An Interview With Natalia Moroz

1. Where are you from?

NM: I was born and grew up in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (Former Soviet Union), and currently live in Charlotte's suburbs, North Carolina.

NM: Almost 20 years ago, in an art college.

NM: Institute of Fine Arts, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where I studied book illustration.

NM: Linocut

NM: I start with sketching ideas and developing a layout, then transfer the sketch onto a piece of unmounted linoleum. Then everything that shall remain unpainted, is cut away with the use of a knife or a tool called gouge. Next the plate is covered with the ink. The final print is produced by pressing the paper firmly against the inked plate using a hand operated press. I print my works on Rising Stonehenge paper with Daniel Smith oil based printing inks.
My multicolored prints are done in several ways. Reduction method is a printmaking technique when a multi-colored print is made with the use of a single block. Through a series of progressive cuttings, inkings, and printings, the image slowly emerges while the actual block is destroyed. A reduction print can therefore never be reprinted. Another method of colored printing requires a separate plate for every shape of a particular color and each color is printed on a separate run. So-called "rainbow inking" is used when different colors are applied on a single plate simultaneously using two or more brayers. I often combine the reduction method, multiple plates, and rainbow inking techniques in a single artwork. In my most recent work I used the reduction method with rainbow inking in every layer. Linoleum block printing is a challenging medium full of possibilities.

NM: One room in my home equipped as a printmaking studio and I have a beautiful printing press designed and built by my husband.

NM: Edvard Munch, Vladimir Favorskiy, Dmitriy Bisti. I was also very much impressed and inspired seeing in person huge multicolored woodcut portraits by Chuck Close.

NM: My earlier works were often based on books. I also like still lives and faces. Anything can be of inspiration and most of all my reflection and thoughts.

NM: No.

NM: A messy one trying to keep things in order as much as possible.

NM: Relief printmaking was a part of my art institute curriculum, and at first I didn't think much of it. My opinion changed after seeing Edvard Munch's woodcuts - I saw the great possibilities of artistic expression of the medium and started exploring them.

NM: I'm pretty fond of my first multicolored linocut "Flowers and Fruits". I did it in 1992. About 15"x20" with 16 colors, it was an ambitious project back then, and an important step forward for me.
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NM: Enthusiastic and committed.

NM: I do printmaking full time. Practically every day I work either on developing ideas, sketching, carving, or printing.

NM: Some changes will naturally happen. I plan to experiment with combining different printmaking techniques and hope it'll add interest to my works.

NM: No, but I'm asked about teaching/giving workshops pretty often, so it seems sooner or later I will.

NM: I'm a member of Society of American Graphic Artists,Los Angeles Printmaking Society, and The American Color Print Society.

NM: Do not give up - printmaking is a long and interesting journey. It takes time to master a medium, to hone one's carving or engraving technique, to find your own style, subject matter, but it's very rewarding and never boring.

NM: It's very satisfying to see a completed work which came out just as planned or even better. But deep inside, there is another, very basic feeling which I guess printmakers share with prehistoric people and small children when they happy seeing their foot prints on the sand - a sheer joy of "leaving a mark".

NM: I greatly enjoy doing it and hope I've been growing as an artist. It may not be what people call "success", but it's very close to happiness.

NM: Ink drawing, wood carving, oil pastel.

NM: My parents.