/IMG_0750.jpeg Home - Blocks are carved, rolled with ink, and then placed in a heavy, handmade wood press from the Netherlands. This style of press has been around for ages, is a simple method for transferring the image to paper, and I love that it too was handmade. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e0b682c2f5d33867608e97/a92ab90d-5849-4bba-85a2-da1bda3b3ea1/IMG_0754.jpeg Home - Make it stand out Once the image has been pressed, I lift the press and use a smooth stone from the beach to rub the back of the paper, which is still pressed onto the block. This is done to ensure that the image transfers evenly. The final stage of the printing process is gently pulling the print off the block and hanging it to dry in my studio. The drying process takes an average of five to six days. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e0b682c2f5d33867608e97/6ec791f4-3305-4c6a-a504-579daf380574/IMG_0743.jpeg Home - Make it stand out Drawing an image, intuiting the division of negative space and color, choosing fine paper for printing, and carving the block—the process of printing creates a flow that has informed other areas of my life. In the beginning, it feels lengthy and at times almost cumbersome, but with practice, the process becomes both a meditation and second nature. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e0b682c2f5d33867608e97/e1006b48-063a-451a-b873-5e39bdd0d04c/IMG_0824.jpeg Home - My primary medium has been linocut (otherwise known as block printing). I enjoy the process of thought and the methodical steps it requires, the raw, organic appearance, and the perfect imperfection of linocut. https://www.jodiericksen.com/about daily 0.75 2025-12-09 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60e0b682c2f5d33867608e97/abbeafbb-e66b-4ca6-8e5c-c3d992458da8/IMG_0746.jpeg About - Thank you for your interest in my work! I believe art has the potential to reveal our raw experience before we are able to consciously grasp or express it. Art connects us to the humanity in ourselves and others by speaking from and to the places witout words. Ultimately, I believe that art is the soul manifested. It is necessary for our health and the optimal function of our brain. This is why I have created this website—to share art and the importance of creativity in nourishing the essence of every layer of our being. Art has alwasy been my safe haven, but it wasn’t until my sophomore year of college that I began to understand how many times it had saved me. One month before my sophomore year began, my sister suddenly passed away. I had everything in place to continue with my pre-med requisites. In her passing, I was faced with the choice of either taking a year off to be with my grief or ignoring it and powering through a schedule of hard science classes. Neither option felt healthy, so I explored studying something that could help me through the grief. Art was the obvious answer, as it had carried me through previous difficulties and was originally what I had intended to study in college. So, I changed my schedule to focus entirely on art. I took art history, life drawing, etching, lithography, and printmaking. School became my therapy and served as a bridge to a journey into the vulnerability of sharing, and eventually teaching art. This journey began in a life drawing class. We were assigned a self-portrait to be viewed by the entire class, and with it, we were to share our artistic process. As I viewed my classmates' work and listened attentively to their reflections on their own processes, I noticed that each portrait was an unintentional unveiling of an inner story—insecurities, strengths, pain, and defenses. I was stunned by the honesty I was witnessing and terrified of what my portrait might reveal about my own inner story. Despite my efforts to create a more defined and lighthearted depiction of myself, my drawing emerged as an honest portrayal of my hidden grief—pale, ghostly, and almost translucent. Art had always been a form of expression for me, but in that moment it became a powerful tool for self-reflection. Through the process of creating, and objectively stepping back to view my self portrait, I was able to admit feelings I hadn’t fully acknowledged. When my classmates asked about my process, I reluctantly shared my sister’s passing and admitted that, despite working hard to deepen and define the lines of my face and clothes, the drawing depicted how I often felt—pale and translucent, like I wasn’t fully present. At that time in my life, I was very stoic and appreciated being seen as the strong person I was. Being seen by my classmates in the complete vulnerability of greif was one of the most difficult moments of my life. It marked the beginning of a long, transformative journey into vulnerability, art, and the healing nature of creativity. My journey into vulnerability is ongoing, and it has led to this website, my current training as a License Mental Health Counselor, and this moment with you. Thank you for being here! I hope the pages of this space inspire you to create! Connect with me if have any questions—I will do my best to answer them, and if I don’t know the answer, I’ll be honest about that. Warmest regards, Jodi https://www.jodiericksen.com/contact daily 0.75 2025-12-04 https://www.jodiericksen.com/shop daily 0.75 2021-07-04 https://www.jodiericksen.com/shop/drawings monthly 0.5 2025-11-29 https://www.jodiericksen.com/shop/prints monthly 0.5 2025-11-29 https://www.jodiericksen.com/shop/watercolors monthly 0.5 2025-11-29