Justyne Fischer

​Justyne Fischer is an award winning printmaker whose work focuses on Social Memorials. Meticulously carving and printing by hand, Fischer’s woodcuts depart from the usual associations we make with traditional printmaking processes. Without the aid of a press she burnishes and hand pulls compositions onto sheer fabric. As light passes through the image, the layered fabric creates intentional moirés, optical movement and illumination.

Fischer’s recent explorations feature “Social Memorials” of unjust events involving unarmed Black men, women and boys. Sandra Bland, Laquan McDonald, Walter Scott, Freddy Gray, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Jordan Davis and Trayvon Martin and are all featured in these graphic social statements. Each piece is meant to highlight the absurdity of each event while respectfully memorializing the human being beyond a one day headline.

Whether exhibiting her work locally or nationally, Fischer spreads her message of social justice through features in The Washington Post, East City Art, Professional Artist Magazine, Wall Street International Magazine, The Huffington Post, and The Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education. Fischer currently teaches AP Studio Art full time to nationally recognized and award winning students at South County High School. Fischer’s students have been offered over four million dollars in art scholarship funds since 2012 and have earned National Scholastic Art Awards for the past four consecutive years.

Fischer has served as a visiting artist at Drexel University, Michaelis School of Fine Art University of Cape Town, South Africa and the Fine Art Department of the University of Maryland. She has given printmaking demos at various venues including Shepherd College and the McLean Society for the Arts. Fischer maintains a printmaking studio at Blue Studios Art Underground in Arlington, Virginia and has worked as a printmaker and art educator in the Washington, D.C. area since 1996. She earned her BFA from The Kansas City Art Institute and MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan.

Her works are featured in numerous private and public collections including the Boston Public Library, Montgomery College, D. Watkins, The Detroit Public Library, Florida A&M University, Tulane University, and The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.