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I recently caught up with printmaker Liv Cappello, who recently took up a space at the Vernon Street Studios.  She went to college in the hinterlands of Vermont, and is now in the Paris of New England – Somerville, MA – perfecting her craft.

Doug Holder: How has it been for you as an artist working in Somerville, and being a resident of the Vernon St. Studios?

Liv Cappello: I’m relatively new to Vernon Street (moved in late 2023) but I’ve already met a few of the wonderful artists in both buildings and have learned a lot from their experience at Vernon Street and through their art practices. My past studios have been in garages, basements, and my bedroom, so I’m excited to not only have my own studio space but to be a part of a community of artists. I also love how arts-focused Somerville is – it feels like a key part of the community here and we need to keep it that way by protecting Somerville’s fabrication districts! http://www.dontfwithfab.org/.

DH: You named your studio after your favorite wilderness trail in Vermont, the Long Trail. Tell us about the trail, and what experience you had there that influenced your work.

LC: I went to college in Vermont and lived there for a bit after graduating. Part of my college’s campus intersects with the Long Trail, and while I’ve camped off the trail many times, I’ve yet to actually hike the whole thing. I planned to in 2020 but that fell through – it’s still a goal of mine! I love everything about the state – the small, tight-knit communities, the enthusiasm for the outdoors, the appreciation for small artists and small businesses. I came up with the name Long Trail Studio as a nod to the place that shaped a lot of my young adult life.

DH: You are a printmaker, among other things. Can you give us a snapshot of the process that goes into the making of your prints?

LC: I’m trying to be a little more planful with my art. I usually just grab a piece of linoleum or wood and start carving and hope for the best. I’ve gotten into screen printing in the past few years, which is a medium that, unfortunately for me, requires a lot more planning than I’m used to. I started teaching screen printing classes at Artisan’s Asylum in Allston a while back, learning to teach and articulate each step to other people has been really helpful in slowing me down and making me appreciate the process. This is especially true with three or four color screen prints, which require a lot of measuring and registering paper, etc.

Most of my screen prints start with a sketch in my notebook that turns into a finalized design in Adobe Illustrator or Procreate; then is burned into a mesh screen coated in emulsion; then is washed out and ready to print onto paper by pulling ink through the screen with a squeegee. Once you’ve got the process down it’s relatively easy – and addicting. I make each of my prints by hand, so every single copy of a print is a little different from the last – that’s one of my favorite things about this medium.

DH: From viewing your gallery online, you have a variety of subjects for your prints – fish, an elongated, sinewy torso of a woman, a can of Somerville coffee, etc. How do you pick your subjects?

LC: A lot of my earlier work was inspired by living in Vermont. I did a lot of topo maps, trees, trail maps of the Middlebury College Snowbowl and maps of the state itself. Since moving to Massachusetts, I’ve leaned more toward representing things in my daily life, though I still feel really connected to the outdoors and go back through old backpacking photos and memories of trips for inspiration in my art. Most of my work was black and white when I started out because I thought a big jar of black block ink on sale at Blick. I’ve finally gotten through that jar and my new year’s resolution for 2024 is to use a lot more color, so hopefully I’ll follow through with that in my work this year.

DH: Why should we view your art?

LC: I think there’s something cool about seeing art in the everyday object. A lot of my work is based on simple and playful things that you’d see from day to day and I think if you can see the beauty in that, you might like my work!