Yanira Vissepo "Mountain Heaven" print

Yanira Vissepo learned traditional Japan woodblock printing during several residencies in Echizen, a village with a 1,500-year history of papermaking. She returned in the fall of 2025 to further developed her practice of water-based woodblock printing, deepening her engagement with material, process, and ritual.

Reflecting on her time in Echizen, Vissepo notes: “The paper village was part of my everyday life -- walking to Otaki Shrine to say hello to the paper goddess. Studio discipline became a central focus, and bringing that rigor back into this body of work felt like kismet: Puerto Rico, Tennessee, and Japan living together in memory paintings. Water is my friend -- the sun on my face, leaves turning and speaking to me, whispering hello, waking up to see the sky for the first time, again.”

Yanira Vissepo is a Puerto Rican artist living and working in Nashville, TN. She creates vibrant paintings using techniques including stain painting, printmaking, cyanotype, dye resists, and hand embroidery. Her work is heavily influenced by her experience of living in the Puerto Rican diaspora and examines the ecosystem of her culture through the natural world, as well as recent residencies in Japan to study traditional woodblock printmaking. She has shown regionally at the Frist Art Museum, Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery, Lipscomb University, and 21c Museum, among others.