Featured artwork: Spring Tulips

While working on my Master of Arts in Albuquerque, I often biked through a charming neighborhood that became part of my daily rhythm. The seasons unfolded along those streets, each ride revealing subtle changes. One particular house always caught my eye—a simple block wall, maybe thirty feet long, with just a strip of bare dirt at its base.

Then came spring. From that raw earth sprang a row of green leaves, stretching the entire length of the wall. Before long, they erupted into brilliant red tulips. Their joyful burst of color after a long winter felt like a celebration of the season itself. I couldn’t resist stopping to photograph them.

Later that year, I was invited to participate in a Tamarind Institute student project, where MA students created artwork and the printmaking students brought them to life in the pressroom. When I shared my tulip photos with my assigned printer, we both knew they had to be transformed into an artwork.

To create Spring Tulips, I drew the black lines of the design on a lithography stone and prepared two metal plates for the green and red layers. My printer added a final touch by printing the reverse side of another stone, giving the piece its subtle sky texture. The result was a vibrant edition of ten prints—a lasting echo of those tulips that once brightened my morning rides.