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One of the things Baselj, pictured here at her home, loves about screen printing is that each of her prints is an original, even if it’s one of a series.
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Baselj hand-mixes paints to achieve the color she wants to use in her next print.
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Capturing the essence of animals and plants in her designs is more important than precision for local artist Katie Pelikan Baselj. Her limited-edition silkscreen wall prints, with bold shapes and colors, celebrate the magic and mystery of the natural world.
“I like the idea of capturing the unattainable, quiet aspect of human and animal relationships — the wildness and uncontrollability,” she explains. “I lean into the playful aspect, like the bold shapes and colors.”
Baselj’s company, Pelikan Print Co., is a screen-printing venture she started in 2018 to keep her limited-edition prints unique, affordable and accessible to all. The rich colors of her intuitive drawings are almost naive in their simplicity. Influenced by ancient pottery, pictorial quilts, medieval tapestries and folk art from her British and Czech ancestry, she describes her illustrations as rough and playful. She draws inspiration from artists such as Elizabeth Cobbold, known for her paper cut-outs, and self-taught artist Mose Tolliver.
“I decided that it’s OK to make things that are beautiful that people want to have in their home,” Baselj notes. “I can explore and have more fun with my work.”
While Baselj notes that screen printing is often associated with T-shirts, she says she favors the process because it allows her to create multiple prints, each one a bit different. She takes great pleasure in the craft of screen printing and the meticulous steps involved in producing high-quality work.
“I love screen printing because it’s such an ancient process,” she explains. “You can get experimental and crazy with it. They’re copies but originals. You can’t replicate this with digital printing.”
Growing up in Columbia, Maryland, Baselj relished weekend trips to art museums with her father and can’t remember a time when she wasn’t drawing. She also spent lots of time connecting with nature and animals at the Patuxent Research Refuge, a wildlife refuge that was practically in her backyard.
In 2013, she came to Richmond and completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts. In 2021, she earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, returning to Richmond after her time in the Netherlands because of the sense of community she felt with other burgeoning artists here.
“The artist community in Richmond fuels me,” Baselj says. “My artist friends have pitched in to help me in so many ways.”
Pelikan Print Co. pieces are available at the Shop Made in Virginia store in Scott’s Addition and at the Quirk Gallery shop in the Arts District.
