First Friday Santa Cruz

Artists

Artists

Shani Kartane

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Print Making

I'm a printmaker in the redwoods of California.

Once upon a time, in June of 2022, I started making linocut block prints after quitting my teaching job of ten years. I had been working myself to the bone and my body was telling me that I needed to rest.

As a teenager, I became deeply obsessed with traditional folk music and dance from around the world. I listened to music anywhere from one to 100 years old, from right here in the US to all the way in Eastern Europe and beyond.

When I joined the workforce as an adult, all those folk music inspired passions seemed to dissolve into the background. Focusing so intently on serving others forced me to dissociate from my own needs.

Six months after quitting my job as a middle school English teacher, creative energy started pouring out. Suddenly, ideas popped into my mind and were begging to be released into the world.

Thus, Fable Folk Art was born. At first it was just a way for me to heal from the trauma of working with systems-impacted youth. The process of carving and imprinting powerful images of people who inspire me was, and still is, incredibly restorative.

Now I am sharing my labor of love with the world. Every sale brings me closer to my dream of bringing these powerful people, and other marvelous creatures, into your home.

Picture standing in the middle of a redwood forest, surrounded by the ancient giants and the stillness and calm they evoke. Now imagine being serenaded in that forest by the likes of Mother Maybelle Carter, Billie Holiday, and Amy Winehouse, while banana slugs, newts, and ferns grow quietly in the soil.

Isn't that simply delightful?

First Friday Artist Registry

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