Today I'm thrilled to feature a really lovely artist, Yetunde Rodriguez. Yetunde creates gorgeous hand-printed textiles that are influenced by Yoruba culture which originates in southwestern Nigeria. In this interview Yetunde gives us a sneak peak into her design process, talks about Yoruba culture, and shares with us why responsible consumption is near and dear to her heart. Enjoy!

Hi Yetunde! Please tell us a little bit about your childhood and background as an artist.

I was born in Nigeria, West Africa. I grew up watching my Mom and Aunts sew, cook, and mend things. Due to the time and place, making and mending things and being resourceful was just a fact of life. I learned all the handicrafts from a very young age. From what I understand, my maternal grandfather was a very talented artist, but I never really saw him do it.

My family emigrated to Morgantown, West Virginia when I was 13 years old. It was a few years after my Mother passed away. Talk about culture shock! Being that Nigeria’s national language is English, I already spoke English. I just did not have the cultural nuances. I look back now and think about all of the times I was being teased and didn't realize it.

My portal to American culture was Seventeen magazine. I would get each month's issue from the library and pore over the details. I loved staging my bedroom so it would look like the ones in the decor section of the magazine. This is where my lifelong love of Interior styling and decor began. My Dad was a PhD student at West Virginia University (WVU), so we were pretty poor. There was no room in the budget for decor or anything fancy. Sadly, I couldn’t make changes to the wood paneled walls in my bedroom (oh the 80s!).

In my family, being creative was something we all did, but was never expected to be turned into a career. The expectation was that everyone would go to college and have a respectable career in a field like medicine, engineering, law, and/or academia. In fact, I wasn’t even aware of other career options until I failed out of WVU. At that point I left home and joined the Navy, returning to college at a later date. By then I had discovered graphic design which I studied at Hampton University, (a historically black college and university) in Hampton, Virginia.

How did you get into printmaking?

At Hampton University I was exposed to all types of art classes. I was in love! Our printmaking class used on old fashioned printing press with metal plates and chemicals. We did not learn screen printing or even block printing. I didn’t even know that those methods existed.

Since I still did not really know how to start a career in the field of art and design, I floundered for a bit after college. I took jobs not in my field, and then took a stab at turning my soap making hobby into a business. It would be years before I started printmaking as a hobby, and then a business.

At first, printmaking for me was a means to an end. I wanted to develop a line of home decor textiles based on modern interpretations of African motifs, in color combinations that I wasn’t used to seeing. I knew nothing about fabric manufacturing. For me the quickest way to do it was to just print it myself. I first taught myself screen printing from library books. I also taught myself Block Printing but at the time I did not see it as a viable way to produce my textiles. After awhile, it became obvious that I was better at Block Printing.

What I love most about Block Printing is how simple and effective it is. There is a relatively low barrier to entry. All you need is a few simple materials, and you can create something so beautiful! I also love the instant gratification of it. With screen printing, you have to be so precise with everything, and it takes a while to get to the result. You could do 99% of the steps right, but that 1% is what will take you down. Block Printing is a lot more forgiving. It also works great with my impulsive nature.

Please tell us a bit about Yoruba culture and art so we can understand how it has influenced your work.

Yoruba is my culture, my heritage, and my first language. Most Yoruba live in southwestern Nigeria. Our culture is a polytheistic culture, with many deities. I have to clarify here that the average Yoruba person, especially in America, is super Christian and sadly has done away with the ancient ways. I myself do not practice any religion, but I love the fact that we had something that was our own, before colonization got us to believe that it was wrong.

Yoruba culture is rich with art. It is one of the most artistically rich cultures in Africa. Our art tends to be intertwined with our culture, which would explain why the average Yoruba person does not consider it as a career. It (our art) is just something that is part of us and our culture. One of my fondest memories is visiting the Osogbo shrine when I was a about 10 or 11 during the Osun Festival. There was drumming, dancing, Yoruba poetry, and lots of elaborate masquerades, costumes and white body paint. The festival is a celebration of all things Yoruba.

Yoruba art is infused into the everyday. One thing that fascinates me to no end is our tribal markings. It is something that is not practiced as much now, in modern times, but can still be seen in rural communities. The markings designate your cultural group, but they are works of art in and of themselves. One of my most popular prints is my “Tribal Marks” print. It is not a direct duplication of any particular tribal marking, but it is reminiscent of it. My work tends to be very linear and geometric, much like Yoruba art.

Can you tell us a bit about your design process?

As I mentioned earlier, I am a very impulsive person, so I don’t really enjoy sitting down and doing elaborate drawings. A lot of times I jump straight into carving a design. If I like how it looks printed, I will expand it and maybe recarve to a size/shape that lends well to printing in repeat. In a way, carving is my sketching. I like to get right to what the motif will look like, inked and printed, rather than planning on paper. Once an idea hits me I like to act, otherwise I’ll lose the initial inspiration and joy by overthinking it.

One thing I love is your focus on zero waste and responsible consumption. Can you tell us a bit more about this?

I’m so happy that this resonates with you! As someone who grew-up without a lot of extras, I learned to make things last by fixing, tweaking, and repurposing as needed. When we first moved to Morgantown, I would collect, wash and save all the little styrofoam trays used to packaged meats from the grocery store. I just knew that they had more life in them! I turned them into different crafty projects, but quickly realized that I couldn’t use or save them all. Sadly I had to part with my stash.

It makes me sad that we live in such a throw-away society. Everything is made so cheaply that it’s not even worth keeping things long term, much less repairing them when they break. I buy just about all my electronics second-hand from thrift stores or other resale type spaces. I have a love-hate relationship with thrift stores. I love them because they give life to things that have been cast aside in favor of the new, and I love them because they let me get what I need very inexpensively. However, I hate how they can be a jarring reminder of how quickly people move on from that shiny object that they once just had to have. I think this is why I am so passionate about printing by hand. I feel that if I put my heart and soul into a piece, it will encourage the recipient to hold on to it longer. At the same time, the reality of my life dictates that I can’t print every single piece by hand.

I so appreciate what print-on-demand has done for Artists and Designers. It is amazing to me that I can dream up an idea in my head and put it up for sale. If someone on the other side of the world sees value in it and pays actual money to buy it, then it is a match made in heaven. It helps to reduce waste in that the thing does not exist to sit around, collect dust and eventually get tossed if not sold. This way, consumers get what they really love and are excited about, and the Artist/Designer gets to put their work out into the world.

What advice would you give to someone who is interested in print-making but has never tried it?

I say go for it! As I used to tell my middle school art students, what’s the worst that could happen? If you make a mark you don’t like, just try again...or act as if you fully intended to do it!

Can you tell us a few fun facts about you that we may not already know?

My kids would say I’m not fun :) However, I do love music! All types! I love reggae, salsa, African highlife, hip-hop, and even 70’s - 90’s. Anything, up to, and including country! I am also getting much better at dancing salsa, merengue and bachata. Strangely, I don’t really go to concerts.

Want to see more of Yetunde’s work?

African inspired print-making with Yetunde Rodriguez