“Richmond is a muse for me”

RICHMOND, Virginia – If you ever catch Sophie Sallade wandering the streets of Richmond, you might mistake her for a tourist with a camera.

But Sophie is actually looking for her next motif in her favorite city.

“I just like how the infrastructure plays with the natural environment,” Sophie Sallade told Greg McQuade. “I look for a bit of romance in the game. I look for the sparkle in the window.”

The artist sees potential around every corner.

“I want to capture all of this and share it with everyone,” she said. “That’s why I work in Richmond, because I love it so much.”

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But photography is not Sophie’s specialty.

“I think I have the greatest job in the world,” Sallade said. “There’s something about taking the time to learn an old process to preserve something old.”

Their talents go much deeper, about an eighth of an inch deep.

“Starting printmaking is always very exciting,” she said. “The hours here never fly by. If anything, I lose time here.”

In her studio, a 10×10 shed in her father’s backyard, the 28-year-old artist is reviving an art form from another era.

“I think this is the coolest thing ever,” she said. “I would say this medium is pretty overlooked.”

No digital or AI-generated images here. Your supplies? Blades, ink, paper and linoleum. Lots of linoleum.

“I’m essentially creating a big old stamp that I can use to create art,” she said. “So this is an unblocked piece of linoleum.”

Sophie prefers old-fashioned and practical. Her passion for linocut began at Hermitage High School in Henrico County.

“I use these little chisels to slowly chip away at the spots on the block,” said Sophie Sallade. “Once I became fascinated with it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

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The VCU graduate has been a professional artist for nearly eight years, making her way to success millimeter by millimeter.

“It requires a lot of attention to detail and a lot of precision,” she said. “You have to enjoy spending time with yourself because it takes a long time to finish.”

Their approach leaves little room for error.

“You can’t make a mistake here. And if you do, you have to consider it a lucky coincidence,” she said.

Their creations can take anywhere from 35 to 60 hours to complete from start to finish, with each one being sculpted in mirror image.

“It’s really insane to see the words, buildings and fonts backwards,” she said. “So when you cut a linocut, you have to look at everything in reverse because when you pull the print off the block, it’s the exact opposite of what you carved.”

She runs the grooved images through a press that she drives with muscle power.

“It’s always exciting to pull a perfect print off the block,” she said.

Each piece is a tribute to her hometown. Famous restaurants and historic places are her favorites.

“The Roosevelt in Church Hill. I have that in color too,” Sophie said. “We’re going to look at a block in Carytown: New York Deli, Bygones and the Byrd Theater.”

The artist behind Sophie Printmaking has amassed dozens of originals.

“We see months of my life here. This is the entire work that I completed in five years,” she said. “If my studio were to burn down, nothing else would matter except these blocks, because they are irreplaceable.”

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Her linocut skyline is stored for safekeeping. Sophie Printmaking has gained a loyal following on social media, where 21st century marketing meets a 19th century process.

Sophie is a fixture at craft and art fairs. Her canvases present the River City from a new perspective.

“What makes me happiest at markets is when people come by and say this is my favorite place for a date night or that my husband proposed to me there,” she said.

Sophie Sallade finds relief in an ancient art form.

“I would say that Richmond is both a muse and an active participant for me,” she said. “It’s a great honor for me to carry the torch of printmaking and to get people excited about it again.”

She is the linocut artist who has found her calling, one of a kind.

“I think this is something I can take with me through every stage of my life,” she said. “It’s an ancient practice that’s relevant to me.”