About
Izzy Shinn is a Twin-Cities-based printmaker and comic artist specializing in intaglio etching and ink illustration, having earned their Bachelors of Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota.
With a focus on narrative, they utilize fantasy elements to create short-form, enigmatic scenes and comics that explore relationships of the self, the other, and the world, meditating on the interpersonality of beings that don’t exist. Their work has been exhibited and sold in various local venues such as the Katherine E. Nash gallery and Open Eye gallery. They have self-published multiple mini-comics and zines and participated as an exhibitor in the 2022 Minneapolis-based Autoptic Festival.
By combining comic elements and intaglio printing methods, I create scenes that offer glimpses into a greater implied history or story. My work also centers on expressing butchness and lesbianism as a joyous and celebratory existence. The figures I draw and incorporate into print are representative of the charm, beauty, and strength of women who transgress the gender binary – celebrating masculinity specific to lesbians and their experiences. The work is tied intimately with myself and my own experiences, showcased through characters and archetypes, exploring the sexual and social stigmatization of women, the body, and the queer subject.
An aged and worn quality is present, often clashing with my own contemporary and stylized method of drawing. I take advantage of this play between visual time periods to not only prod at basic nostalgic instincts but to merge my personal background as a butch lesbian in the 21st century with the visual history of those who came before me. My influences are based in historical lesbian materials like zines, comics, and photography from the 1970s-1990s (Joan E Biren, Leanne Franson, and Alison Bechdel are just a few particular names that come to mind). Further historical interplay continues as a throughline in my work as I create almost false historical objects, memories, and captured figures, relating to a nostalgia that connects to my shared emotions, experiences, and expression.