Hamilton artist encourages creative endeavors to cure the COVID blues

Original Article by Michelle McConnaha published in the Ravalli Republic November 30, 2020

Hamilton Artist Wendy Holsapple works in her studio, carving a sheep into linoleum for printmaking. She said now is the best time to connect with art, while people are unable to have their usual connections in life.

Hamilton Artist Wendy Holsapple said now is the best time to connect with art, while people are unable to have their usual connections in life.

“People are missing their friends and their family,” Holsapple said. “People are stressed, more depressed and having a hard time with things right now [due to COVID restrictions]. So, looking at a piece of art that can make you smile can help.”

Sometimes, she said, a smile caused by beautiful or fun art is the perfect thing.

“Art can make people happy,” Holsapple said. “It can make people think of fun things, introduce them to new ideas and help them remember the past. There are so many things that make art great.”

Holsapple lives south of Hamilton and said her art reflects her life, often featuring her animals.

“My inspiration is often when I make an emotional connection with an animal or there is a fun story to tell about the animal,” she said. “I feel connected to the subject in some way and that inspires me to make that individual piece. For me, my life and art are connected.”

Holsapple’s printing business is called Laughing Mule Press. She has art for sale at Montana Bliss Gallery, is a member of Artists Along the Bitterroot and most of her subject matter has a focus on canine and equine. She works with horses, donkeys, does training, drives her mules, pulls wagons and does logging on the weekend with her mules.

Printmaking Artist Wendy Hosapple’s donkey. “Maya is a hugger,” Holsapple said. “It is amazing how such a little donkey can figure out how to wrap her entire body around you like a boa constrictor and does not like to let go. Donkeys often whisper before they let out a loud bray but Maya prefers to whisper all the time.”

Before moving to Hamilton, she worked in Wyoming as an outfitter and now is focusing on printmaking.

Holsapple grew up in a farm in Iowa, always had a sketchbook and spent endless hours outdoors filling her sketchbook with images of the natural world.

“I always loved to draw and make quick sketches,” she said. “I was a shy little kid and always spent time with myself. Drawing was the thing that I did. I just grew up doing that.”

She has kept all her sketchbooks and uses them to remind her of what was going on in her life at different ages and see how she felt about life at the time.

“Some people write journals and write down what they are doing in their lives, but I always sketch,” Holsapple said. “A lot of times before I go to bed I’ll sit down and sketch what happened in my life during the day. It’s what I’ve always done.”

Her current sketches evolve into prints that show quiet moments and her intimate connection with animals. Her designs come from her dogs, horses and donkeys, and from captivating tales of kindred canines and equines.

“My prints intend to portray a moment if only fleeting in the animal’s life,” she said.

Printmaking Artist Wendy Holsapple’s mule “Cooper” pulling a cart. “You will notice he is not wearing blinders, he is not a fan, “ Holsapple said. “As long as he can see what is behind him, he doesn’t care what it is — if he can’t see it he knows it is a mule-eating monster.”

Her process for printmaking starts with a pencil sketch which is transformed into a detailed hand carving in wood or linoleum. Then she rolls ink on top of the carved design. What is carved away does not print but whatever remains accepts the ink. She then places paper onto the inked surface and presses it down.

“I do everything by hand,” Holsapple said. “You don’t need that much weight, but you do need some weight and I put all my weight into it. You have to put pressure on to allow the ink to transfer. When you pull the paper off you have a print and can make multiple copies off the same block. They are all originals, all a bit different and all done by hand.”

She does limited runs of 10-30 of each design, selling them all for a lower price making her art more affordable.

“That’s one of the reasons I really like printmaking,” Holsapple said.

For the most recent Artists Along the Bitterroot Studio Tour, she assisted guests in trying their hand at printmaking. She had a friend hook up the lawn mower to a lawn roller and used that as a press for a fun way to get people involved.

“I don’t have a printing place and do everything by hand,” Holsapple said. “It’s just more inventive than pressing on it with a stone. We had people out carving and printing them with the lawn roller. I’ve seen people do it with a steam roller. We just tried it and it was a big hit that worked well.”

Holsapple feels compelled to create art every day.

“I do sketch every day, I don’t make a big piece of art necessarily,” she said. “I definitely have that drive to put something down on paper often, even if it is not a big piece. That kind of sketching is where my bigger designs come from, quick drawings that I then flesh out.”

She experiments with images, types of ink, qualities of paper, and variations of pressure to capture various moods of nature and unique artwork. She said that the COVID pandemic has not changed her life because she mostly works at home with her mules and in her studio.

“But I know a lot of people are struggling,” she said. “I’ve been really lucky to have lived rural all my life where the pace is a little bit slower. For me, it is nice to get people to slow down, enjoy little moments and connect with people or animals in their life. It’s good to have time to appreciate and be inspired by art.”

“Despair” Hamilton Artist Wendy Holsapple rarely changes from her typical subject matter of equines and canines, but this year has been different. “I wanted to try and express some of the emotion many people have been feeling,” she said. “I sketch almost every day like some people write in a journal. this is one of the linocuts that developed from those sketches.”

She knows many of her prints will find a home with rescue organizations as she often donates her work, “to further efforts in the humane treatment of all living things,” she said.

Holsapple is making frames for her artwork from trees in the forest, she has cut down, hauled out herself, milled down and formed into frames.

Reach her at Laughing Mule Press, hello@laughing-mule.com, 406-370-5640, www.laughingmulepress.com