Erika Wilson
About the Artist
Erika Wilson is a Montana artist with two passions: printmaking and illustration. Lover of all things analog; she opened The Windy Mill Press in 2019, an old-time letterpress print shop where she prints everything from business cards to posters using antique presses and hand-set type. Erika has also illustrated four award-winning children’s books. An active member of SCBWI (the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators); Erika served as the Illustrator Coordinator for the Montana region from 2018-2021. She holds a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from MSU-Billings, and this spring Erika will begin teaching Printmaking at Rocky Mountain College.
Artist Statement
I was blessed to grow up on a Montana farm, surrounded by hayfields, livestock, and heavy equipment. I learned to do a lot of work with my hands, and I also developed a deep appreciation for all different types of machinery. Always an artist, I got especially swept up by printmaking because I fell in love with two things: its meditative rhythms, and its collection of timeless tools. I believe traditional printmaking and letterpress are some of the lost arts of our past and it is a personal mission of mine to keep them alive in my own practice. I often feel like I was born a hundred years too late, and this art form ties me to generations past.
My latest body of work incorporates the magic of cyanotype chemistry with the typographical charm of letterpress. I call this marriage of cyanotype + letterpress “cyanoTYPE.” I first capture the grasses, flowers, and produce grown on our farm using sun-exposed cyanotype processes, and I then letterpress print on them using hand-set vintage metal and wood type. I find the juxtaposition of the delicate leaves and seed heads of the plants with the bold, blocky typefaces and black ink of the letterpress to be a satisfying and interesting balance.