Artist of the Week: Grace Pastore, Seattle-based illustrator and printmaker

Grace Pastore is a Seattle-based illustrator and printmaker who is fixated on detail and yearns to create weird little worlds.

Seattle Refined: How long have you been creating? What mediums do you work with?
Pastore: I've been creating for as long as I can remember, drawing and illustrating primarily, but I'm also a chronic dabbler. My main focus since 2020 (a date with absolutely no global significance) has been relief printmaking. For me, it's that perfect mix of creative freedom in ideas and possibility and precision in execution. Plus an element of danger: sharp objects!

Can you tell us about your artistic process and how the different stages work into it?
In just a few words: I draw, I carve, and I print. Every step in my process is done by hand. My favorite pieces are usually the ones where I start with the kernel of an idea and let the features build as I sketch, without intense editing or over-thinking. When I'm happy with an illustration, I transfer it onto gomuban, a hard Japanese vinyl that allows for incredible detail when carved and inked. I've also used traditional lino and SpeedyCarve (that delightful, bubble gum pink rubber).

Then I carve! I cherish and obsessively sharpen my v- and u-gouge Pfeil and Flexcut tools so I can get the tiny details I want. I lean absurdly close to the block and wear a headlamp. In other words, I look COOL when I carve. After anywhere from ~10-40 hrs of carving, I'll unfold myself, roll on ink and make the transfer onto paper. As with drawing and carving, I appreciate the labor of hand burnishingeven when an imperfect result makes me want to pull my hair out. Truthfully, the carving is what I really love.

Tell us about where your inspiration for your art comes from.
I find my inspiration in memories, mostlyspecifically, I love mapping experiences and settings. When I was little and visited places that filled my brain to the brim, I would rush home to draw the pathways and landmarks. Now my work feels like pulling the threads on abundant moments — where the details overwhelm you. Like watching "Alice in Wonderland" for the first time, exploring a section of the forest floor in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains where I grew up, or wandering around a new grocery store without a list.

Do you have a specific "beat" you like best – nature, food, profiles, etc.?
Is chaos a beat? No, if I had to choose something it would be landscapes, just not in the traditional sense. My prints are like landscapes of information, with symbols, moments and references that are both personal to my own memories and hopefully familiar and nostalgic to anyone who takes time to explore them. Pop culture and history are also main characters in my work, as well as the idea of home — of finding your place in a crowded world.

Do you have one piece of art that means more to you or is extremely special to you?
I keep coming back to one piece I did years ago now, the Persephone Calendar. It's a multi-directional print that’s meant to be physically flipped 180 degrees every six months, in time with Perspehone's trip to Hades and back. The design is visually dense with detail and reference to the myth, like a lot of my prints, but the river at the heart of the vertical illustration is an invitation to pause.

What experiences in your life have affected your art the most?
It's not a finite moment, but in my family, creating with your hands was part of daily life. My mom instilled the "I can make that" compulsion early, and I'll always be endlessly grateful to her for that. My dad's passion for woodworking was a center of gravity for my family, and a model of artistic ambition that still inspires me. I was also the kid who jammed loose papers covered in doodles into their backpack. I excelled when a topic interested me, and zoned out when it didn't. Over time, art unlocked my relationship to learning and hard work.

If we want to see more of your work, where should we go to find it?
You can find more of my work at figmentprintshop.com and on Instagram @figmentprintshop. I'm not exhibiting at the moment, but I bop around between coffee shops on occasion, so maybe my weird little prints will find you unexpectedly soon.

What is next for you? Anything you're working on right now that you're really excited about?
I'm working on a print I wish I could share now — it's a larger format than anything I've ever done, and it feels really personal but also likely familiar to my fellow 90s kids. Fingers crossed you'll be able to find it on my Insta in September!

Other than that, I'm just taking it one project at a time while the art makes me happy. Sometimes, I tell myself, " This one will be my last hurrah." But then I come back to it when the right idea pulls me in.

Lastly, how do you take your coffee? (We ask everyone!)
Dry cappuccino, please.

About 'Artist of the Week': This city is packed with artists we love to feature weekly on Seattle Refined! If you have a local artist in mind that you would like to see featured, let us know at hello@seattlerefined.com. And if you're wondering just what constitutes art, that's the beauty of it; it's up to you! See all of our past Artists of the Week in our dedicated section.