INFLUENCERS

Screen Queens

Manola and Maria Ramirez use screen printing to help other local artists distribute their work

BY BONNY OSTERHAGE

anola and Maria Ramirez are artists M in their own right, but the sisters have also found a niche in helping other female creatives share their work with San Antonians thanks to screen printing.

“The artists who come to us want to make their work available to people at an affordable price,” says Manola, of Manola & Maria Printmaking: Art: Design. “Reproducing their work through screen prints allows them to do that.”

Unlike digital reproductions, screen prints are made by hand rather than with a machine and allow original works to be reproduced for sale online and at local retailers like Felíz Modern.

The Ramirez sisters grew up in San Antonio and share a love of painting and drawing. But it wasn’t until they both took a printing class at the University of Texas at Austin that they discovered a passion for screen printing.

After graduating with BFAs in studio art just one semester apart, the two returned to San Antonio and began exhibiting at local markets.

They caught the eye of Kelly O’Connor, renowned collage artist and head of collections and communications at Ruby City, and they soon realized screen printing could be more than a hobby or side gig. “When Kelly commissioned us to reproduce one of her iconic pieces, we realized this was something that artists want,” Maria says.

The women now produce screen prints and pursue their own work as part of the all-female collaborative space at Lavaca Studios, striving for a balance between creating for others and making their own originals.

“We have found that many of the artists we work with create strong, feminist art and they want to work with female printers,” says Manola, adding that theirs is traditionally a male-dominated industry.

Their own artistic styles are similar, and the sisters say their skills complement one another when it comes to managing their website, social media, screen printing and art.“We both like abstract, but I am more controlled while Maria is more free flowing,” Manola says. “That’s what keeps our designs balanced, it’s the right amount of each.”

SHOP manolaandmaria.com Manola & Maria will have holiday cards and other items available at the Dec. 4 Christmas Night Market at Lavaca Studios