Wayzgoose Kitsap brings creatives together in inky, collective artistry

PORT ORCHARD – Rosie Bromberg’s linoleum template, an intricately carved piece depicting a scene of renewal in nature, lies on a table, being bathed in ink.

“You have a plan, but you never know what will happen while you’re carving or how it will look when it’s all inked up and ready to go,” says Bromberg, a Poulsbo resident.

After she and her fellow artist, Terra Tapia, deem that enough ink has been applied, they lay the piece in the path of a construction roller. And once a thick piece of paper has been placed atop it, the large roller slowly rumbles across the assembly, creating a print of the original template. It’s a unique printmaking process that repeats itself many times throughout the weekend during Wayzgoose Kitsap 2022.

Through the arts organization Wayzgoose Kitsap, artists get a section of linoleum to work with in the lead-up to the printing event and are given a theme to guide their art. They carve away and impress their unique visions on their canvases. The art comes together in 36-inch squares.

Even though prints are made using a set template, some might smudge or look a touch different when they’re completed. Each is unique.

“You can make ten prints, and there’ll be something different about every single one of them,” said Tapia, of Bremerton.

The process of making the prints is a collaborative effort. Some apply ink, others keep their hands clean, place the prints and move them to a drying area.

Erik Payne drove the roller back and forth on Saturday: “It’s a very unique form of art that’s really fun to be a part of in a mechanical way,” he said.

Artists get to keep prints, and others are used to help fund the nonprofit organization.

Said Brianna Coolbaugh, a Wayzgoose Kitsap board member: “We don’t require people to have this skill of carving linoleum or steamroller printing, but we offer instruction and guidance along the way so that one doesn’t have to consider themselves a prolific artist to be able to participate and become a Wayzgoose artist. That’s one of my favorite things about us, is that we’ve always wanted to create community where anyone can be the artist, and anyone can help make the art.”

“There’s definitely a community aspect that comes with this art form, and Wayzgoose does a really good job of making that accessible and building that for people in our community,” Tapia said. “I think that’s really cool.”

The inky printing festival launched in 2018 in downtown Bremerton, the brainchild of Marit Bockelie, who is now the executive director of Wayzgoose Kitsap. The festival returned in 2019, and organizers moved to scaled-back versions of the event during the pandemic. This year’s Wayzgoose began on Friday and runs through Monday on a farm in Port Orchard. Organizers hope to return to a larger community event in 2023.

This year’s theme: Renewal.

Tapia labeled her piece “Duality,” recognizing renewal as a dance between life and death, she said: “There is always a death and a change that comes with something new and something renewing itself.”

Said Bockelie: “A lot of it is just about personal coming out of some strange times and not knowing where solid ground is anymore and making that up as you go. That has been really cool. We don’t know what the prints are going to look like before the day of printing. As an organization, we put it out there, give them the material and what they come back with is always a magical surprise.”

Nathan Pilling is a reporter covering Bainbridge Island, North Kitsap and Washington State Ferries for the Kitsap Sun. He can be reached at 360-792-5242, nathan.pilling@kitsapsun.com or on Twitter at @KSNatePilling.

Consider supporting local journalism in Kitsap County: Sign up for a digital subscription today.