I’m wrapping up my third major theme at the moment (Romance), and preparing to tackle a new one (Community). This is a part of my practice that I didn’t know would exist ten years ago. I’ve commented on project size/duration before: One of the most motivating experiences in the art-making process is finishing something. If you’re early in your practice, or art is lower on your list of priorities,…
In the lead up to my solo show opening in Edmonton, I had a bunch of people ask me about the artistic cultural tradition of art gallery openings, and what would be expected of them as an attendee. I understand that art spaces can be intimidating. I think it comes from mutual exclusion… that artists, typically having little financial capital, have over-leveraged cultural capital, to that point that…
This is a grant proposal that I submitted for the consideration of the Canada Council for the Arts in December 2025. The category was “Artist Creation Grant”. My application included my CV, which you can find here , with all activities up to the end of 2025 included. The images interspersed usually all go together at the end. My application was not selected for funding, and that’s okay! I’ll…
As a printmaker working within linocut reduction, I think about colour A LOT and very specifically. Some of this will be useful cross-discipline, and some of it won’t. Colour is highly subjective, and I am one being writing from experience, i.e. these are mostly opinions! As I attempted to organize my thoughts on this topic that has been mostly intuitive for so long, I found jumping-off points…
These are original prints: physical, tangible artworks, made by hand with technology as old as human history and tools built in the 60’s. I work with paper, linoleum, wood, ink, glue, and assorted other bits. None of it is reproducible by machine or replaceable by AI. It is art that feels materially like the past and the future. I have turned a letterpress upwards of 50 thousands times…
I wrote this in celebration of one year of supporting myself through my art practice (in January 2022). This is the best part: catching creative ideas and making them sit still while I make them into a print, or a book, or something else. Don't get me wrong, 100% of my work day is not occupied with this fizzy magic, but enough of it is. At the bottom of the page are a few sketchbook spreads that…
I want to talk about the starving artist love interest. Loretta Durkin (Meryl Streep) Only Murders in the Building John (Chris Evans) Materialists This isn’t about me. I don’t feel like I’ve ever been truly starving for success. My career has been slow but steady, and it feels abundant. But I have been perceived this way (maybe this is the truth of all character archetypes). I went on one date…
Copied and pasted for your curiosity!
This monologue is transcribed from a video of me walking home from the studio at night on March 27, 2023. I had just completed the last linocut layer of “Every day I become more and more myself” which is the attic print and the final piece of “The Comfort House Project”. I devoted two years to it. That project, and that print specifically within it, are among my artworks that have been best…
In October 2023, I signed off an email to my list as “Brianna Tosswill, champion of the Bittersweet” which might have come across as cryptic to some. I’ve been a bit obsessed with the concept of Bittersweetness since I read that book by Susan Cain (May 2023). I’ve long talked about being a person who “feels all the feelings” and a way that I offer comfort to myself and my friends is by reminding…
When I have a crush I tend to clean my apartment. I feel this effervescent motivation to experience the glowiest version of my reality. My friends have observed this in a really clear way, and I journalled about a similar thing as far back as 2016. I was in my final year of university and crushing on the man who would be my partner for 5 years. I wrote: “I talk to you strategically, did you know…
I would love to tell you that my mailing list subscribers are the first people who hear about my art projects, but typically, they’re about 6 months to a year behind my best friends. Since the earliest recognizable form of my art practice (circa highschool) I’ve been saying all my best ideas out loud and searching their eyes to see if that “fizzy magic” translates outside of my brain. My friends…
When I was in gradeschool (I'm Canadian, that's ages approx 6-14) it was normal for the teacher to write the date in full across the top right of their chalkboard. Most teachers at this time were writing in cursive which presented some compelling aesthetics to young Brianna. I would pay careful attention to how each teacher formed their letters. This was my first study in personal style. My…
Hello, fellow artist! I’ve created this “cheat sheet” for folks like you who reach out to me in search of mentorship and/or guidance in your professional creative career. I want you to succeed, and I believe in community lifting each other up. Also, I’ve decided that for me, it’s a slippery slope from individual consults into becoming an art business teacher full-on. I’m a visual artist, and I…
So you’re working in linocut, awesome! It’s a great medium. If you’re new, maybe you’ve carved some plants (organic material is great because it’s so forgiving, no one really knows what that particular daffodil looked like, lot’s of artistic license), or a still life, or that thing that you draw automatically whenever you’ve got a pen and paper handy. And maybe you’ve tried a person or two but uh,…
Notes by Brianna Tosswill for Herself and Other Artists Some of the advice below is solid and more or less objective, but much of it is DEEPLY subjective and based on 3 years’ worth of semi-successful art fair participation. Copy and paste this page into your favourite word processor once you’ve confirmed your participation in an art fair and fill in the blanks. Event Dates, Times, and Location…
The first time I carved a reduction linocut was a revelation. It was also the first time I printed a linocut from a Vandercook letterpress, so the revelations multiplied over one another to create a printmaking experience that has shaped my artistic practice ever since. Yeah. I love it. Marionette 4x9” 2016 What is Reduction Linocut? (what other kinds of linocut are there?) Reduction linocut is a…
There’s this triad. I call them “the selves” or “the Briannas”. They are the three archetypes I separated myself into for The Logical Romantic : Spymaster, Head of Feelings, and Brave Front. As I tried to make sense of my internal landscape, I kept returning to feeling confused, feeling more than one thing at once without hierarchy, and not feeling confident in my ability to portray that range in…
I don’t want to be a teacher. This is nothing against teachers; I respect them deeply. I just don’t want to spend my time or develop a professional reputation for teaching. BUT. I believe in knowledge sharing. I want everyone, especially my creative peers, to have access to all the tools and resources they need to conduct their practices in exactly the way that they wish. To that end, I’ve…
Linocut is how I define myself. It is my thing. I used to be a drawer (draftsperson? Terminology was half the problem), and I couldn’t imagine that linocut could give me the same freedom and nuance as drawing. It took me years of dedicated practice to realize that there are techniques available to me in linocut that are unique and wonderful and better than drawing in certain respects. I’m here to…