Virtual Reality: Orange Twist
SLIDESHOW: Claire Jauregui of Orange Twist has lived in Seattle since 2004, but you can see her sunny California origins in her cards.
Jauregui loves that ‘handprinted cards offer a tangible and tactile connection to a person, function as mementos, and are an affordable way to bring art into everyday life’. This card goes for about $4. Jauregui handprints our city’s famous skyline with white ink; it comes in a variety of colors, including ocean blue and raspberry.
The printmaker’s studio is in the master bedroom of her West Seattle house. ’It’s about 250 sq ft, has northeastern light, and two closets’. She uses one to organize her cards and packing materials, and the other to store her art. Jauregui also created semi-floating work spaces, which ‘allow me to work while standing and store screens and other essentials below. A table for my actual printing station and a found bookcase (used as a drying rack and storage) round out my primary printing area. I also have a card table I use as a sewing station when assembling my mailing envelopes or an additional drying area for large runs of cards’.
Since 2009, she’s also been creating custom designs and printings for wedding cards and birth announcements. ‘I enjoy the challenge of creating something original within the parameters of style and color that clients provide’.
Her favorite piece? ‘Right now I really like my Old Fashioned poster. My longtime mate worked at a donut shop right after high school, so I have a special place in my heart for fried dough! I’m developing a line of posters, and this is the first of the bunch.’
Jauregui’s inspirations include absurdities, anthropomorphism, slogans, products, memories from growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, colloquialisms, color, food, vintage ad design, propaganda posters, and inside jokes.
In addition to graphic, colorful, and humorous, she also describes her cards as eco-friendly. ‘The use of recycled paper and/or paper made from sustainably harvested trees is a top priority of mine’.
