Felicia Rice is an artist, letterpress printer, publisher, and educator. A native Californian rarely found far from the coast, she founded Moving Parts Press in Santa Cruz in 1977. Her letterpress studio was destroyed in the CZU Lightning Complex Fire in August 2020. With the help of over 800 supporters, she was able to reestablish Moving Parts Press in her childhood home in Mendocino.
In close collaboration with visual and performing artists, writers, and philosophers, Rice has published ... view more »
Felicia Rice is an artist, letterpress printer, publisher, and educator. A native Californian rarely found far from the coast, she founded Moving Parts Press in Santa Cruz in 1977. Her letterpress studio was destroyed in the CZU Lightning Complex Fire in August 2020. With the help of over 800 supporters, she was able to reestablish Moving Parts Press in her childhood home in Mendocino.
In close collaboration with visual and performing artists, writers, and philosophers, Rice has published books, broadsides, and prints. For almost 50 years Her work is held in library and museum collections worldwide, and has been included in exhibitions from Mexico City to New York and Japan. The complete Moving Parts Press archive is housed at UC Santa Barbara.
As a solo artist, Felicia’s focus is on unique drawings rather than multilayered print editions, using the hand as opposed to other mitigating technologies. She digs into negative space and exposes the positive in pen and ink. She reaches into the natural world to reveal its nocturnal residents, invisible currents, and seldom-seen elements.
Rice has been the recipient of awards and grants, from the National Endowment for the Arts to the French Ministry of Culture. Her interview in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art is available online. She is featured in the award-winning Craft in America documentary series in the episode Visionaries.
On February 21 at 6:30, collaborator and poet Theresa Whitehill will appear with Felicia for another stop on the Heavy Lifting Listening Tour. The evening will include the experimental film, On Heavy Lifting, and a wide-ranging conversation touching on their creative work and our community’s experiences during a time of intense urgency.
Worlds collide! At the same time, the IMDI (International Mushroom Dye Institute) is hosting the exhibit, MUSHROOMS & COLOR, fiber arts and textiles of all kinds, prints, paintings, handmade paper, sculpture, and experiments using mushroom dye and pigments. Felicia’s mother, Miriam C. Rice, founded the IMDI in 1985 and Felicia is the current director.
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