Nelson Gallery Exhibit

Playing with Linocuts: Celebrating the Lino Ladies

Deepak Giri, Culture Editor

July 23, 2025

Deepak Giri

The storefront of Nelson Gallery in Downtown Lansing.

LANSING— Throughout May and June, the Nelson Gallery in downtown Lansing organized its largest collaborative exhibition yet, featuring work from the Lansing Area Printmakers Collective, also known as the Lino Ladies.  

The group consists of seven artists who use the Lino Print technique, which is a printmaking process where a design is carved into a linoleum block, which is then inked and printed onto paper or fabric. The group takes this technique beyond traditional ways by blending color, texture and mixed media into their artwork. 

Lino Ladies artwork being showcased in the Nelson Gallery.

Laura Delind, one of the group’s earliest members, said that “the Lino ladies” get together each month to share their work with one another.

“We give each other challenges for the next month,” Delind said. “We share techniques and laugh a lot too; it’s just a very enjoyable group. Our work has been getting together and doing this work as a group for eight to ten years now.”  

Sustaining a collaborative group for so long would not be easy without each member having intrinsic motivation towards art. Lino Ladies member Jane Cloutier mentioned that being an artist to her feels like the way some people see a cat or dog and want to pet it.

“I see a landscape or a flower and want to interact with it,” Cloutier said. “My way of doing that is by making it into a picture.”  

While Cloutier’s love for art has manifested through her appreciation of nature, Delind’s love for art complements her primary life as an academic.  

“I took up art because I was an academic and worked with words and paper,” Delind said. “When you are playing with the linocut, and then being an academic kind of balanced each other out. So, when I wanted something concrete, I would go to the Lino and I’d play with it. The linocut was sort of democratic art form. The materials were inexpensive. You could do it on a kitchen table, and it was very accessible.” 

A collection of handmade books by Sharon Eagon.

Art, in its various expressions, serves as a compelling means of conveying significance, feelings and concepts. Ruth Egnater explained the significance of their work, “The Big Happy”.  

“The Big Happy was a result of a print called Bluebird of Happiness,” Egnater said. “It was a small bird that was put on a flag with an invitation to the U.S. in Mexico, celebrating freedom.  It was such a small print that I decided to make an even bigger version of happiness, to bring even more happiness to humanity.  Each of my prints often have a similar vision and story and may also reflect events in my own life.” 

The Big Happy by Ruth Egnater

Actualizing an idea into an art is a great endeavor, and it takes certain intricate processes. Cloutier explained how “The Back Fields – Winter” came into existence. Cloutier used a classic linocut procedure called “reduction printing,” she explained.

“With this method, the lightest color is printed first, then portions of the block are carved away and a darker color is printed over certain areas,” Cloutier said. “More can then be carved away, and another color printed over the remaining areas. I started with two blocks and worked from light gray to darker grays using one, and light tan to darker browns using the other. I played around with texture, too.  In some areas, I wanted to suggest a field stubble showing through snow. I experimented with painting an uncarved block with glue and sprinkled poppy seed on the wet glue. When it dried, I rolled ink over the poppy seed and was able to print a scattering of tiny dots.” 

The Back Fields – Winter by Jane Cloutier. (Deepak Giri)

Visitors appreciated the artwork and how it depicts nature in the simplest way. Catherine, who discovered this exhibition on a Saturday morning, said, “Laura has a quirky point of view because clearly some of their work draws inspiration from the nature.” 

Concluding the exhibition, Bobby Earls, who is the studio manager of Redhead Studio, adds, “Playing with Linocuts far exceeded our expectations not only in the number of works that found forever homes but also with the audience that it attracted. The number of people who visited Nelson, engaged with the works, and left the exhibit specifically mentioning how inspired they felt is something that we could have never expected. The thought of folks coming into our retail space and feeling ‘supercharged’ with creativity is a huge win and inspires us to keep up the good work.” 

To know more about Linocut Ladies work, visit linoladies.wixsite.com/linoladies/blog. 

To join the Nelson Gallery’s mailing list, visit studio.us5.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=666a36a7afb09c39edaf5950d&id=6f98bd0488.