What is your name?

Jennifer Mack-Watkins

Where are you from?

Charleston, SC

Have you thought of a name for your dream studio and what your ideal space looks like?

Yes, somewhere tropical and place that would educate schools and allow a space for others to create as well.

How do you currently work out of your home and make do/make time/make space?

Home. I utilize a small corner in my living room to create my prep work for larger works and the creation of Japanese woodblocks.

Who are your favorite printmakers/biggest inspirations?

Elizabeth Catlett, her ability to document history and technical ability blows my mind as a printmaker.

What was your first job as an artist?

Teacher assistant as at a private school for a PRE-K 3 program in Georgia.

Where did you discover printmaking and how did you get into it?

I first discovered it in high school while participating in a summer gifted and talented program.

How did you come up with your non-traditional techniques?

It happened in grad school when I felt confined to fit everything I had to say within a box perfectly. I wanted to not feel like I had to fit. I wanted to be different. I had seen how one of my professors Dennis McNett would break all the rules with work. I felt I want to break rules with my art too!

What is one tool you could not create without?

My carving knives.

What is your biggest rule in the print shop?

Clean up after yourself.

Tell us about your time in Japan and your love of Mokuhanga,

I have traveled to Japan twice and Hawaii once all for Mokuhanga. It was a time I will never forget and hope to visit again in the future. I learned being there to embrace nature, fine quiet moments of doing nothing, and living with only what is needed.

I was so struck by your post about “Saucy and Sweet”- the black woman taking control of the kitchen and providing for her OWN family and not someone else’s. Please discuss and also tell us about your “Housewives” series.

This work I was inspired by my own mother growing up in the south and her role to provide meals for us. In the kitchen stories and advice were shared making it the center of the home. My mother could make anything with very little ingredients. When I referenced ads in LIFE magazines, I couldn't find any ads selling kitchen or home appliances with African American women. I wanted to make my own version.

We were so lucky to have an installation from your “Urban Excavations” series in 2017. Discuss the importance of print in layers and textures and exploring spaces.

For this work I was interested in documenting history. It is my response to gentrification and the importance of not forgetting the foundation of a neighborhood. I try to include historical references past and present day into the work I create.

How did you get involved in Black Women of Print?

I was invited by Tanekeya Word and suggested by Angela Pilgrim.

How do you plan to empower more black women to be teaching artists and printmakers?

With my current title as Workshops Coordinator + Education Institutional Outreach Coordinator, I will coordinate workshops and art lectures for K- Post secondary education organizations and institutions where our members can share their work.

How has this pandemic and current events changed your life as an artist? What has stayed the same?

I have to learn how to operate full time in my space for work, art, and home. Taking time with family and balancing my art making time I had to adjust my schedule to take more late-nighters to have uninterrupted time to work at night.