Sarah Kulfan of Gallo Pinto, Ballard Artwalk featured artist for August 2025
Lino-cut Reduction & Letterpress Prints
About the artist:
"Gallo Pinto Press is owned and operated by artist, visual designer, and illustrator, Sarah Kulfan where she creates limited editions letterpress prints using traditional methods of hand carved linoleum blocks, vintage metal and wood type, and impressions made with a Vandercook Universal 1 Press. Using reduction linocut techniques, she creates images of landscapes she’s visited while exploring the backcountry in her home state of Washington and beyond."
Please contact us for inquiries about art pricing and availability. You can reach us by email at info@anniesartandframe.com, by phone at (206) 784-4761, or by sending us a message through our "contact" page.
"Working with reduction cuts is an interesting challenge as a print run truly is finite. There is no possibility of creating a second edition as the plate is carved away with each pass. Each new cut that’s made after successive print runs becomes a bit of a leap of faith. It’s a nerve-wracking and immensely satisfying approach to putting down layers of ink.
Her process usually starts with on-site sketches and photography. She refers to these photos and sketches while redrawing the illustration many times over to tease out details. She dials things in further using digital drawing techniques to map out layers of color. Recent projects have typically ranged from six to thirteen passes. In addition to reduction cuts, split fountains, metal type and pressure printing techniques are also often looped in to the process."
"In addition to printing, Sarah Kulfan is a visual designer and illustrator and runs Beans n’ Rice where she operates her freelance graphic design business. Sarah thrives working as an independent artist and designer where the flexibility in her schedule allows her plenty of time for opting outside.
She studied design and illustration at Western Washington University and learned the fine craft of letterpress printing from Christopher C. Stern and Jules Remedios Faye of Stern & Faye, Letterpress Printers.
Printing for her is all about bridging her creative and active pursuits. Her work allows her to story-tell her observations outside, like the interplay of shadow and light, the smallness of the human scale, and the build up of color over a sweeping landscape. These are some of the real life experiences she has encountered outside and are all concepts that she’s trying to bring to the page"