About the Artist
Anastasia Inciardi (Ah-nuh-stah-see-ah In-see-are-dee) is a relief printmaker and the creator of the Mini Print Vending Machine. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and is now based in Portland, Maine. Food has always inspired her art as it connects her to the people she loves most: her friends, her Italian American family, and her wife, Addison, an organic vegetable farmer (and founder of Feastland Farm). Ana feels very fortunate to have built a career and life around the celebration of food, eating, accessibility, and community.
About the Mini Print Vending Machine
Ana Inciardi launched her first Mini Print Vending Machine in the winter of 2022. She dreamed up the idea back in 2020 to help her collect laundry money during a quarter shortage. Growing up in Brooklyn, Ana was inspired by nostalgic temporary tattoo vending machines that spilled out on New York sidewalks. Accessibility was the goal when developing the Mini Print Vending Machine, which prices each mini print at one dollar. There are now over 120 machines across the country, with more on the way.
About the Art - Linocuts
All of Ana's prints begin as linocuts. In linocut printmaking, the artist uses carving tools to carve designs on a sheet of linoleum. The areas that are carved away create negative space in the image. The artist adds ink to a brayer, and rolls the ink onto the carved linoleum block. Then, they register the block on a piece of paper and run it through a printing press, or apply pressure with a barren, to transfer the ink to the paper. The result is an image that is the reverse of what was carved. The artist can carve additional blocks to add multiple colors and layers to the piece.
About the Art - Risographs
To bring these prints to machines across the country, Ana's linocuts are turned into risograph prints.
Risograph printing originated in Japan in the 1980’s as a way to create multiples in high volumes. Our risograph (riso) prints are created sustainably using 100% solar power and with soy-based inks - be careful not to smudge them!
Similar to linocut printmaking, risos are printed in layers with interchangeable color ink drums. First, a master is created with thermal heads creating small holes on a master sheet. Then, with each pass through the risograph printer, the press sheet is wrapped around the ink drum, and the ink is forced through the holes and onto the press sheet. Each color layer is added until the final image is complete.
This layering process causes the registration of the print to be slightly different each time, making no two prints exactly the same. When the registration varies from print to print and creates slightly “blurred” images, that’s the nature of printmaking as a medium. Each print is unique! Ana loves that riso allows her art to maintain an organic feel while keeping it as accessible as possible.