About Me

I make art about the places that stay with us.

I'm Joanne Spencer, an award-winning, self-taught reduction linocut printmaker based in Wiltshire.

I came to printmaking later in life and began learning linocut in 2018. What started as curiosity quickly became the way I wanted to make art. I loved the physical process of carving, the building of colour layer by layer, and especially that final moment when the paper is peeled away from the block and I discover whether all those hours of work have come together.

My work is inspired by nature, coastlines, trees, light and nostalgia — but underneath all of those things is a fascination with the places that stay in our memories.

Sometimes that is a woodland path or sunlight filtering through a canopy. Sometimes it is a harbour at the end of a summer day, the wild coastline of Scotland, or the particular quality of light where sea meets sky. Travel also finds its way into my work, from the landscapes and traditions of Japan to familiar places much closer to home.

I'm particularly drawn to trees and the sea. They are subjects I return to again and again, not because I've run out of things to say about them, but because they never feel quite the same twice.

Made slowly, by hand

I specialise in reduction linocut, a process in which a single piece of lino is gradually carved away as each new colour is printed.

Once a layer has been carved away, it cannot be put back. By the end of the process, much of the original block has disappeared. It makes reduction printing wonderfully unforgiving — and probably explains why I still find the final reveal so satisfying.

I print everything by hand and deliberately work in small editions, often fewer than ten prints. Slight variations are part of the process, so although an edition shares the same image, every print carries the individual marks of something made by hand.

For me, that matters.

I don't want to make art simply to fill an empty wall. I want to create pieces that remind someone of somewhere they have been, somewhere they love, or perhaps simply a feeling they want to hold onto.

From teaching myself to national exhibitions

Being self-taught has meant finding my own way through printmaking — experimenting, making mistakes and gradually developing a style that feels recognisably mine.

My work has since been selected for exhibitions and open calls around the UK, with pieces exhibited in Wiltshire, Bristol, Nottingham, Cumbria and beyond.

In 2026, Where the Light Lingers was selected for the Ironbridge Fine Arts Printmakers Open from hundreds of submissions and received special recognition from exhibition sponsor Essdee, a company whose printmaking materials I have used throughout my practice.

Essdee subsequently invited me to be interviewed about my work, my journey into linocut and the inspiration behind my prints.

Read my interview with Essdee →

Art for people who feel a connection to place

I think the art we choose to live with should mean something to us.

It might remind you of standing beside the sea, walking beneath trees, travelling somewhere unforgettable or simply stopping for a moment because the light was beautiful.

Those are the moments I notice too.

And very often, they are where a new print begins.