Linocut artist Sophie Sallade creates unique art: 'Richmond is a muse to me'

RICHMOND, Va. -- If you ever spy Sophie Sallade exploring the streets of Richmond, you may confuse her with a camera toting tourist.

But Sophie is actually scouring the city she loves for her next subject.

"I just like the way the infrastructure plays with the natural environment,” Sophie Sallade told Greg McQuade. “I’m looking for a little romance at play. I’m looking for the sparkle in the window.”

The artist sees potential around every corner.

“I want to capture all of that and share it with everybody else,” she said. “That is why I do my work in Richmond because I love it so much.”

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But picture taking isn’t Sophie’s specialty.

“I think I have the most fun job in the whole world,” Sallade said. “There is something to be said in taking the time and learning an old process preserving something that is old.”

Her talents go much deeper, about an eighth of an inch thick.

“The start of printmaking is always very exciting,” she said. “The hours never drone on in here. If anything I lose time in here.”

Inside her studio, which is a 10x10 shed in her dad’s backyard, the 28-year-old artist is reviving an art form from another era.

“I think it is the coolest thing ever,” she said. ”I would say this type of medium is pretty overlooked.”

No digital or AI generated images here. Her supplies? Blades, ink, paper and linoleum. Lots of linoleum.

“I am essentially creating a big old stamp to create art with,” she said. “So this is an unblocked piece of linoleum.”

Sophie prefers old school and hands on. Her obsession with linocut began at Hermitage High School in Henrico County.

“I use these small chisels to slowly chip away at the places on the block,” Sophie Sallade said. “Once I caught the bug I could not stop thinking about it.”

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A professional artist for nearly eight years, the VCU graduate is carving her way to success one millimeter at a time.

"It is a lot of attention to detail work and a lot of precision," she said. "You have to like spending time with yourself because its a lot of time until its done."

Her approach leaves little room for error.

”You can’t make a mistake here. If you do you have to consider it a happy accident,” she said.

Her creations can take 35 to 60 hours start to finish, each one sculpted in reverse.

“It really is a mind melt to see the words the buildings and fonts backwards,” she said. “So when you’re cutting a linocut print you have to think about everything in the mirror image because when you pull the print off the block it will be the exact opposite of what you carved."

She runs the grooved images through a press fueled by elbow grease.

“It never isn’t exciting pulling a perfect print pulled off the block,” she said.

Each piece a tribute to her hometown. Landmark eateries and historic spots her favorite.

“The Roosevelt in Church Hill. I also have that one in color,” Sophie said. “We are looking at one city block in Carytown New York Deli, Bygones and the Byrd Theatre.”

The artist behind Sophie Printmaking has amassed dozens of originals.

“We’re looking at months of my life here. This is the body of work here that took five years to complete,” she said. “If I were to have a studio fire nothing else would matter except for these blocks because they are irreplaceable."

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Her linocut skyline tucked away for safe keeping. Sophie Printmaking has gained a loyal following on social media where 21st Century marketing meets a 19th Century process.

Sophie is a staple at craft shows and art fairs. Her canvases present the River City through a fresh lens.

“That is the thing that brings me the most happiness at markets is when people come over and say that is my favorite date night spot or that is where my husband proposed to me there,” she said.

Sophie Sallade finding relief in an ancient art form.

“I would say that Richmond is a muse to me as well as an active participant,” she said. “It is absolutely my honor to carry on the torch to printmaking. And to get people excited about it again.”

She is the linoprint artist who found her calling that is a cut above.

“I think of this as something I can carry with me through every phase of my life,” she said. “It is an old practice that is timely to me.”

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