MAY

The Artist/
JO OLIVE
Letterpress Printer &
Multidisciplinary Visual Artist

Jo Olive is a multidisciplinary artist and designer living and working on Bundjalung Country in Northern New South Wales, Australia.

Her practice spans printmaking, letterpress, collage, and text-based works, often drawing on a minimalist aesthetic and a deep engagement with language, texture, and materiality. Rooted in an ethos of restraint, imperfection, and authenticity, Jo’s work explores emotional states, fragments of thought, and quiet resistance — preferring the evocative over the ornamental, and the meaningful over the merely beautiful.

After running a combined retail and studio space for 18 months, Jo recently took a sabbatical to recalibrate and refocus her creative energy. This period of stillness and reflection has laid the groundwork for a new project to be launched in 2025, one that builds on her enduring interest in handmade processes, poetry, and the tactile beauty of paper.

With a background in letterpress printing and bookbinding, Jo’s work often hovers between the visual and the literary, inviting pause and contemplation. Whether through bold typographic posters, meditative collages, or quietly powerful stationery, her pieces speak to the enduring value of craft, the poetry of imperfection, and the possibility of art as a slow and meaningful practice.

‘Jo Olive’s work is visual poetry. Her celebrated appreciation of language and the visual beauty of writing/typography in and of itself is what I have always appreciated in her work. A Jo Olive piece often provides movement, texture and untamed gestures. A beautiful offering with gentle insights and meaningful moments for the viewer’
Daphne Day*

The Artwork
DONE WITH PRETTY
DOWN WITH GOOD
Limited Print

By Jo Olive
Poster Printed By Hand (limited)

‘Done With Pretty, Down With Good is a quiet act of rebellion. As I grow older, I’ve become more exhausted and frankly bored by the subtle and not-so-subtle expectations placed on women—to be pretty, to be good, to be pleasing.

This piece pushes back against that tired myth. It’s a declaration that we are more than appearances or compliance. The work is printed by hand, using found packaging paper pressed onto an inked plate with my palm and hand-held brayers—intentionally picking up every crease, mark, and so-called imperfection. I chose to preserve the incidental details like the tape and blemishes because they are real, human, and far more compelling than polished perfection. This piece is as much about process as it is about message—a raw, tactile refusal to conform.’ Jo Olive

Roughly 25 of these prints were made on this print run. Only 8 remain. Visit this Poster for more details in our STORE

More work from
Jo Olive

Stratum, by Jo Olive

Strong Back, by Jo Olive

The Joy of Being in Empty Rooms, by Jo Olive

Bone Quiver, by Jo Olive

Fleeting Foundations, by Jo Olive

Mending Halos, by Jo Olive

Mast Bones, by Jo Olive

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April / EDITH REWA BARRETT