Hi, I’m Vanessa Kiszlo, the artist behind Blooms & Blocks Printworks. I’m a relief printmaker currently based in Okinawa, Japan.

I grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where city life was balanced by spending time in Central Park. Nature became an early refuge and source of inspiration. In my early teens, my family moved to Philadelphia, where access to green spaces meant hopping on my bike and riding to nearby parks to spend hours drawing and observing the world around me.

When I first entered college at the Community College of Philadelphia, I pursued nursing, driven by the pressure to choose a practical and “responsible” career path. It didn’t take long to realize it wasn’t the right fit. I shifted my focus to art, majoring in drawing and ceramics, which reignited my creative voice and sense of purpose.

After earning that degree, I married my husband, who is active duty military, and began a life shaped by frequent moves across the country and abroad. In 2009, I continued my education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where I earned my BA in Art. It was there that I fell in love with the handcrafted processes of printmaking, handset type, bookbinding, and papermaking discovering the joy of creating work slowly and intentionally by hand.

Today, my work is deeply inspired by nature and the unique cultures that surround me wherever I’m living. Each design is hand-drawn, carved, and printed using traditional relief printmaking techniques. My linocut work can be found on handmade books, art prints, and thoughtfully crafted textile pieces.